Results 3,601-3,620 of 74,100 for speaker:Bernard Durkan

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Mortgage Resolution Processes (14 Nov 2023)

Bernard Durkan: I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this issue again and I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to respond. I brought this to the attention of the House some days ago. It still goes on. I alert the House about the degree to which lending agencies, namely investment funds, otherwise known as vulture funds, and some of the standard banks, are hustling...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Regeneration Projects (14 Nov 2023)

Bernard Durkan: County Kildare as well.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Budget 2024 Expenditure Ceiling and Resource Allocation for the Department of Health and HSE: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Bernard Durkan: I welcome our guests. The issue of overruns was raised with the Secretary General of the Department of Health and with the head of the HSE recently. When overruns occur on a regular basis in a Department, does the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform have a system that triggers an alarm? I have raised questions about this in the House every year,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Budget 2024 Expenditure Ceiling and Resource Allocation for the Department of Health and HSE: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Bernard Durkan: In the course of a year there are regular reviews of expenditure in each Department, as our guests have already mentioned. Given that the Department of Health is demand-led, is special attention paid to the trends if and when they develop? At the beginning of the first quarter of the year, for example, is it clear that there is a problem arising, or one that could arise by the end of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Budget 2024 Expenditure Ceiling and Resource Allocation for the Department of Health and HSE: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Bernard Durkan: Could it have taken action at that stage?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Budget 2024 Expenditure Ceiling and Resource Allocation for the Department of Health and HSE: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Bernard Durkan: Were they accurately quantified?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Budget 2024 Expenditure Ceiling and Resource Allocation for the Department of Health and HSE: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Bernard Durkan: It would appear to me that it should not be impossible to identify the full extent of any legacy issues. For example, recruitment took place within the Department of Health and the HSE in the last nine or ten months. To what extent did it take place and has the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform ascertained the degree to which recruitment has...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Budget 2024 Expenditure Ceiling and Resource Allocation for the Department of Health and HSE: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Bernard Durkan: Mr Moloney mentioned earlier that the Department of Health and the HSE are the best funded in Europe. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Budget 2024 Expenditure Ceiling and Resource Allocation for the Department of Health and HSE: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Bernard Durkan: That would be the normal measurement in any other country. Why are we ahead of everybody else? Why are we more expensive than anywhere else?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Budget 2024 Expenditure Ceiling and Resource Allocation for the Department of Health and HSE: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Bernard Durkan: Somebody recently mentioned to me that it looked as if there was no reining in of expenditure in the Department of Health, and that it was a question of "ongoing". At what stage does it go beyond the limits of all the European countries and becomes what he suggested would be one of the most expensive health services in the world?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Budget 2024 Expenditure Ceiling and Resource Allocation for the Department of Health and HSE: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Bernard Durkan: Is Mr. Moloney saying that it would appear the brakes were off and there was a headlong rush to recruit, for whatever reason, without going through the necessary and normal constraints?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Budget 2024 Expenditure Ceiling and Resource Allocation for the Department of Health and HSE: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Bernard Durkan: During the Covid pandemic, it was entirely understandable that certain measures had to be taken that would not normally be taken. On recruitment, given the very serious strains the health services had to work under, which they did very well during the pandemic, to what extent could the projected expenditure have been measured more carefully in the aftermath of that pandemic and crisis, in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Budget 2024 Expenditure Ceiling and Resource Allocation for the Department of Health and HSE: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Bernard Durkan: Will the Department suggest to the Department of Health and the HSE any particular areas where they might be able to get involved to prevent overruns such as the one we are having now? When was the last time that expenditure in the Department of Health came in at, or under, budget level? How does that compare with other Departments?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Budget 2024 Expenditure Ceiling and Resource Allocation for the Department of Health and HSE: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Bernard Durkan: What I am getting at is the extent to which the Department might find it possible to flag difficult areas in future and, instead of having to cease recruitment, whether a means might be found whereby recruitment as required could continue, although it could be done strategically. How strategic was the recruitment over the past 12 months? Mr. Moloney seemed to suggest that it could have been...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Budget 2024 Expenditure Ceiling and Resource Allocation for the Department of Health and HSE: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Bernard Durkan: Will that mean that those on the front line will be able to depend on the continuation of funding to the end of the year? This year has obviously still to be dealt with, but can that happen in subsequent years? We have had this discussion with the Department of Health. Again and again, and I have seen this and raised it every year after the budget, the question arose whether sufficient...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Funding (14 Nov 2023)

Bernard Durkan: 639. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development to report of the successes achieved through the Social Innovation Fund; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49994/23]

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Priorities (14 Nov 2023)

Bernard Durkan: 18. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the extent to which she and her Department propose to ensure the widest possible availability of schemes likely to be of major assistance to communities throughout the country, including interaction on a north/south basis or otherwise; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49676/23]

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Priorities (14 Nov 2023)

Bernard Durkan: 25. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the degree to which she continues to fund investment in vital infrastructure throughout rural and urban areas in such a way as to encourage the retention of jobs and the attraction of investors in jobs throughout the regions; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49675/23]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (14 Nov 2023)

Bernard Durkan: 221. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if all efforts can be made to ensure a school place in a local ASD unit can be provided in the case of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49878/23]

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Nov 2023)

Bernard Durkan: 298. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the progress to date in determination of eligibility for fuel allowance in the case of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49711/23]