Results 26,121-26,140 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Groups (28 Apr 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Hospital Groups have been established on an administrative basis and my priority for 2015 is to get all the Hospital Groups up and running as single cohesive entities. Primary legislation will be required in due course to give full effect to the introduction of Hospital Trusts. While Future Health sets the broad direction of travel for reforming the system, it was always made clear that...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Consultants Recruitment (28 Apr 2015)

Leo Varadkar: At the end of 2014, two consultant transplant surgeons left the renal and pancreas transplant programme at Beaumont Hospital, one on retirement and the second on leave of absence for professional development purposes. Given the limited number of surgeons who specialise in transplantation, the filling of any vacancies poses a challenge. Every effort is currently being made to fill these...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Departmental Reports (28 Apr 2015)

Leo Varadkar: A literature review of Independent Hospital Trusts was requested from the Health Research Board by my Department in 2011, to inform policy development. It is regarded as best practice that academic articles and reviews undergo peer review prior to publication. The Health Research Board advised my Department that the peer review undertaken identified a requirement for some further work on this...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Services (28 Apr 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: Hospitals Expenditure (28 Apr 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 325 to 327, inclusive together. All Government Departments and Agencies funded from the Exchequer must comply with EU Directives and national guidelines on procurement. Procurement in the health care sector is a service matter. Therefore your question has been referred to the HSE for direct reply. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Services (28 Apr 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I advise the Deputy that St Vincent's University Hospital will remain as the national liver transplant centre.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Staff (28 Apr 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: Tobacco Control Measures (28 Apr 2015)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy will be aware, under Section 38 (1) of the Public Health (Tobacco) Acts 2002 to 2013 it is an offence for a person to sell cigarettes by retail in packets of less than twenty cigarettes. This provision was introduced as a method of maintaining a high price level for tobacco products in order to make them less accessible to children. The majority of smokers become addicted in...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Departmental Staff Remuneration (28 Apr 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The Health Service Executive has been asked to examine this matter and to reply to the Deputy as soon as possible. If the Deputy has not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days, please contact my Private Office who will follow up the matter with them.

Topical Issue Debate: Hospital Services (23 Apr 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I thank Deputy Ó Fearghaíl for raising this issue and for giving me the opportunity to address the matter in the House. The national kidney and pancreas transplant programme is currently provided at Beaumont Hospital. In 2014 Beaumont carried out 192 kidney transplants, including 152 from deceased donors and 40 from living donors, as well as six pancreas transplants. The...

Topical Issue Debate: Hospital Services (23 Apr 2015)

Leo Varadkar: This current issue relates to pancreas transplantation, not kidney transplantation. Dialysis is for kidney treatment and not pancreas problems. The renal unit seems to be working relatively well in Beaumont. Certainly, it has not been the case that any kidneys that could have been transplanted in Ireland were exported or anything like that. I am not involved in recruitment to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Apr 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Good morning Chairman and members of the committee. I am pleased to be here today to bring these public hearings on the general scheme of a new public health (alcohol) Bill 2015 to a close. Before I start, I would like to remind the committee that at the start of the year the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch and I set out our 25 actions for the year and grouped them around five themes....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Apr 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Turn it off before getting into the car.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Apr 2015)

Leo Varadkar: It is still distracting.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Apr 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I hope I have jotted down all the questions and I am sorry if I miss any. The analysis of Deputy Ó Caoláin is totally correct. It is 11 litres per person, but that includes the whole population, including the 20% of people who are teetotallers. That brings the average down. We have a higher proportion of teetotallers than other countries. The intention is that the Bill will be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Apr 2015)

Leo Varadkar: One potentially could, but it was not agreed. That is the bottom line. Some people assume that minimum unit pricing will result in a revenue boost for the Exchequer. I hope there will not be; I hope minimum unit pricing works to bring down consumption and therefore there is not an increase in revenue. I actually hope the revenue goes down because if we get alcohol consumption down from 11...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Apr 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I see the Chairman's point. Until recently one of my local clubs was sponsored by a nightclub and it is not unusual for a club to be sponsored by a local bar, so I see the contradiction.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Apr 2015)

Leo Varadkar: That is a debate we will have for a long time. I do not get all that upset over seeing President Obama having a pint of Guinness. It is not the pint of Guinness that is causing our problems, but it is the excessive numbers of pint of Guinness.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Apr 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I get the point. I just wonder if there is a risk of going too far into a nanny state space in some of these things. I will not rubbish the Chairman. This legislation was bandied about Government for three or four years and it was not possible to get agreement on it. We are in year five of the Parliament and I wanted to get good stuff done. As I have said before, and I really mean it,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Apr 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Senator Burke, may I correct what I said earlier? There are penalties in the Intoxicating Liquor Act; however, there are no enforcement powers. There is nobody who can enforce it, so we could commence it but it could not be enforced, which seems pretty pointless. What would happen is that all the retailers would say they would wait until the new legislation comes through to see what they...