Results 5,801-5,820 of 21,128 for speaker:James Reilly

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Service Plan 2014: Minister for Health and HSE (14 Jan 2014)

James Reilly: As a consequence of that report, there was a further report. We now have in place Mr. Thomas Byrne, the chief financial officer. Within his remit, he has a complete reform board for financial reform within the HSE. We know there are 11 systems from the old health boards. Equally, we know there are literally hundreds of IT systems throughout the health service. Somebody mentioned a figure...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Service Plan 2014: Minister for Health and HSE (14 Jan 2014)

James Reilly: It has, on numerous occasions, not just the buildings mentioned but also primary care centres that might be suitable. However, I shall not go into detail here as it would not be appropriate. The Senator also asked for outpatient figures. We are waiting for a tiny bit of work to be done on the figures which will be done during the course of the week and then I will provide him with the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Service Plan 2014: Minister for Health and HSE (14 Jan 2014)

James Reilly: Senator van Turnhout raised the issue of palliative care, as did Deputy Mitchell O'Connor. A substantial budget is directed at it but it is true that much additional money is spent on end-of-life care. Most of us would like to see people being able to end their lives at home and, if not, at least in a hospice. Mr. Ian Carter, the director of acute hospitals, has taken an interest in this...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Service Plan 2014: Minister for Health and HSE (14 Jan 2014)

James Reilly: I will endeavour to do my best. Deputy Kelleher raised the issue of a change in the wording of the service plan following the Cabinet meeting. First, I ask whether he takes as fact everything he reads in the newspapers. Much of it is not fact. What is factual is that the wording did change and the rationale behind the change was the fact that the Cabinet committee was able to agree a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Service Plan 2014: Minister for Health and HSE (14 Jan 2014)

James Reilly: With Fianna Fáil’s record-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Service Plan 2014: Minister for Health and HSE (14 Jan 2014)

James Reilly: We did not interrupt Deputy Kelleher, so perhaps he would be good enough to leave us to make our contribution uninterrupted. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked from where the €113 million figure for medical card probity had come. The figure provided was €133 million. A sum of €20 million was provided for in the original Health Service Executive plan and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Service Plan 2014: Minister for Health and HSE (14 Jan 2014)

James Reilly: I wish everybody a happy and healthy new year. I thank the joint committee for giving me the opportunity to make this presentation on the 2014 national service plan. I am joined by my colleagues from the Department of Health, Ms. Bairbre Nic Aongusa, assistant secretary, and Ms Fiona Prendergast and Mr. John Keegan, principal officers. I am also joined by the director general of the HSE,...

Seanad: Protection of Children's Health from Tobacco Smoke Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: I am not opposing the amendment. I am trying to be helpful because I want this Bill to succeed and to be implemented as quickly as possible. The intention of the original Bill's provisions and amendment No. 1 relates to the offence of smoking in a car where children are present. It is intended to give power to An Garda Síochána in respect of this offence. I agree with the...

Seanad: Protection of Children's Health from Tobacco Smoke Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: The ban on smoking in the workplace was a sea change. I commend Deputy Micheál Martin on introducing it. Section 47(8) of the Public Health (Tobacco) Act 2002, as amended, sets out the definitions of specified places, that is, a place of work, schools and so forth. These are the specified places where smoking is currently prohibited. The amendment states that An Garda...

Seanad: Protection of Children's Health from Tobacco Smoke Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: My apologies. In short, none of these problems is insurmountable. They just have to be worked on. To return to the previous point about how long it takes to get legislation through, another Bill that springs to mind is the sunbed legislation which was introduced by my predecessor in 2010. It has just come back from Europe. I fully support that legislation and see no need to alter or...

Seanad: Protection of Children's Health from Tobacco Smoke Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: As drafted, this amendment is not acceptable as it includes drivers of a private vehicle in a list of owners and managers of workplaces. The provision relating to smoking in cars should be a stand alone provision within the Public Health (Tobacco) Acts and not included in the current workplace smoking ban. In addition, the liability of the non-smoking driver is one of the issues raised by...

Seanad: Protection of Children's Health from Tobacco Smoke Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: I would love to be able to give the Senator an answer to her question, but I cannot do so. As Harold Macmillan once said when asked about how a particular issue might progress: "Events, dear boy, events." We have a huge amount of legislation to get through and our progress was held up to some extent by all of the troika-related legislation we had to bring through, even in the area of...

Seanad: Protection of Children's Health from Tobacco Smoke Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: To be absolutely clear, I am 100% supportive of this Bill and of the banning of smoking in cars where children are present. There is irrefutable evidence for such a prohibition, as I have indicated. In fact, I am strongly in favour of banning it in cars altogether not only because of possible scenarios such as that referred to by Senator Conway, but because I see a health and safety issue...

Seanad: Protection of Children's Health from Tobacco Smoke Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: I am very pleased to speak on the Bill. In reply to Senator Barrett, I always get very nervous when anybody calls me an expert on anything. I assure the House I am not opposing this and I do not intend to submit any amendments to the Bill today, although I will bring amendments at a later stage in the legislative process and I will explain these as I go through the Bill. I want to put my...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services Staff Data (19 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: The number of staff (WTE excluding career breaks) working in the primary care area of the public health service, broken down by staff category, at 31 December 2012 and at 31 October 2013 is set out in the following table: Staff Category 31/12/2012 31/10/2013 General Support Staff 318.41 313.87 Health & Social Care Professionals 1920.16 2004.67 Management & Admin...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services Reform (19 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: A governance framework has been put in place for the Health Reform Programme to coordinate implementation in a planned, coherent manner. The governance arrangements, as promised in Future Health, include a Programme Management Office (PMO) and a Health Reform Programme Board, in the Department of Health and a Systems Reform Group in the HSE. The Programme Board is chaired by the Secretary...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Patient Safety Agency Establishment (19 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: My Department is liaising with the Health Service Executive on the details surrounding the establishment of the Patient Safety Agency to ensure an identifiable and distinct leadership responsibility for patient safety and quality at national level having regard to the need for a robust quality and safety function within the new delivery structures of the Reform Programme. Discussions are...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Patient Safety Agency Establishment (19 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: The Patient Safety Agency (PSA) is not yet in place, but its establishment is a priority and is provided for in the work programme of the HSE in its Service Plan for 2014. Discussions are continuing with the HSE on establishing the PSA initially on an administrative basis within the HSE structures in 2014. This will allow the PSA to become an identifiable entity within the HSE and facilitate...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Cancer Screening Programmes (19 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: The BreastCheck Programme provides free mammograms to all women aged 50-64. A priority of the BreastCheck Programme at present is to maximise national uptake in the 50-64 year age cohort. It also aims to extend the upper age range to include the 65-69 age cohort as soon as possible in line with available resources.

Written Answers — Department of Health: HSE Governance (19 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: The review of corporate functions and resources, staff and budget of the various corporate/support/shared services as they currently exist within the HSE is ongoing. This review must be undertaken in parallel with the establishment of the revised organisational structure and governance arrangements in the HSE, and is due to be completed in 2014.