Results 5,981-6,000 of 11,979 for speaker:Billy Kelleher

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Feb 2014)

Billy Kelleher: This goes to show that when politicians, barristers, lawyers and solicitors are in the same room, there are several outcomes. I emphasise at the outset that intellectual property and trademark rights are critical to this economy. Of course it is of huge significance for such rights to be defended and vindicated. International software companies have made huge investments in this country....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Feb 2014)

Billy Kelleher: Does Mr. Murphy think it should be referred directly to the Supreme Court?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Feb 2014)

Billy Kelleher: If Mr. Murphy was advising this committee, what would he do?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Feb 2014)

Billy Kelleher: I do not want to be repetitive. I read the Law Society's submission with interest and the submissions of the various other stakeholders in this pre-legislative consultation. I assume the representatives are here because they are advocates not of the tobacco industry, but of the protection of intellectual property rights. I assume that is their focus. However, in their submission they...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Feb 2014)

Billy Kelleher: I am bringing the argument to a human level. While I do not suggest that any of the companies represented target children in this country, the bottom line is that the tobacco industry, like every other industry, needs customers. Its customers die and it needs new customers. There is no point in recruiting a customer who is 75 years of age. The tobacco industry wants to recruit them at...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Feb 2014)

Billy Kelleher: I welcome the witnesses and thank them for their presentations. If one were to listen to what they had to say, one would be convinced that the tobacco industry is a benign industry that is well aware of its social obligations and its obligations to consumers. When one looks at the international evidence, however, one finds that is clearly not the case. There is a strong body of evidence to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Feb 2014)

Billy Kelleher: There is a telephone going off somewhere.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Feb 2014)

Billy Kelleher: I do not think iPads interfere with the sound system in the same way. As a State, we have an obligation to try to protect all our citizens. I remind Mr. Mallon that this includes adults as well as children. Adults who are ill also generate additional costs as it costs the State money to treat people who have acquired illnesses or diseases through smoking. There are many reasons the State...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Health Services Provision (13 Feb 2014)

Billy Kelleher: And the progressions.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Health Services Provision (13 Feb 2014)

Billy Kelleher: We had the Minister for the hyperbole on this side of the House then.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Health Services Provision (13 Feb 2014)

Billy Kelleher: We never abandoned our colleagues.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Health Services Provision (13 Feb 2014)

Billy Kelleher: Half those people-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Health Services Provision (13 Feb 2014)

Billy Kelleher: I am being a responsible Opposition Member.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Health Services Provision (13 Feb 2014)

Billy Kelleher: Will the sums be on it this time?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Health Services Provision (13 Feb 2014)

Billy Kelleher: 1. To ask the Minister for Health the way he will address the deep concerns of both hospital consultants and general practitioners regarding the provision of health services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7186/14]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Health Services Provision (13 Feb 2014)

Billy Kelleher: I am asking how the Minister for Health will address the deep concerns of both hospital consultants and general practitioners about the provision of health care in this country. I tabled this question because it is an issue of major concern. Hospital consultants have expressed very strong views about patient safety, the lack of consultants and supports in hospitals, the overcrowding in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Health Services Provision (13 Feb 2014)

Billy Kelleher: We do not have time to discuss the whole budget and the provisions of health care in this country, but the feeling out there is that there is a crisis in GP services and that they are being forced to take on more complex cases. This is because of the outsourcing from the acute hospital system, the transfer of long-term illnesses and other complex conditions that are now expected to be...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Health Services Provision (13 Feb 2014)

Billy Kelleher: Discussions.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Health Services Provision (13 Feb 2014)

Billy Kelleher: We can have this debate again and again but the Minister is in his fourth year in government. He can only shelve his responsibility for so long.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Health Services Provision (13 Feb 2014)

Billy Kelleher: He is going into his fourth year and it is time he would believe he can stand over his policies and decisions. There are serious difficulties in the acute hospital setting. It is difficult to get people out of hospitals. Step-down facilities are not available. We are having difficulty trying to transfer people from the acute hospital setting to step-down and then home. That is happening...