Results 3,501-3,520 of 19,445 for speaker:Brian Cowen

Leaders' Questions (10 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: It is the usual cheap jibe from him and it ill-becomes him.

Leaders' Questions (10 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: We are dealing with circumstances in respect of which I want to make sure the facts are available. I want to see what lessons will have to be learned in the hospital system in general but in the meantime the clinical review must be completed as a matter of urgency to provide some reassurance for worried patients.

Leaders' Questions (10 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: That is not true.

Leaders' Questions (10 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: I am not going to go down that road other than to say the Minister, Deputy Harney, has my confidence. She has been a reforming Minister for Health and Children and has brought about more changes for the reform of the health sector than any of her predecessors. She has been absolutely committed to bringing forward quality assurance mechanisms in the system so that we have accountability and...

Leaders' Questions (10 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: -----and that we try to eliminate risks.

Leaders' Questions (10 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: Clinical decisions are made by people and are subject to human error. I am speaking generally and not specifically about this case, to which I will return.

Leaders' Questions (10 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: The idea that there is a prospect of having a system that works perfectly in every respect is not correct. It is about making sure that we have a system that is accountable, which identifies issues as they arise, deals with them and ensures lessons are learned from them. It is about ensuring best practice models are put in place across the system. The great problem of the health system...

Leaders' Questions (10 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: That is the first point.

Leaders' Questions (10 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: I have answered Deputy Gilmore in respect of that aspect of his question.

Leaders' Questions (10 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: On the next aspect of his question, what happened is that the Minister, Deputy Harney, met with the chief executive officer of Tallaght hospital, who had been appointed to that post the previous day, and others in regard to an issue about the Coombe Hospital and how it would be dealt with in terms of how that hospital would be involved with Tallaght hospital in the future. At the end of that...

Leaders' Questions (10 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: In regard to the question of the level of risk, I am simply making the point that statistically, based on what we have seen thus far, the fact that there has been a delayed diagnosis in just two of the 38,000 cases is an indication - not a confirmation but an indicative, statistical indication - that we are dealing with relatively low risk. In regard to the remaining 23,000 that have yet to...

Leaders' Questions (10 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: The problem is, as the Deputy observed, that there are people very worried about what has happened. A helpline has been established to deal with concerns people may raise. The ideal situation would be to allow the clinical review to be completed, and we will see whether that can be accelerated. I am trying to put the issue in context and to convey to people in a responsible way what one...

Public Service Reform. (10 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: I propose to take Questions Nos.1 to 3, inclusive, together. The review of the Irish public service, "Towards an Integrated Public Service", published in 2008, benchmarked the public service in Ireland against other comparable countries and made recommendations as to the further direction of public service reform. It confirmed the many strengths of the system and identified challenges that...

Public Service Reform. (10 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: I have not entered into any public or private speculation in regard to any upcoming arrangements regarding how Government is organised and I do not intend to do so here. On the question of e-Government, according to the latest European Union Commission e-Government benchmarks, Ireland's ranking for on-line sophistication has improved from 17th position in 2007 to joint 7th position, with an...

Public Service Reform. (10 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: As employer, the Government is of course available to engage with its employees and their representatives in regard to any industrial relations matters that arise, and matters certainly arise at present. Obviously, however, we have to find a realistic basis upon which that engagement can take place. Using existing and well-established channels of communication regarding the handling of the...

Public Service Reform. (10 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: The record will show I did not suggest the time was not right for discussions at present. I am simply saying there is a need to find a realistic basis upon which an engagement can take place. The Government has been and is available at all times as an employer to discuss matters of interest to its employees' representatives and trade unions. Obviously, however, we need a realistic basis...

Public Service Reform. (10 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: I regard it as a rather simplistic notion to suggest that the structure of the Department of the Public Service is the determining factor as to what level of public service reform can be achieved. In successive social partnership agreements over the past seven agreements since the era to which the Deputy refers, there has been far more public service reform available under social partnership...

Public Service Reform. (10 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: I did not end social partnership. We may not have a public service pay agreement but we still have the framework of Towards 2016, a ten-year arrangement which is still in place and which still informs policy.

Public Service Reform. (10 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: It might remind the Deputy of some of his old Stalinist - from his old days-----

Public Service Reform. (10 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: As the authors of social partnership, we happen to have a belief in it. It is unfortunate we were unable to successfully come to an agreement before Christmas; that is a matter of regret. However, at the end of the day, the Government had a responsibility to discharge and we had to proceed. Both the Deputy and I have acknowledged the extensive work of those talks. They set out a blueprint...