Results 19,661-19,680 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Written Answers — Department of Health: Covid-19 Pandemic (15 Jul 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: Mandatory hotel quarantine (MHQ) has been introduced as one element of Ireland’s public health measures to combat the transmission of Covid-19 and to protect the population when there is a high risk of importation of infection from Covid-19 and from challenges posed by new variants of concern. As of 21st June a total of six hotels with the capacity of 1,376 rooms are in use for MHQ....

Seanad: Health (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021: Second and Subsequent Stages (16 Jul 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I am pleased to address the House on the Health (Amendment)(No. 2)Bill 2021. The Bill makes provision to open indoor hospitality under certain conditions and makes minor amendments to the system of mandatory hotel quarantine. The Bill will give effect to the Government’s decision to enable access to relevant indoor premises for fully vaccinated persons and persons who are immune from...

Seanad: Health (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021: Second and Subsequent Stages (16 Jul 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank Senators for their contributions. There was a marked difference between them and some of those made in the Dáil. I congratulated Deputy Bacik on entering the Dáil but suggested to her that she would see some different styles of debate there compared with what that which obtains in the Seanad. I thank everybody for a useful debate, which included much criticism that I...

Seanad: Health (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021: Second and Subsequent Stages (16 Jul 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: What about staff? People are saying, as an act of solidarity, to let everyone into the pubs. Think about that for a second. They are saying to put people's lives at risk as an act of solidarity. We have to be careful when we talk about solidarity. Outside of this place, people get what this means. Some contributors stated that this is not enforceable. At the same time, however, they...

Seanad: Health (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021: Second and Subsequent Stages (16 Jul 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I met Professor Nolan and Dr. Holohan this morning and they admitted that there is a great deal of uncertainty in this regard.How transmissible is this virus in children? We do not know that yet. What response will there be from society? Will we have the same level of response as we had the last time? I hope so but we do not know. We do not know how bad it will get but there are things...

Seanad: Mandatory Hotel Quarantine Extension: Motion (16 Jul 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: Following our earlier session, when the House discussed amendments to the mandatory hotel quarantine provisions of the Health Act 1947, I am now proposing to extend the provisions of the Health (Amendment) Act 2021 with regard to mandatory hotel quarantine to 31 October. The Act contains a sunset clause in section 9. Unless it is extended by resolution passed by each House of the Oireachtas...

Seanad: Mandatory Hotel Quarantine Extension: Motion (16 Jul 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I will come back on some of those medical exemptions. The regulation, which is set out and available online, essentially states that urgent critical care is covered. If there are other areas Senator Warfield wants to talk to me about afterwards, I am more than happy to give him a view. The Senator asked how the states are designated. Global analysis is carried out on a rolling basis of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (14 Jul 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for the question. My understanding is that a huge amount of work was done over a significant period of time in that mediation, which was chaired by Mr. Mulvey. The agreement that was reached worked for the National Maternity Hospital and St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group. The question we are all asking is whether it works for the State. At this point it is fair to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (14 Jul 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I am not sure what has changed. The Mulvey agreement was put in place. It is being reviewed by the Department, the board of the HSE and this Government. It is an ongoing process. The broad outline, and much of the detail in the Mulvey agreement, is fit for purpose and will serve very well, but it is an ongoing process as to the final-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (14 Jul 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. The Mulvey agreement set out the principles but it did not include, for example, the legal documentation. After the Mulvey agreement set out the principles, there were years of detailed work to enshrine it in legal work. It is not that we are going back to pull apart the Mulvey agreement. The cornerstone of what we all want to achieve is to build as quickly as possible...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (14 Jul 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I fully agree with the Deputy. The Mulvey agreement was a framework agreement. A vast amount of work has been done since then to find a legal agreement that works. Very reasonable questions have been posed recently. People want to be assured of the clinical and operational independence of the new hospital. We need to listen carefully to those concerns and address them. We must listen to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (14 Jul 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: The questions are being raised in part by members of the committee, Members of the Oireachtas and members of civil society. Those are people who have a legitimate desire to see full clinical and operational independence.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (14 Jul 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: Concerns were raised by the Tánaiste in the Dáil quite recently.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (14 Jul 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: We are still engaging with the stakeholders on all of these issues. I reiterate that there is no formal proposal yet that the Department has brought to me or that I have brought to Cabinet. This is an ongoing process which we want to bring to a satisfactory conclusion very quickly.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (14 Jul 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I wish I could give the Deputy an accurate answer as to when that will happen. Engagement is ongoing. There are legitimate outstanding concerns which need to be resolved. As soon as they are resolved, I would like to discuss the final agreement with my colleagues at Cabinet and in the Oireachtas.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (14 Jul 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for his question. I have those figures. A project board is in place to oversee the development of the capital project. The board is chaired by HSE estates and includes representatives from the national maternity hospital, St. Vincent's Healthcare Group, the HSE and the relevant national clinical programme in the Department of Health. The first phase of the capital...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (14 Jul 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: The cost is €51 million, including VAT. I was trying to share what we are getting for that money.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (14 Jul 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: These are enabling works. There has been broad agreement for some time that this would be the location. The State has been criticised in the past for being too slow in its major capital projects. It was a decision for the previous Government. My understanding is that the decision made, which seemed sensible, was that where we could do things in parallel to speed up how quickly we could...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (14 Jul 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: The short answer is "Yes". The then Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, in a meeting with St. Vincent's Healthcare Group, raised the point that the State wanted ownership of the site. My understanding is that the then Secretary General, either at the same meeting or subsequently, raised the same issue. That is in the minutes of the meeting. We can-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (14 Jul 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: It was after the Tánaiste's remarks.