Results 1,841-1,860 of 3,665 for speaker:Seán Power

Written Answers — Departmental Funding: Departmental Funding (13 Jun 2006)

Seán Power: My Department does not directly fund or co-ordinate health and personal social services to victims of abuse. Monies are made available each year, formerly through the health boards, and now through the Health Services Executive, for the provision of services to women victims of violence. In recent years there has been a substantial increase in funding so that now over €12 million is...

Written Answers — Health Services: Health Services (13 Jun 2006)

Seán Power: The Tánaiste has allocated €30 million for the provision of Home Care Packages in 2006, and a further €25 million for the Scheme in 2007. The 2006 Budget allocation will provide an additional 2,000 extra Home Care Packages in 2006, to be introduced on a phased basis, with the majority of the packages to be commenced in the second half of 2006. The HSE has advised that 249 new home care...

Written Answers — Health Services: Health Services (13 Jun 2006)

Seán Power: The Deputy's question relates to the management and delivery of health and personal social services, which are the responsibility of the Health Service Executive under the Health Act 2004. Accordingly, the Department has requested the Parliamentary Affairs Division of the Executive to arrange to have this matter investigated and to have a reply issued directly to the Deputy.

Written Answers — Nursing Home Subventions: Nursing Home Subventions (13 Jun 2006)

Seán Power: The Deputy's question relates to the management and delivery of health and personal social services, which are the responsibility of the Health Service Executive under the Health Act 2004. Accordingly, the Department has requested the Parliamentary Affairs Division of the Executive to arrange to have this matter investigated and to have a reply issued directly to the Deputy.

Written Answers — Hospital Waiting Lists: Hospital Waiting Lists (13 Jun 2006)

Seán Power: The Deputy's question relates to the management and delivery of health and personal social services, which are the responsibility of the Health Service Executive under the Health Act 2004. Accordingly, the Department has requested the Parliamentary Affairs Division of the Executive to arrange to have this matter investigated and to have a reply issued directly to the Deputy.

Written Answers — Health Services: Health Services (13 Jun 2006)

Seán Power: The Deputy's question relates to the management and delivery of health and personal social services, which are the responsibility of the Health Service Executive under the Health Act 2004. Accordingly, the Department has requested the Parliamentary Affairs Division of the Executive to arrange to have this matter investigated and to have a reply issued directly to the Deputy.

Seanad: Health (Repayment Scheme) Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (13 Jun 2006)

Seán Power: I do not accept this amendment because it does not allow for a commencement order for a certain section of the Bill. A general commencement order can be made to allow for commencement of all provisions of the Bill. The inclusion of the provision to allow commencement orders will allow, if necessary, the commencement of a provision of the legislation before the legislation is enacted. The...

Seanad: Health (Repayment Scheme) Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (13 Jun 2006)

Seán Power: I have nothing further to add. There is no need to go over what I said earlier. I outlined the reasons for the delay in bringing forward the legislation. We hope to have the legislation enacted as quickly as possible to ensure the process of processing the applications can commence quickly and allow the people receive their money as quickly as possible.

Seanad: Health (Repayment Scheme) Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (13 Jun 2006)

Seán Power: I am inclined to agree with Senator Quinn. The sun seems to have affected Senator Ryan.

Seanad: Health (Repayment Scheme) Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (13 Jun 2006)

Seán Power: I do not accept this amendment because it would not allow for the appointment of an outside company to administer the scheme. The Government decision allows for the appointment of a company to provide an independent input into the process. The public tendering process has been implemented and the HSE decided on the appointment of a preferred service provider at a meeting of the board on 1...

Seanad: Health (Repayment Scheme) Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (13 Jun 2006)

Seán Power: The Government decided to appoint an outside company, and I have explained the reasons behind that. Despite what Deputy Ryan has said, it is not an open-ended contract.

Seanad: Health (Repayment Scheme) Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (13 Jun 2006)

Seán Power: The HSE was given the job of——

Seanad: Health (Repayment Scheme) Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (13 Jun 2006)

Seán Power: Will the Senator please listen to me for a second?

Seanad: Health (Repayment Scheme) Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (13 Jun 2006)

Seán Power: The HSE had the job of recruiting a company to assist in the repayment scheme and it initiated a tendering process. That first tendering process was terminated because it felt it was not getting value for money. A second tendering process was advertised and a number of companies expressed interest. The HSE indicated that the second batch of tenders was much more competitive than the first. A...

Seanad: Health (Repayment Scheme) Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (13 Jun 2006)

Seán Power: I am quite happy to speak on or off the record, but I am giving the Senator the facts. The board met on 1 June and the company was selected. Under the rules that must be observed, there is a 14-day cooling off period to allow other companies to raise objections to the appointment, which will be completed within two days. The name of the company will be made known, as will the costs of...

Seanad: Health (Repayment Scheme) Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (13 Jun 2006)

Seán Power: I will not let on that I am familiar with all the details of the companies that tendered. I tried to give the House as much information as possible on the number of companies that tendered for the second process. It is up to the HSE to decide the most competitive, most efficient and the best tender on offer. I assume it will have done the job well and the company chosen will have some...

Seanad: Health (Repayment Scheme) Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (13 Jun 2006)

Seán Power: The impression could be given that we have staff in the HSE twiddling their thumbs with nothing to do, but nothing could be further from the truth. We have no idle staff in the HSE. We spoke to representatives of the HSE in the early stages and they indicated that they were not in a position to administer this scheme. They stated their support for the decision to engage an outside company to...

Seanad: Health (Repayment Scheme) Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (13 Jun 2006)

Seán Power: We will provide all details of the contract at the end of the 14-day period. Within 48 hours we will be able to provide the Members will more information than it is possible for me to give to them here today.

Seanad: Health (Repayment Scheme) Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (13 Jun 2006)

Seán Power: Securing value for money was the priority of the HSE when it sought tenders for the appointment of an outside company.

Seanad: Health (Repayment Scheme) Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (13 Jun 2006)

Seán Power: On Deputy Ryan's point, it will be the responsibility of the company to dig out the records. However, as the Senator is aware, under the legislation introduced in December 2004, we included an ex gratia payment of up to €2,000. In that respect, slightly fewer than 11,000 people received that payment, the cost of which amounted to €21 million. We have the number of the records available...