Results 321-340 of 459 for speaker:Phil Prendergast

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Nov 2008)

Phil Prendergast: The media is full of reports on failures in the health service. The latest news is that a tragedy like that in the case of the late Susie Long could happen again. More than 1,000 people have been on the colonoscopy waiting list for more than six months. More than 250 people have been waiting for more than a year. This is happening even though we were promised that it would not happen...

Seanad: Fishing Industry: Statements (12 Nov 2008)

Phil Prendergast: I welcome the opportunity to discuss matters relating to the fishing industry and thank the Leader for providing that opportunity. For too long our fishing industry has been sidelined in order to benefit other sectors of the economy. Fishermen have paid a high price and it is to their credit that we have a fishing industry. The Government has shown no vision or interest in this sector and...

Seanad: Medical Cards: Statements (5 Nov 2008)

Phil Prendergast: Will the Minister consider carrying out a pilot scheme at some stage? This could involve choosing a given hospital and examining whether there is a different way of dealing with the budget and its effects on fontline services.

Seanad: Nursing Home Standards: Statements (5 Nov 2008)

Phil Prendergast: It is nice to see the Minister of State again. I welcome most of the standards proposed in this document, particularly those aimed at maintaining the dignity of those in long-term care. However, there are some areas that need to be examined more closely or at least need more explaining. It is essential, after all the delays over the fair deal scheme for nursing home residents, that we get...

Seanad: Medical Cards: Statements (5 Nov 2008)

Phil Prendergast: I too welcome the Minister, Deputy Harney, to the Seanad. I will not repeat many of the points that have been made, but there is major concern in certain areas. I too was in the church on the day of the protest and I was struck by how upset people were. I know many other people were too. I join others in saying I was rather horrified at the way in which the Minister of State, Deputy John...

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Nov 2008)

Phil Prendergast: I would like to be associated with the remarks of the other speakers on the President-elect, Senator Obama, and I wish him well. I express my deep concern at the decision by the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, to roll back on the decision to make available the cervical cancer vaccine. As a health care professional who has regularly gone into schools to undertake the sexual...

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Nov 2008)

Phil Prendergast: I call on the Minister to reverse this decision or at least reconsider it. I would welcome an opportunity to debate the issue with her in the House because there is scope within every health service — the Minister will find the staff of the Health Service Executive more than willing to work with any Minister and any health care professional — to ensure that the best possible health and...

Seanad: Special Educational Needs: Motion (29 Oct 2008)

Phil Prendergast: I want to pick up on some points made by Senator Ó Domhnaill who praised the existing system. This motion is about a worsening of the system. What point was the Senator making? Was he welcoming these cutbacks? The Green Party attacked the Labour Party over something that happened long before I was a member of the party. It has no relevance today or to what has happened now. We have...

Seanad: Special Educational Needs: Motion (29 Oct 2008)

Phil Prendergast: The parents and school teachers who have talked to me and to the Members opposite have not made it up. I know of a child of 14 years of age who escaped the system and has now been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, he is self-harming and expressing a wish that he was dead. There are no facilities in place for him. I have sat in the kitchens of parents of children with autism and heard of...

Seanad: Special Educational Needs: Motion (29 Oct 2008)

Phil Prendergast: I move: Seanad Éireann notes that, in addition to severe cuts in allowances for young persons with disabilities, the recent Budget Statement contains a significant number of measures affecting children with disabilities; Seanad Éireann further notes that children with disabilities are more prone to hospital visits and therefore are likely to be disproportionately affected by the increase in...

Seanad: Health Promotion Priorities: Statements (23 Oct 2008)

Phil Prendergast: I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. I will touch on a few points which have not been covered and on ones to which Senator Bacik referred earlier. I raised on the Order of Business this morning my concern about the severe shortage of midwives in all the major maternity hospitals in light of the current staffing restrictions. The leads me, on the issue of health promotion, to...

Seanad: Health Promotion Priorities: Statements (23 Oct 2008)

Phil Prendergast: ——the fact it would frighten the Minister of State. There is significant interest in the area of sexual health. I visit classes from second year to the leaving certificate. There is great interaction because I get many texts afterwards. Naturally, there is great interest. Some will not ask the questions in class but will follow up on something I said. I do not put a tooth in it, as...

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Oct 2008)

Phil Prendergast: I add my congratulations to the thousands of our elderly who came to the gates of Leinster House yesterday and demonstrated that people will not be ignored. Yesterday, we had to listen to nonsense in this Chamber——

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Oct 2008)

Phil Prendergast: ——about suggestions that the Opposition were busing people to Dublin.

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Oct 2008)

Phil Prendergast: It was an unreal and unpleasant situation. Yesterday morning, I heard the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Deputy Brendan Smith, pronounce on the radio that the Government's changes to the scheme for those aged over 70 was being warmly welcomed throughout the country. What we witnessed outside Leinster House would give lie to that. Will the Leader arrange a debate on the Morris...

Seanad: Broadband Infrastructure Bill 2008: Second Stage (22 Oct 2008)

Phil Prendergast: I welcome the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Eamon Ryan, to the House and thank Senator Shane Ross for doing the Minister's job by introducing this Bill. Despite the small improvements to broadband services, there are still large parts of the country without access to broadband. I encountered much frustration about this when canvassing during the previous...

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Oct 2008)

Phil Prendergast: Will the Leader arrange for the Minister for Health and Children to attend the House to discuss current medical services, in particular, community medical services and the insurance of independent midwives? Such a debate would be timely now rather than later.

Seanad: Economic Policy: Statements (9 Jul 2008)

Phil Prendergast: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh, to the Chamber. It is nice to have someone from home here. I use this opportunity to comment on the economic situation in which we find ourselves. I do not want to be accused of talking down the economy. There is an almost subliminally pervasive air of negativity towards people who wish to deal with the reality of this economic situation...

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Jul 2008)

Phil Prendergast: Let me raise the issue of people who have contracted legionnaires' disease in public buildings. All public buildings should be assessed by the Environmental Protection Agency and health and safety authorities to ensure workers are not open to contracting serious diseases in their places of work. What health and education programmes will be restructured, reorganised or cut in each area...

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Jul 2008)

Phil Prendergast: It is having an adverse impact on people. I am a long time in politics but was never so moved as yesterday when parents of some of the inpatients in the Central Mental Hospital articulated their views so eloquently on issues about which we would never know. I am sure it was very difficult for them to outline their views on the management of health services. The decision to locate the...