Results 27,081-27,100 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Protection of Life in Pregnancy (Amendment) (Fatal Foetal Abnormalities) Bill 2013: Second Stage [Private Members] (6 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Deputy Wallace should read the exact paragraph on that in our party's manifesto, which will explain it better for him. Sections 1 and 2 of the Bill state that fatal foetal abnormality means a medical condition suffered by a foetus such that it is incompatible with life outside the womb. No speakers other than Deputy Boyd Barrett mentioned any specific conditions but I will mention two...

Protection of Life in Pregnancy (Amendment) (Fatal Foetal Abnormalities) Bill 2013: Second Stage [Private Members] (6 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: What we do in the Dáil always is debate two laws: the law that is before us and the law of unintended consequences. That is in response to Deputy Coppinger's comment, "So what".

Protection of Life in Pregnancy (Amendment) (Fatal Foetal Abnormalities) Bill 2013: Second Stage [Private Members] (6 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The question we have to address here is the meaning of the term "incompatible with life". Does it mean that the baby can be born alive, which seems to be what some of the speakers opposite have implied? As Deputy Tuffy pointed out, if it does cover babies that can be born alive it is unconstitutional and even if it does not the constitutional protection to the unborn also applies to the...

Protection of Life in Pregnancy (Amendment) (Fatal Foetal Abnormalities) Bill 2013: Second Stage [Private Members] (6 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: That was not a missed miscarriage. Deputy Coppinger does not know what she is talking about. It is quite bad. A missed miscarriage is a case where the foetus is dead in the womb - no heartbeat and no brain activity. It happens all the time in our maternity hospitals, and those dead foetuses are removed by dilatation and curettage, D and C. The Deputy does not understand the legislation...

Protection of Life in Pregnancy (Amendment) (Fatal Foetal Abnormalities) Bill 2013: Second Stage [Private Members] (6 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The proponents opposite are clearly confused. They are making different arguments and believe different issues can arise from this Bill, and that is exactly what we always do with this issue. We pass legislation or amend our Constitution without fully understanding the consequences of that and what we are actually proposing. It is not defined well enough, and it needs to be much better...

Protection of Life in Pregnancy (Amendment) (Fatal Foetal Abnormalities) Bill 2013: Second Stage [Private Members] (6 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I would like to acknowledge the work undertaken by Deputy Clare Daly in the preparation and publication of this amendment to the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act, which is before the House this morning. The Bill provides for lawful termination of pregnancy following a diagnosis of fatal foetal abnormality which is defined in this Bill as "a medical condition suffered by the foetus...

Topical Issue Debate: Drugs-related Deaths (5 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I believe this is an important issue too and it is one that affects my constituency. I would very much welcome a more detailed debate in the House on this. That is a good idea. The Irish drugs-related deaths index is done to the highest standards. Such standards are not adhered to by many other countries. This is the major reason for the relatively high figures of drug-related deaths in...

Topical Issue Debate: Drugs-related Deaths (5 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Drug-related deaths are a human tragedy for the families and friends of the people involved. They have a considerable impact on communities and society as a whole. It is extremely disturbing that many of those who have died as a result of taking drugs were 40 or younger and that a significant number had coexisting addiction and mental illness problems. While it is clear that there are no...

Topical Issue Debate: Hospital Services (5 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: My understanding was that this debate was about medical infrastructure in general. I am happy, however, to stick to the issue of the MRI in Crumlin, which is the Deputy’s major concern. By sheer coincidence I spent three hours in Crumlin today. I was there officially to turn the sod on the new hybrid cardiac catheterisation laboratory, Cath Lab, that is under construction but I took...

Topical Issue Debate: Hospital Services (5 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I do not have much to add other than to answer the Deputy’s question about the shortage of anaesthetists or anaesthesiologists. There are not enough of them around the world. There are shortages in many jurisdictions. If there are any unemployed ones I have never met them. They take a long time to train, six years in medical school and another five or six years of higher training....

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (5 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I am pleased to have the opportunity to address the select sub-committee today on the revised Estimates for 2015 for my Department - Vote 38. I very much welcome the new emphasis on performance in these discussions. The briefing provided to the Deputies this year concentrates on the three particular service areas in which the committee has expressed a particular interest - primary care...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (5 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I thank Deputies for their contributions and will do my best to cover them. As of 8 a.m. this morning, the position on emergency department overcrowding is that there were 372 patients on trolleys in emergency departments or on wards. Of those, 183 had been on trolleys for more than nine hours. As such, it is a significant improvement on the position earlier in the week. That ranges of...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (5 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: So people say. Obviously, I would like to have more money to address waiting times. We do not have it but I would love to get it. If I did have it, we would be able to spend it on reducing waiting times. I am not sure I would use the NTPF mechanism, as the Deputy suggests. What that involves is essentially paying private hospitals to do the work of the public sector. There may be a role...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (5 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: When consultants are doing private work they are not dealing with waiting lists. They are treating private patients who are not on waiting lists - unless the Government pays for public patients to go private, which has been done in the past. Deputy Ó Caoláin made a number of very fair points. He said we needed more nurses, and I agree with him. We had 500 more nurses last year...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (5 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: We undertake individual negotiations, by and large, with the individual companies. The third area in which we seek drug savings is, as Deputy Ó Caoláin mentioned, the issue of preferred drugs and the medicines management programme. GPs can prescribe alternatives to commonly used medicines. For example, in the case of medicines for the treatment of ulcers, there is already an...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (5 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy cannot have one.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (5 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Under the changes made at the end of last year, one does not necessarily need to have a medical card to qualify for aids and appliances. That does not mean, however, that everyone is automatically entitled to aids and appliances. In the past a medical card was the gateway to aids and appliances. There used to be very strange cases where those who needed a prosthesis but who did not want a...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (5 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I do not believe so.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (5 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: It is really for cancer patients.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (5 Feb 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I believe so.