Results 5,781-5,800 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Order of Business. (29 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Legislation will be introduced during this session.

European Council: Statements. (29 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I attended the European Council in Brussels on 23 and 24 March 2006. The Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Finance, Deputies Dermot Ahern and Cowen, accompanied me. The conclusions of the Council have been laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. This spring European Council was the first since the mid-term review of the Lisbon Agenda last March. It was a timely opportunity for European...

Leaders' Questions. (29 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Deputy Rabbitte asked me a number of questions. There are 1,000 more beds in the public system in the last three years alone. I do not have the figures back to 1997. Some 500,000 patients are being dealt with effectively and efficiently by the medical services on a daycare basis. It was a fraction of that ten years ago. Thankfully, the same acute highly sophisticated hospital beds are no...

Leaders' Questions. (29 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: ——for a range of issues——

Leaders' Questions. (29 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: A total of 3,000 home care packages will be provided this year alone. That is why we are using a good number of the 2,500 private beds that are available. In total there are 16,000 beds in the health service — 13,500 public beds and 2,500 private beds. I do not like using the medical term that is applied to people who are in beds in that situation.

Leaders' Questions. (29 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I am answering. The Deputy knows what is the difficulty.

Leaders' Questions. (29 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Some 411 people have to be put in——

Leaders' Questions. (29 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I announced last week that we have provided an additional 250 beds on top of the 250 provided at Christmas time for those particular patients.

Leaders' Questions. (29 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Deputy Rabbitte asked me what is different about what we are doing now. We have put in place a range of activities and measures, including the provision of high-dependency beds — which the Tánaiste has announced — intermediate care beds in private nursing homes, additional beds in public nursing homes, 3,000 home care packages and enhanced subventions. This has already facilitated 1,500...

Leaders' Questions. (29 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: One thousand.

Leaders' Questions. (29 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I am trying to answer the questions Deputy Rabbitte put to me. The last question he asked was about what additional issues we are addressing. In response to what he said and just in case there is any confusion, we have not abandoned any of the remaining points of the ten-point plan. The purpose of the new task force which the Tánaiste has announced is to bring together those people who have...

Leaders' Questions. (29 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: There is no need for me to go back over all of the issues but I will just mention a few of them. The Deputy knows the Government's view on the common hospital contract. The Tánaiste has set out the position. He is also aware that the existing 2,000 consultants have contracts and they provide for a private and medical mix.

Leaders' Questions. (29 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Historically, the argument has been that we have provided very good medical consultants. A number of negotiations have been held as far back as 1974 to try to change that. The late Brendan Corish tried that and totally failed. Charles Haughey made contracts in 1979 and Deputy Noonan gave further concessions. Consultants have extremely strongly based contracts. The Tánaiste set out her...

Leaders' Questions. (29 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: If the Deputy is purporting that the hospital waiting lists have not changed I can state they have changed dramatically. The waiting time for 14 of the top 16 specialties is down to under four months whereas ten years ago it was several years. There have been significant improvements in waiting times. With the advent of the National Treatment Purchase Fund——

Leaders' Questions. (29 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: ——we are giving top class quality services to people and as a result the waiting lists have decreased dramatically.

Leaders' Questions. (29 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The Deputy knows what the issues in Monaghan are. He knows some of the issues have been mentioned in other parts of his region on several other occasions. Whether Deputy Ó Caoláin likes it or whether I do not like it, the reality is that expert medical advice has been that what is required is a critical mass of proper services both in paramedical——

Leaders' Questions. (29 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I have found to my expense that it is the case that when one pays for advice, there will always be another expert to give another view.

Leaders' Questions. (29 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I must listen to the physicians and to the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland who make the statements on behalf of their practitioners in this country. In the interests of patient safety and health, we must listen to their views on Monaghan hospital and elsewhere. I remind the Deputy there has been significant political involvement in many of these decisions relating to his region. I also...

Leaders' Questions. (29 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Deputies Cowen and Martin did not take on the review of the common contract because it was not there to be reviewed. The last one was given by Deputy Noonan when he was Minister and when he gave significant breaks in the common contract. The Government is committed to tackling these issues. The Tánaiste has entered into negotiations on a fair basis with the consultants. We have put in...

Leaders' Questions. (29 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I have no difficulty with them giving interviews because this is a free society but I wish that as well as giving interviews they would help us to resolve the problem.