Results 26,621-26,640 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Accommodation Provision (11 Mar 2015)

Leo Varadkar: As this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Waiting Lists (11 Mar 2015)

Leo Varadkar: With regard to specific complaints in relation to experiences of individuals in our hospitals, there is a formal complaints policy, entitled “Your Service Your Say”,details of which are on the HSE website, at:. In accordance with this procedure, a complaint must be made in the first instance to the hospital in which the incident causing the complaint occurred. If an individual...

Written Answers — Department of Health: HSE Data (11 Mar 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Data on the total number of people diagnosed with and being treated for thyroid disorders each year are not available. However, data from the Hospital Inpatient Enquiry (HIPE) system showing the numbers of hospitalisations with a principal or secondary diagnosis of disorders of the thyroid gland (ICD-10-AM E00 – E07) are contained in the table below. Year* Number of hospitalisations...

Written Answers — Department of Health: HSE Expenditure (11 Mar 2015)

Leo Varadkar: As this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up.

Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Mar 2015)

Leo Varadkar: That is the advice I have.

Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Mar 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I am sorry that I may have misunderstood the intention of the amendment initially. Frankly, it is an attempt to make my life easier by allowing the Minister for Health to prohibit substances by declaration. The problem is that today's judgment does not allow that. Today's judgment is clear. It states: "Therefore, for all the reasons stated in this judgment, the conclusion that s.2(2)...

Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Mar 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The advice is essentially that for a statutory instrument to be put before the Oireachtas there would have to be policies and principles laid down in law in the first instance to allow that to be done. The only mechanism that we could use to allow the Oireachtas ban new substances is primary legislation. Any declaration or statutory instrument that I would lay before the House would have to...

Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Mar 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I do not propose to support this amendment. In reality it is unnecessary as a result of the court decision today. Any substance we may wish to add to the list of controlled substances can only be done by the Houses of the Oireachtas so should the Government deem it necessary to control another five, six or ten substances next week, or in three weeks time, it will be necessary to do so by...

Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second Stage (10 Mar 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputies, first, for their support for this important legislation and, second, for staying on and staying quite late in large numbers to demonstrate their interest in this broad topic. I should have mentioned in my earlier contribution that it is my intention to submit an early signature motion to the President and ask him to sign this legislation as soon as possible, assuming it...

Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Bill 2015: Order for Second Stage (10 Mar 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I move: "That Second Stage be taken now."

Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second Stage (10 Mar 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am presenting the Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Bill 2015 to the House today as an emergency measure on foot of a judgment earlier today by the Court of Appeal on the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977. I would like to express my appreciation to Whips and the House for agreeing to deal with this Bill at such short notice. The ruling by the court today...

An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhionannas Pósta) 2015: An Dara Céim - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Bill 2015: Second Stage (10 Mar 2015)

Leo Varadkar: "The spirit of self is a great evil; the love of superiority is a great evil. The liberty which I look for is that which would increase the happiness of mankind." So wrote Daniel O’Connell in the late 1790s. He was just 21 years old and about to embark on the career that would make him a national hero and an international champion of the weak and oppressed. Two hundred and forty...

Seanad: Ambulance Services in Dublin: Statements (10 Mar 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I welcome the opportunity to address the House and outline the changes proposed to ambulance services in Dublin. First, I wish to clarify the position on statutory responsibility for the Dublin ambulance service. Historically, the Dublin ambulance service has been provided by Dublin Fire Brigade under fire services legislation. Statutory responsibility for this service, therefore, rests...

Seanad: Ambulance Services in Dublin: Statements (10 Mar 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I will touch briefly on five points. I am not sure these are exact figures but I think Senator Darragh O'Brien said the HSE pays €9.2 million per year to Dublin Fire Brigade which accounts for 6.7% of the budget for the National Ambulance Service. On the face of it that would seem very little given that Dublin has one third of the population of the country. We must bear in mind that...

Seanad: Ambulance Services in Dublin: Statements (10 Mar 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Most of the costs incurred by the National Ambulance Service are not emergency calls, they are inter-hospital transfer and transfer of neonates and transfer of patients and so on. That is the bulk of the work that is done. The difficulty in Dublin at the moment as identified by HIQA is that we currently have two call centres and calls are passed between Dublin Fire Brigade and the National...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Magdalen Laundries (10 Mar 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 356 to 362, inclusive, together. When the Redress for Women Who Were Resident in Certain Institutions Bill has completed its passage in the Oireachtas, the final provisions will be determined. The HSE is currently considering the practical arrangements to be put in place for access to health services for participants living in the State and abroad when the...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Ministerial Responsibilities (10 Mar 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The National Drugs Strategy 2009-2016 is a cross cutting area of public policy and service delivery which requires a coordinated response to tackling the drugs problem. As Minister for Health, I have overall responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy at Government level. The Oversight Forum on Drugs, which I chair, is responsible for the high-level monitoring of the implementation of...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Services (10 Mar 2015)

Leo Varadkar: As this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Treatment Abroad Scheme (10 Mar 2015)

Leo Varadkar: This is a decision that the family itself must make based on the advice of the relevant medical consultant in this case and taking into account the information on both the Cross-Border Directive and Treatment Abroad Scheme options which has been provided by the HSE following the previous question put by the Deputy. The relevant HSE offices will provide further detail if required. It would...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Facilities (10 Mar 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 382 and 383 together. As these are service matters, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up with them.