Results 20,821-20,840 of 21,128 for speaker:James Reilly

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

James Reilly: I wish to share my time with Deputies Enright and Flanagan.

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

James Reilly: I have been a Member of this House only for five or six months and the Minister's performance is the best I have seen from any Minister to date. Today is the first time I have seen raw emotion and the first time I have seen the Minister speaking without notes for quite a while.

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

James Reilly: I did not speak during the Deputy's speech and ask that the same courtesy be extended to me. I have a question for Dr. Devins and those on the other side of the House. Why is it only when the Minister's job is on the line that we see this emotion, devotion and talk of patient-centred care? This Minister talks the talk but she does not walk the walk. She provides over a health system that...

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

James Reilly: The Minister promised these wonderful centres of excellence some time in the future while simultaneously stripping existing services with immediate effect in 13 hospitals throughout the State. These cutbacks involved a reduction in breast cancer services in Galway from five days to three days per week, despite its being one of the designated regional centres of excellence which was to serve...

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

James Reilly: I heard what the Minister said on this issue and what John O'Brien of the national hospitals office said. The letter was passed on to the HSE, which passed it on to the network manager, who in turn passed it to the hospital manager. That is the account I received from Mr. O'Brien at the meeting of the Joint Committee on Health and Children last week.

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

James Reilly: The letter was passed on to the hospital manager, who interviewed the consultant concerned, Dr. Naughton. Once it was established that no operations had taken place, that was the end of the matter. The substantive issue in the letter — that the radiology service in Portlaoise was shambolic — was never addressed.

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

James Reilly: To rub salt into the wound, the very locum who had been providing the service about which he complained was appointed in a permanent capacity. That is somebody taking a hands-on approach.

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

James Reilly: The Minister did not even read the letter.

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

James Reilly: At last Thursday's meeting of the Joint Committee on Health and Children, the Minister said it made no difference because it had been dealt with in a thorough and robust fashion.

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

James Reilly: If the Minister's idea of thoroughness and robustness results in what has been the blackest day in the health service for 25 years, I suggest, on that point alone, that she should leave now and not come back. That type of robustness and thoroughness will be the death knell for many people if it is allowed to be repeated.

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

James Reilly: The worst aspect of Thursday's meeting was the crystallisation it offered of what health care under the Minister's stewardship means. Nearly 600 women's files were reviewed and, as I understand it, the 97 that were identified were handed over to HSE officialdom for the women concerned to be contacted. Somebody made a decision on the Minister's watch to let these files pile up in a heap to...

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

James Reilly: With respect, I did not interrupt the Minister.

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

James Reilly: Is that the best the Minister can do? I have declared my interest. Will the Minister declare hers?

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

James Reilly: Is the Minister's interest in her survival or in the care of patients? She wants us to head down the route of the United States where 50 million people have no health insurance. According to Michael Moore's docudrama, Sicko, 18,000 people die there every year because they cannot access medical care. The Minister may not admit it but many on the Government benches recognise that if profit...

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

James Reilly: People forget that the old private hospitals were run by voluntary agencies, mainly religious, and were not for profit. The Minister has demonstrated that she is disengaged. How much time do I have left a Cheann Comhairle?

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

James Reilly: That is good. Where was I?

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

James Reilly: I am not attacking the Minister but rather her policy and her professionalism. She has taken no proper responsibility in her Ministry for accountability and transparency. There is no accountability on the other side of the House. We have a Taoiseach who does not take responsibility for his own affairs and does not hold his Ministers to account. Is it any wonder that this percolates...

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

James Reilly: The Minister has clearly demonstrated that she is disengaged and has no appetite for taking responsibility. She talks the talk but does not walk the walk. She tried to mislead the Dáil in regard to her actions and lack of action. She tried to mislead the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children in regard to the inquiry at Portlaoise General Hospital.

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

James Reilly: I will not.

Confidence in Minister for Health and Children: Motion (27 Nov 2007)

James Reilly: The Minister allowed the Taoiseach to tell this House that the first she knew of the issue at Portlaoise was in August 2007.