Results 1,881-1,900 of 19,162 for speaker:Alan Shatter

Health (Amendment) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: To be helpful, I suggest we discuss amendment No. 4a as well because it is a related amendment. It would save duplication. Amendment No. 4a is on the additional list circulated. I think it would make sense.

Health (Amendment) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: These are important amendments and this particular section with which we are dealing, which is the new section 40B to go into the Health Act 2004, is very important because it starkly illustrates the disconnect between the Minister for Health and Children, the Ministers of State in that Department, the Department itself and the HSE. Deputy Jan O'Sullivan is absolutely right that, as other...

Health (Amendment) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: It is an expensive exercise.

Health (Amendment) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: Why not just publish them?

Health (Amendment) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: I will respond briefly to the Minister of State. I want to come back to amendment 4a. The Minister of State's response was a little tautological. He does not want to publish the guidelines because they are really between him and the HSE, but the guidelines, at any rate, can be accessed, according to the Minister of State, through the freedom of information legislation. However, if one...

Health (Amendment) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: It is the Minister of State's colleagues who have said that. I never did.

Health (Amendment) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: However, that is in respect of the specifications and not the guidelines. They are two entirely different things.

Health (Amendment) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: I move amendment No. 4a: In page 4, between lines 17 and 18, to insert the following: "(3) Any guidelines issued by the Minister pursuant to this section shall be laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas upon issuing and shall be the subject of debate in each House and amenable to amendment by a motion passed in each House within 3 months of being so laid. (4) Any specification by the...

Health (Amendment) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: I move amendment No. 5: In page 4, line 20, after "functions" to insert the following: "including political accountability to the Oireachtas". As I mentioned earlier, the explanatory memorandum describes the purpose of the Bill as strengthening "the legislative base for the provision of information by the Health Service Executive to the Minister for Health and Children so as to enhance the...

Health (Amendment) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: I have difficulty with what the Minister is saying because I do not understand why there is a discrepancy between what the explanatory memorandum states the Bill does and the actual content of the Bill. It is very unusual because these documents are prepared very carefully. Those who drafted the explanatory memorandum felt, when referring to this very particular area, the need to include...

Health (Amendment) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: We must all be in shock.

Health (Amendment) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: I move amendment No. 8: In page 5, line 2, after "person" to insert "or persons". There is no chance the Minister of State will accept this simple amendment. To be of help, I suggest that we take amendments Nos. 8 to 10, inclusive, with this amendment, given the relationship between them. We will not get much further anyway. Amendment No. 8 relates to section 40D, which states: "Where the...

Health (Amendment) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: I will conclude in one sentence. In circumstances in which a debate of this seriousness on an issue of this importance is guillotined, the Fine Gael Party will be voting against the Minister of State's proposal that this discussion be closed down and that no further amendments of any description from this side of the House be accepted.

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (24 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: Question 257: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills the reason for the delay in sanctioning the construction of an extension for a school (details supplied) in Dublin 16; if her attention has been drawn to the need for an extension to be constructed in view of the increasing numbers of students; if her further attention has been drawn to the possibility of the recurrence...

Adoption Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (29 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: The Adoption Board's annual report for 2008 indicates that 217 out of 273 applications for adoption, or 79%, and 128 out of 200 court orders, or 64%, were in respect of birth mothers and their husbands. Similarly, the annual report for 2007 indicates that birth mothers and their husbands comprised 217 out of 303 applications to the board, or 72%, and 138 out of a total of 187 family adoption...

Adoption Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (29 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: The majority of domestic adoptions are family adoptions.

Adoption Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (29 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: I move amendment No. 30: In page 24, between lines 31 and 32, to insert the following: "(4) On the application of the spouse of a biological parent desiring to adopt a child to acquire the same rights and responsibilities with regard to the child as the biological parent. (a) The adoption order shall confer the same rights and responsibilities on the spouse as vest in the biological parent....

Adoption Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (29 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: I move amendment No. 32: In page 25, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following: "(7) A person or couple who prior to the commencement of this part completed an intercountry adoption effected outside the State may notwithstanding this Act effect another such adoption within 5 years of the former adoption from the same State having first obtained a declaration of suitability in...

Adoption Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (29 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: I move amendment No. 34: In page 25, line 14, after "Executive" to insert "or other accredited body". These amendments relate to allowing a body other than the HSE to furnish a report as to the suitability of someone to adopt to the adoption authority. We went into the reasons for this in great detail on Committee Stage and I will give the Minister an opportunity to respond as to whether he...

Adoption Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (29 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: I move amendment No. 36: In page 25, to delete lines 29 and 30. These amendments propose in section 23(1) to delete the specific reference stating: "The Authority shall not make an adoption order unless the child— (b) at the date of the application, is not more than 7 years of age,". The proposal is to delete that provision and substitute on page 25, line 45, which is section 24(2), an...