Results 5,961-5,980 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Leaders' Questions. (22 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Many more will do so in the months ahead. We are working with the HSE to provide more home support to help people avoid admission to hospital.

Leaders' Questions. (22 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: We are also supporting the HSE's comprehensive flu vaccination campaign. We are providing step-down facilities for immediate care. To date 562 people have moved out of hospitals. The HSE provides 48 high-dependency long-term beds for the more severely ill. We are also putting in place an out-of-hours GP service and as I said previously, we have opened a new accident and emergency unit in St....

Leaders' Questions. (22 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The HSE has got clearance for another 250 private beds which will take long-term public acute patients. That is in addition to the 250 beds provided in November. The HSE informs me that it gets a benefit of about three months when the patients are removed. Older people then fill those beds and the difficulty recurs. Deputy Kenny's last point is valid and the HSE is prioritising it. The HSE is...

Leaders' Questions. (22 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: There are more than 1 million inpatient hospital visits annually and thankfully, every bit of research shows that people in hospital in this country find the services and resources provided very satisfactory. There is a very high regard for all areas of the health services. People fear hospitals as they fear dentists and doctors but they are not fearful in the manner expressed by Deputy...

Leaders' Questions. (22 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Deputy Kenny also made a point about older people wanting to move out of hospital when they are medically fit and raised the issue of home supports. In the last budget we provided large resources to the HSE in an attempt to help people stay at home and have more comprehensive facilities there.

Leaders' Questions. (22 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: We have provided such facilities. The senior official in charge of this process at the HSE has set up a task force which includes accident and emergency consultants, respiratory consultants and geriatricians — front-line staff who know the area well. They are also bringing forward proposals on the dignity issue. It is unacceptable and unnecessary that there are sanitary problems with regard...

Leaders' Questions. (22 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: We are not delaying it. The Government is quite prepared to——

Leaders' Questions. (22 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: ——pay people to work after 6 p.m. and is prepared to pay for the general practitioner service. We have to get people to work. I hope we will get co-operation in the talks that are taking place. It is a fact of life, and I do not say this in a cynical way, that people do not stop getting sick at 5 p.m. or 1 p.m. on a Saturday. What we need in the negotiations is the co-operation of front...

Leaders' Questions. (22 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Deputy Rabbitte is right on one thing that we did build a first-class aquatic centre for the Special Olympics.

Leaders' Questions. (22 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Thankfully it is still functioning extremely well. Deputy Rabbitte is incorrect as decisions were made by Campus and Stadium Ireland Development Limited, not by the three people he mentioned. The third issue is that he had the wrong party for Mr. Pat Mulcair. The Deputy will have to look elsewhere in the House for his allegiance.

Written Answers — Computerisation Programme: Computerisation Programme (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: With the completion of the first phase, e-Cabinet became operational in June 2004. Since then, it has hosted some 25,000 electronic transactions a year and has virtually eliminated manual dissemination of Cabinet papers. Further phases, adding functionality and improving user experience, have been deployed since then. Over 5,500 users are registered to the system. The final planned phase of...

Written Answers — Computerisation Programme: Computerisation Programme (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: In December 2004, the Government approved a memorandum dealing with increasing the use of e-payments by Departments and in the public sector. It was decided that by the end of 2005, where possible, all Departments and offices would use electronic funds transfer, EFT, to make payments. In the case of my Department, EFT has been implemented as a payment method and is used to make payment to all...

Written Answers — Northern Ireland Issues: Northern Ireland Issues (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Intense efforts were made by both Governments in the latter half of 2004 to broker an agreement on the key issues to be resolved to finally and definitively assure peace and political stability in Northern Ireland. The Governments communicated their final proposals for a comprehensive agreement, addressing these key issues, to the DUP and Sinn Féin in early December 2004. I received a letter...

Leaders' Questions. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I made the point to Deputy Higgins that the workers will have 15% of the company. The workers are part of it and the State will retain whatever percentage it decides to get. I do not believe that will hold back or result in a decline in Aer Lingus. When I was Minister for Finance in 1993, Aer Lingus had to let several thousand workers go and it happened again a few years ago. At the same...

Order of Business. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: It is proposed to take No.11, Aviation Bill 2005 [Seanad]— Order for Report, Report and Final Stages; and No. 12, National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006 — Second Stage (resumed). Private Members' business shall be No. 47, motion re political donations and planning.

Order of Business. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I do not believe that we have yet received the Abbeylara report, but I may be wrong. I will check and let the Deputy know if I am mistaken. I do not know the situation regarding the Harris report, but I will ask the Minister's office.

Order of Business. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: As stated previously, I acknowledge the difficulties with the register. I know that the Minister of State, Deputy Kitt, has discussed the issues with the Central Statistics Office and has written to the Minister. However, I believe that the CSO is anxious to concentrate on census work, not using it for any similar exercise. The Minister is examining options for the register in the short term....

Order of Business. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I do not propose to give Government time.

Order of Business. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I stated that the HSE would report to the Department of Finance in April. The Minister has said that he would know the position then, but not until the end of the first quarter.

Order of Business. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I thought that he said April.