Results 50,501-50,520 of 51,305 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: I am not casting aspersions on the integrity of any individual, nor do I intend to do so. I gave my perspective to Mr. Travers, as did others. He drew his conclusions from the various statements and discussions people had with him. I ask the House to consider subsequent events. There was a management meeting with the CEOs on 29 March, to which Deputy Rabbitte alluded. Apparently it is...

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: They have clear responsibilities as laid down in the instruments by which they are appointed and they are given clear delineated functions. This has increased in recent years in terms of giving specific functions and specific policy areas to Ministers of State. Generally one tends to let Ministers get on with their job. One does not interfere regularly in their sphere of activities. There may...

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: If the Deputy reads the Travers report, there were two meetings on 10 March. There was one meeting at 9.30 a.m. to discuss the new units. The Deputy may recall that there were difficulties trying to open new units at the time, which caused a lot of pressure. I met the officials at approximately 9.30 a.m. I had hourly meetings that day, up to approximately 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. In the official...

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: The answer in regard to complaints is "no". This was not a major issue in terms of people coming to us in advice centres. The big issue, as the Deputy will agree, is private nursing home charges and the difference between the nursing home subvention and the cost people must pay. If I was to say what was significant judging by the barometer of the people coming to my advice centres on a...

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: I am a Minister at my advice centre. I was a Minister for Health and Children who held weekly advice centres to hear what people had to say.

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: No. In terms of which cases?

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: No, I was not.

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: Only from, in terms of Mr. Travers——

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: According to Mr. Travers they were taken at health board level going back to 1978 and the registrar of wards. That is what Mr. Travers's report says, that the health boards were advised not to contest.

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: I did not realise that at any stage. I mentioned the private nursing home charges as a major issue. I said repeatedly that eligibility in so far as it relates to elderly people, people with disabilities, and geography is a huge question the political system is facing. We know in terms of how private nursing care has evolved and people's access to services that there is a huge difference...

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: I have the Deputy's list of questions. On the system of maladministration, there are and have been excellent officials in the Department of Health and Children. It is the one Department that is, as Mr. Travers says, distinguishable from any other Department in terms of its workload and pressures and the way it reacts to a variety of issues within always finite and determined financial...

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: That is an important point to place on the record of the House because there have been excellent achievements by the Department of Health and Children right across the board over many years and in recent times as well.

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: There is a range of issues. I have made it clear to the House the fundamental fact that I became aware there was an illegal charging regime for long-stay charges when the Attorney General's advice came in late last year. That is the bottom line as far as I am concerned.

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: I have said that consistently from the day I heard of this. I was not aware that long-stay charges were illegally applied since 1976.

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: It is not amazing when one considers that Mr. Travers says no Minister was aware. Why am I supposed to be different from everyone else? Why does Deputy Rabbitte apply different standards to his own Ministers from those he applies to me?

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: I went through all the reviews and Mr. Travers goes through all the reviews. I do not make those accusations about other Ministers. I believe the Travers report that they were not briefed to the extent that there was an illegal charging regime in place. I note that before this report was ever published, Deputy Rabbitte made his assertions and accusations. He had the script written, the...

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: I find great difficulty in having any respect for the credibility of Deputy Rabbitte on this. The point about the infirmity of the pharmacy regulations is fair.

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: I will give the answer now. The senior counsel in the courts wrote a note that was handed to me by an official, I had not been briefed on it.

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: Does the Deputy want to know the truth? This is an important point because it shows how I act very quickly when issues of this kind arise. The senior counsel wrote a note and it was passed to me by an official in the Department of Health and Children. This was the Dame Street case as I recollect, although I am open to correction. He wrote in the note that he had to let me know that it was his...

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Micheál Martin: ——specifically because they were not viewed as requiring my presence. It is certainly not the case that I missed the discussion because I was late. All the persons who attended the meeting confirmed that the item merited only a short discussion. The context of the discussion was that clarification was to be sought before it could be substantively considered. In light of the manner of the...