Results 4,461-4,480 of 15,491 for speaker:Eamon Gilmore

Leaders' Questions (20 Sep 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: When it comes to gall, Fianna Fáil has it in abundance. After 14 years of doubling the expenditure in health and doubling the number working in the system, it left us with a health service that was worse than when it got it.

Leaders' Questions (20 Sep 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: This Government is in the process of repairing that. We have a strong team in the Department of Health-----

Leaders' Questions (20 Sep 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: -----led by the Minister, Deputy Reilly, and the Ministers of State, Deputies Shortall and Kathleen Lynch.

Leaders' Questions (20 Sep 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: They are getting on with the job of repairing the health service that Fianna Fáil broke. I expect and am confident that they are going to deliver on that.

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Consular Services Availability (20 Sep 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: I am aware of the situation concerning the person referred to by the Deputy. As the person referred to is not an Irish citizen, it is not possible for my Department to offer him consular assistance. The Greek authorities are under no legal obligation to assist our Embassy with any requests made in connection with this investigation, as we have no locus standi in the matter. Embassies have...

Confidence in the Minister for Health: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (19 Sep 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: To come into this House and cry crocodile tears for older people and people with disabilities when it is was they and they alone who put a catastrophic hole in the national finances is a cynical move indeed. The adjustments to the budget in the health service over the past number of years have been difficult. Since 2010, €1.75 billion has been removed from the health budget and...

Confidence in the Minister for Health: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (19 Sep 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: Throughout all of this we are getting on with fundamental reform of the health service-----

Confidence in the Minister for Health: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (19 Sep 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: -----reforms that stem from a core belief that every citizen in this country has a right to be treated when sick regardless of income.

Confidence in the Minister for Health: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (19 Sep 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: Fianna Fáil has never believed in this simple principle. It defended the two tier health system to its last breadth. It now says that because nothing changed under its leadership then nothing can ever change. This is the first Government in the history of the State that is committed to a fair, single tier health system underpinned by universal health insurance. It will not happen...

Confidence in the Minister for Health: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (19 Sep 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: Together with the Minister, Deputy Reilly, my party colleagues, the Ministers of State, Deputy Róisín Shortall and Deputy Kathleen Lynch, have been working extensively on progressing these reforms. Under the first phase of free GP care for people-----

Confidence in the Minister for Health: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (19 Sep 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: -----with certain chronic illnesses some 300 key primary care staff will be in place by the end of this year. I commend the two Ministers of State on their work, in particular the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, for her work in the area of disability and for progressing the development of mental health care in the community, something that has been neglected for far too long.

Confidence in the Minister for Health: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (19 Sep 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: Let us be clear, this Government-----

Confidence in the Minister for Health: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (19 Sep 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: -----and its Minister for Health is dealing with the catastrophic mess left behind by Fianna Fáil.

Confidence in the Minister for Health: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (19 Sep 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: Fianna Fáil is in no position to take this Government to task over the work it has been doing reforming the health service and making progress. We are doing this as fairly as possible. We have protected and will continue to protect those who are most dependent on health and care services. We do not always get it right and we are not afraid when we do not get it right to admit our...

Confidence in the Minister for Health: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (19 Sep 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: Most of all, we respect the people who elected us to fix this broken country. We have been doing that for the past 18 months and will continue with that job, which will continue with reform of the health service which is being led by the Minister, Deputy James Reilly and Ministers of State, Deputies Shortall and Lynch.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: General Affairs Council Meeting: Discussion (19 Sep 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: The issue the Senator has raised relates back to Deputy Donohoe's questions regarding banking recapitalisation. It is important to take stock of how far we have come in this regard. When the Government came into office 18 months ago, shortly after the agreement of the EU-IMF-ECB programme, the State was unable to borrow money from any private source. That is the position in which we found...

Confidence in the Minister for Health: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (19 Sep 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: The motion before us is one of the most cynical examples of political gamesmanship seen in this House. Fianna Fáil accuses the Government of failing to meet its budget commitments in the health service because it claims it will impact on patients and services to disabled people and the elderly. One must wonder whether Fianna Fáil Members were thinking of these same people when...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: General Affairs Council Meeting: Discussion (19 Sep 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: Deputy Dooley raises the interesting question as to whether a small state like Ireland should be rocking the boat. The problem with rocking a boat is that it makes one seasick. I prefer to think in terms of helping to steer the boat. That is the space we are in. At an organisational level, when we take on the Presidency of the European Union at the beginning of next year we will be in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: General Affairs Council Meeting: Discussion (19 Sep 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: I agree with Deputy O'Reilly that the priority and the focus in Europe now needs to be on jobs and growth. As he said, there has been, quite rightly, a strong emphasis on budgetary discipline over recent times. Obviously, that will remain. We all have to recognise that if the European economy is to recover, there has to be economic growth. In particular, there has to be employment. The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: General Affairs Council Meeting: Discussion (19 Sep 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: I thank the Chairman. As always, it is a pleasure to have this opportunity to meet the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Union Affairs and to brief it ahead of this month's meeting of the General Affairs Council which will take place in Brussels on Monday, 24 September. The General Affairs Council will meet for a morning session next Monday. I will represent Ireland and will be joined...