Results 4,241-4,260 of 11,187 for speaker:Colm Burke

Written Answers — Department of Health: Healthcare Infrastructure Provision (25 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: 589. To ask the Minister for Health when the new extension of a facility (details supplied) which is fully completed with 60 additional beds, will be fully operational; if the required number of nurses, care assistants, porters and administrative staff have been recruited; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52798/22]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Healthcare Infrastructure Provision (25 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: 590. To ask the Minister for Health when work on the Golf Links Hotel in Blarney, County Cork, which was purchased by the HSE for the provision of step-down beds, will be completed; when it is envisaged that this facility will be fully staffed and operational; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52799/22]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services (25 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: 591. To ask the Minister for Health if he will set out in detail the number of additional step down-beds that will become available in each of the HSE operational areas from 1 November 2022, given that there will be increased pressures in the hospital services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52800/22]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Healthcare Policy (25 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: 592. To ask the Minister for Health if he will clarify the current position in respect of the discharge of patients from hospitals to step-down facilities in cases in which the patient or their immediate family are given no say by the HSE in respect of which step-down facility they are transferred to; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52801/22]

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Brexit Supports (25 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: 722. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when successful businesses will be awarded funding under the second call of the Brexit impact loan scheme for those in the agri-food sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53377/22]

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Departmental Expenditure (25 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: 761. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the investment by his Department in research and innovation that is focused on the delivery of climate action and solutions for farmers, particularly with regard to supporting farmers in achieving the 25% target of lowering greenhouse gas emissions for the agriculture sector by 2030; and if he will make a statement on the matter....

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Funding (25 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: 809. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the amount of grant funding that will be made available for businesses under the streetscape enhancement scheme to assist with the upgrade and enhancement of shop fronts; the number of towns that have been selected to date under the scheme by county in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53471/22]

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 3 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Chapter 4 - Reallocation of Voted Funding (20 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: I thank our guests for coming in today. My apologies for arriving late but I had other meetings to attend. On the overall expenditure by the Government, part of that expenditure is funding that is provided by the relevant Departments to local authorities. Does the Department believe there is enough scrutiny of how local authorities use that money? I know they are accountable to the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 3 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Chapter 4 - Reallocation of Voted Funding (20 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: Have there been cases where the Department has expressed concern in relation to the allocation of funding, and it not necessarily being used in the area that it was assigned to? I know there is a local government auditor but have concerns been raised with the Department in relation to this issue?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 3 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Chapter 4 - Reallocation of Voted Funding (20 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: In the discussion earlier, some of my colleagues raised the issue of value for money. One of the problems that is arising now is the timeframe from the time a project is started to the time it finally gets approval. For instance, the documentation on the new elective hospital for Cork was submitted by the South/Southwest Hospital Group in January, and we still do not have a decision from...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 3 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Chapter 4 - Reallocation of Voted Funding (20 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: If one takes the elective hospital issue which I am raising here, we are ten months on and we have no decision. We are now talking about a completely different budget to what we were talking about ten months ago, and we still do not get an explanation as to why it is taking so long. Some clarification needs to be given as to why projects are taking so long. I am aware of another project,...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 3 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Chapter 4 - Reallocation of Voted Funding (20 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: I fully understand that but the problem I have is that on this elective hospital issue, it has taken ten months. The decision had been made that we need it but the two Departments have not signed off on it. We have not even gone to planning stage or started that process. Why does it take ten months to come to a decision where everyone already accepts that we need to build this hospital and...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 3 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Chapter 4 - Reallocation of Voted Funding (20 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: Is the Secretary General saying that the Department of Health did not send it on to his Department between January and September?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 3 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Chapter 4 - Reallocation of Voted Funding (20 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: My apologies for interrupting the Secretary General. The Secretary General of the Department of Health appeared before this committee and I was advised that the decision on the elective hospital in Cork would be made in mid-October and this is on the public record. The Secretary General is now telling me that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform did not receive the documentation...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 3 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Chapter 4 - Reallocation of Voted Funding (20 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: I will go back to the issue of tenders. There are timeframes within which local authorities have to comply in respect of planning. From the time tenders are accepted and are actually submitted, and where, for instance, there is a deadline set for 1 October for all the tenders to be submitted, what is the deadline within Departments for a Department to come to a decision in respect of to...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 3 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Chapter 4 - Reallocation of Voted Funding (20 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: But does the Secretary General not accept that it is now time to put such a guideline in place?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 3 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Chapter 4 - Reallocation of Voted Funding (20 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: So are planning permissions.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 3 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Chapter 4 - Reallocation of Voted Funding (20 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: There are still timelines with which local authorities still have to comply no matter how complex, and they have to come back with a decision. They may look for further information but I am saying that we have tenders that are sitting in Departments and in the meantime, the cost of doing the project has gone through the roof. Like in the case of the Glashaboy flood relief scheme, the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 3 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Chapter 4 - Reallocation of Voted Funding (20 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: I thank the Secretary General.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 3 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Chapter 4 - Reallocation of Voted Funding (20 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: I will come back to another health issue, namely, the fair deal scheme and the current disparity between public and private homes. Last weekend, I heard that a private nursing home gets €950 per week per bed, whereas a public nursing home just a little further down the road cost €1,900 per bed per week. The problem at the moment is that private nursing homes are closing and 16...