Results 27,101-27,120 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

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 will have to check, but I believe it is just 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: It will come from the HSE. We will have the position clarified. The change is that one does not now need a medical card to qualify for aids and appliances, but there is not an automatic entitlement to them. A number of negotiations with the IMO are under way. Those that have concluded are on pay scales for new entrant consultants. The negotiations on medical cards for the under-sixes...

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

Leo Varadkar: That is correct.

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

Leo Varadkar: On 1 January.

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

Leo Varadkar: Mr. Breslin can tell me and I can tell the Deputy.

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

Leo Varadkar: This is a provision, which means that it may not all be spent. I will provide a breakdown of the figure. The first provision is for the report on the responses received in the public consultation on legislation on the sale of tobacco products and non-medicinal nicotine delivery systems, namely, e-cigarettes. The Institute of Public Health is doing this work on behalf of the Department on 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: The figure is misleading, as the budget has been transferred to the Health Service Executive. Funding for drug abuse and addiction services for the Department and the HSE has increased by more than €2 million this year. There will not be any cut in funding to the local drug task forces, while the provision for needle exchanges, detox beds and mental health services has increased....

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

Leo Varadkar: An explanation is provided in the third footnote on page 38. On 1 January 2014 funding of €21.57 million was transferred from subhead B3, drugs initiatives, to subhead B10 in the HSE Vote in respect of 220 treatment and rehabilitation community drug projects. On 1 January 2015 a further €1.022 million was transferred from subhead B to subhead B10 in the HSE Vote. This is the...

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 situation as I understand it is that these were not false positives. There is a group of around 30 or 40 women - at present, but there could be tens of thousands - who were given an infected batch of anti-D but never tested positive for hepatitis C. They have a group of symptoms which can be linked to hepatitis C but can also be linked to a large number of other illnesses. The...

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

Leo Varadkar: In regard to subhead E2, the Food Safety Promotion Board is the official name of safefood. safefood is the brand name in the same way that the official name of Fáilte Ireland is the National Tourism Development Authority. It is a North-South body, and the reason the provision is being cut is that it is part of an agreement with the North to reduce funding for all North-South bodies....

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

Leo Varadkar: On subhead G - the dissemination of information, conferences and publications in respect of health - this refers to the Healthy Ireland initiative. The main bill under that subhead is for the Healthy Ireland survey, the first survey of the nation's health since Slán in 2007, which is under way. That will now be done every year. If we cannot measure the nation's health we cannot...

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 cost will be borne by restaurants and food producers, but it will not be a very high cost because we have the MenuCal app, a simple app which is free and can be used to calculate the number of calories in most meals. I certainly welcome the Chairman's support and that of the committee because I am sure there will be resistance to the measure. The majority of food service providers that...

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

Leo Varadkar: Is it in the lottery?

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

Leo Varadkar: Yes, but will it come up for debate on a Friday?

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 tried to clarify that as best I could in my opening statement when dealing with subheads I1, I2, I3, I4 and I5. Income for the HSE is not counted in the Vote, which is why it is presented in this way. What we can add to €8,411,717 is the additional €131 million from the health insurers. Under J4, mental health, there is an increase from €41.57 million to €50...

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

Leo Varadkar: In part. A total of €25 million was announced for delayed discharges, and the €10 million for the Fair Deal scheme does not appear in subhead J4 but in the Fair Deal Vote, which is separate. It is under subhead K2. The €15 million is for home care packages.

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 amount for the State Claims Agency is very hard to predict because it is essentially what judgments the courts make or what agreements are made on the steps of the court. As it turned out, the €151 million which was partially provided for in the Supplementary Estimate at the end of last year was not all required. Only €135 million of the €151 million was required....

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 will deal with the primary care reimbursement service, PCRS, first and long-term care after that. On PCRS, we are estimating the budget will be much the same, going slightly down from €2.5 billion to €2.485 billion. That factors in the saving from the drug companies as well as the fact that fewer people are eligible for medical cards because of the improving economy. The...

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 will not comment on individual cases because I do not have access to people's private records. Let me reiterate that somebody might not have a medical card but may have a doctor visit card, a long-term illness card and access to aids and appliances, in which case giving the person a medical card would potentially save money, believe it or not, because he or she would be entitled to less....

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 current capital envelope runs to 2016. Negotiations are under way for the next capital envelope, which will run from 2016 to 2020. Needless to say, a major part of our ask in health is a significant increase in the capital budget for long-term care. A total of 14 priority locations have been identified and they are being progressed through planning to shovel-ready status. I will give...