Results 2,701-2,720 of 20,459 for speaker:Frances Fitzgerald

Leaders' Questions (23 Feb 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: I will ask the Minister for Health to communicate directly with the Deputy on this situation in Donegal around patients who have diabetes. The Minister will be able to give a detailed reply on the particular local issues in Donegal and Sligo for those cases highlighted by Deputy Pringle today. The goal is to provide high quality service to patients, such as those the Deputy has...

Leaders' Questions (23 Feb 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Minister for Health is also taking an initiative with the National Treatment Purchase Fund to ensure waiting lists can be dealt with more effectively than at present. It is an extra initiative to ensure that patients' needs are responded to. While I do not have the details, I will ask the Minister to link with the Deputy. Clearly, the focus is on recruitment and there has been a change...

Leaders' Questions (23 Feb 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: I have been highlighting a range of actions which we need to take, and are taking, to deal with the Deputy's point about the gender pay gap. By this series of actions, we will arrive at a point when there is more equality on the gender pay gap. Many things can be done. Reversing the cuts to the minimum wage makes a difference. Promoting wage transparency by requiring companies with more...

Leaders' Questions (23 Feb 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: We want management and unions to continue to work together to find a solution. That is what will happen in this dispute, the same as every other dispute.

Leaders' Questions (23 Feb 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: We have a good history in hundreds and thousands of situations of using the WRC and the Labour Court, and this is clearly what needs to happen in this situation.

Leaders' Questions (23 Feb 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: The first point is about gender equality. I saw the details of the report mentioned by the Deputy and they need examination. There were quite a number of areas where it was highlighted how well Ireland is doing. In terms of child care, the Government is investing more than has ever been invested in child care. The Deputy quite rightly states that for women combining work and family life,...

Leaders' Questions (23 Feb 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: I made the point earlier that the best way out of poverty and to be able to sustain one's family is having a job.

Leaders' Questions (23 Feb 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: I know the Opposition does not like to acknowledge it but unemployment has decreased from 15.5% to 6.8%. Perhaps that is a statistic that should be focused on. It makes a difference to people's lives if they have an opportunity to be in a job and supporting their family. Most people want the opportunity to work. Tens of thousands of people have gone back to work, so the Deputies might...

Leaders' Questions (23 Feb 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: I have already outlined the approach that is being taken in relation to the increased costs. The Minister will bring a memorandum to the Cabinet in that regard. There has been building inflation and that has to be taken into account. Extra facilities that were not in the original plan are now being provided. I refer to the educational and research centre, for example, which will be funded...

Leaders' Questions (23 Feb 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: We absolutely need to have our children's hospital. Is anybody suggesting we should not go ahead with our children's hospital?

Leaders' Questions (23 Feb 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: Of course we will go ahead with it.

Leaders' Questions (23 Feb 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: It has already begun. It will be delivered in the near future. It will work according to the plan that has been outlined.

Leaders' Questions (23 Feb 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: As I have said, the Government has taken a decision about the site and has provided the funding.

Leaders' Questions (23 Feb 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: We will continue to provide the funding. That is a commitment.

Leaders' Questions (23 Feb 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: We need our children's hospital and we are committed to delivering it.

Leaders' Questions (23 Feb 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: There have been decades of discussion about the need for a new children's hospital and, in the aftermath of that, the country is about to get a new children's hospital that it badly needs and that the children in this country deserve. This Government has ensured that a child-friendly, high-specification, proper hospital for our children based on a world-class design will be completed.

Leaders' Questions (23 Feb 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: The hospital and its satellite centres will be a research-intensive academic health care institution providing the very best of care day in, day out. This Government has ensured that a site has been selected and the works have begun on that site. The original estimate was €630 million-----

Leaders' Questions (23 Feb 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: -----which was the core building cost of the hospital at the time. We all know that there has been building inflation. This was expected to be 3%. Everyone in this House knows it is running at 9%. That figure did not include some of the issues being spoken about at present in connection with the cost. The information technology, IT, cost was always going to have to be taken into account....

Leaders' Questions (23 Feb 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: That has been included and will be funded other than from that €630 million, which was the original cost of the build. We have moved the situation to the point whereby there is clarity about the site, work has begun and people are on site doing those early jobs that are required. In addition, we have a hospital design that everybody agrees is world class. We will have a...

Leaders' Questions (23 Feb 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: There has been detailed engagement, as the Minister, Deputy Coveney, has often outlined here, between his Department and local authorities to ensure that housing is built as rapidly as possible. It is worth looking at some of the initiatives that have taken place and have been delivered already. In 2016, 18,380 social housing supports were provided to people, exceeding the target of 17,240,...