Results 23,601-23,620 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I reiterate that if the extension of these cards to those under the age of six and over the age of 70 is the only thing we do, it will not be worth doing. It was never intended to be anything other than a first step. One of the first steps towards universal health care in Ireland was taken in the late 1940s and 1950s, when efforts were made to introduce the mother and child scheme. It is a...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: We have a common view on that. All of those things. That is one of the things being discussed now. I would like to have that agreed as soon as possible and then be able to commit to its implementation in the programme for Government, but my concern is that we will not be able to agree the contract until after the new Government is formed, and then we have to go looking for the money for...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The GP would still get the fee, even if they never attended.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I would not rule it out, actually. Until we get rid of means tests or sickness tests altogether, which is what we should be trying to do, there is no right answer to this. We specifically asked the clinical advisory group to examine that and it did not recommend it, but it did recommend that action on cancer.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: It will never be stood down, because we are never going to get this exactly right. It meets periodically to consider, not individual cases, but instances in which a set of hard cases arises, and then it makes recommendations to the director general.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I apologise for that.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Approximately €330 million was spent between 2009 and 2014 on replacing and upgrading some of these community nursing units, district hospitals and so on. The facility I am most familiar with in my constituency is St. Mary's Hospital in the park, which has now been replaced by a fabulous community nursing unit. An additional €200 million is to be spent in the coming years...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I hope they went to Cork University Hospital and not the Bons Secours Hospital. The issues are similar elsewhere. In the case of another graduating class, three quarters chose to stay and one quarter decided to go.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I do not have a breakdown of the detail. However, the general backdrop is an international shortage of nurses. The reason Irish nurses are in Canada and the Middle East and the reason Filipino nurses are in Ireland is because there is an international shortage. There is no surplus of nurses in the world. We are all begging from each other. Moreover, for a period during the recession we...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Yes, we have received it.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Supplementary) (8 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I am unsure whether it was changed from sterling in the transfer, but we have it.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Food Safety Standards (8 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) is a notification system introduced under the General Food Law (Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002). It is operated by the European Commission to exchange information on identified hazards between Member States. It covers food, food contact materials and animal feed. This information helps Member States to act more rapidly and in a coordinated...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Staff Recruitment (8 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly on this matter. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Waiting Lists (8 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Under the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive (HSE) is required to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. Section 6 of the HSE Governance Act 2013 bars the Minister for Health from directing the HSE to provide a treatment or a personal service to any individual or to confer eligibility on any individual. The National...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Transfers (8 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Under the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive (HSE) is required to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. Section 6 of the HSE Governance Act 2013 bars the Minister for Health from directing the HSE to provide a treatment or a personal service to any individual or to confer eligibility on any individual. In relation to...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Waiting Lists (8 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Under the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive (HSE) is required to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. Section 6 of the HSE Governance Act 2013 bars the Minister for Health from directing the HSE to provide a treatment or a personal service to any individual or to confer eligibility on any individual. The National...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Waiting Lists (8 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Under the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive (HSE) is required to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. Section 6 of the HSE Governance Act 2013 bars the Minister for Health from directing the HSE to provide a treatment or a personal service to any individual or to confer eligibility on any individual. The National...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Meetings with Lobbyists (8 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Since my appointment as Minister for Health I received representations, including requests for meetings, from a range of sources, including members of the Oireachtas, local and voluntary groups, private individuals, companies and representative associations. The information requested by the Deputy can be seen in the following table. I have received 58 requests for meetings and had 22...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Departmental Expenditure (8 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The details sought by the Deputy are set out in the following table up to June 2015. I will advise the Deputy separately if any such payments were made since June. It is the policy of the Department to keep costs in relation to the use of photographers to a minimum. Photographers are usually booked through the Press and Communications Office. From time to time individual units may incur...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Public Relations Contracts Data (8 Dec 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The Press and Communications Office of the Department liaises with the media on behalf of the Department and does not use the services of public relations companies. The Department did not spend any money on public relations consultants between July 2014 and December 2014. During 2015 external public relations expertise was required for the development of the Healthy Ireland Council....