Results 601-620 of 1,886 for speaker:Fergal Browne

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Mar 2006)

Fergal Browne: The Government has broken a promise.

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Mar 2006)

Fergal Browne: The Department is promoting them.

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Mar 2006)

Fergal Browne: The Government abandoned the 200,000 full medical cards.

Seanad: Irish Medicines Board (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2005 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages. (23 Feb 2006)

Fergal Browne: I welcome the amendments but I make the point once again that I do not understand why fines are not index linked. I realise the Attorney General has difficulty with this matter but I suggest to the Minister of State that it be considered at Government level. It makes sense for fines to be index linked, as opposed to being a fixed amount, which goes out of date almost immediately.

Seanad: Irish Medicines Board (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2005 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages. (23 Feb 2006)

Fergal Browne: I welcome the amendment but question how enforceable the labelling provision will be. It is a massive problem because we have no idea where food is produced. Food is being brought into the country and relabelled as Irish produce when it is not, and it presents a major challenge for everybody involved in the food industry. I was surprised to learn lately that even sugar from the Carlow...

Seanad: Irish Medicines Board (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2005 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages. (23 Feb 2006)

Fergal Browne: I share Senator Ryan's view of this Bill. When it was first introduced, I asked for a briefing on it and was told that it was quite simple and contained few major provisions apart from expanding the categories of people who can write prescriptions to include nurses. That was an important selling point in what appeared to be welcome legislation but matters transpired very differently and the...

Seanad: Irish Medicines Board (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2005 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages. (23 Feb 2006)

Fergal Browne: Some of the amendments were merely comical and I would hate to debate the merits of this Bill on "Prime Time." In my three and a half years in this House, it is the first occasion on which I have been unhappy about my own knowledge of a Bill after completing my consideration of it. I was in disagreement with a number of amendments because of my confusion. I ask the Minister of State that, in...

Seanad: Irish Medicines Board (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2005 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages. (23 Feb 2006)

Fergal Browne: The Bill deals with giving people the option of writing prescriptions and the aforementioned court case highlighted the farcical nature of the current situation. Currently, anyone can get a prescription from a pharmacy by having a letterhead printed. In England they are barcoded.

Seanad: Irish Medicines Board (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2005 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages. (23 Feb 2006)

Fergal Browne: It is a matter we should have considered and it is regrettable it is not in the Bill. Prescriptions should be barcoded in the interests of patients and the public. I am unhappy with the Bill but I hope it is not as bad as it seems.

Seanad: Order of Business. (23 Feb 2006)

Fergal Browne: The same applies to land lines.

Seanad: Order of Business. (23 Feb 2006)

Fergal Browne: I was not here yesterday for the Order of Business but I associate myself with the comments made by my colleague, Senator White, regarding Carlow. I ask for a debate with the Minister for Communications, the Marine and Natural Resources on the matter of directory inquiries and ComReg. A high percentage of the population have mobile phones but we are forced to go through numbers such as 11850...

Seanad: Order of Business. (23 Feb 2006)

Fergal Browne: I urge the Leader to arrange a debate with the Minister for Communications, the Marine and Natural Resources to ask why, when most people have mobile numbers, telephone directories do not list mobile numbers.

Seanad: Order of Business. (23 Feb 2006)

Fergal Browne: Why are we forced to go through services such as 11850 and 11811 to access numbers, paying exorbitant rates at the same time?

Seanad: Cystic Fibrosis Treatment Services. (22 Feb 2006)

Fergal Browne: I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Tim O'Malley, to the House. I wish to raise the serious topic of cystic fibrosis and the care meted out to such patients. I acknowledge the Government's recent allocation of €4.78 million which is a welcome step. No. 26, motion 7, on the Order Paper calls on the Government to take steps to immediately rectify...

Seanad: Cystic Fibrosis Treatment Services. (22 Feb 2006)

Fergal Browne: I am disappointed with the reply, which I believed would be more detailed. It did not place much emphasis on the need for new isolation units. Although the Minister of State acknowledged the need for extra staff, he should reconsider this issue. Perhaps he could communicate directly with me. We have ignored the problem in the past and should now shed light on it. Isolation units and the...

Seanad: Cystic Fibrosis Treatment Services. (22 Feb 2006)

Fergal Browne: Before Easter?

Seanad: Order of Business. (15 Feb 2006)

Fergal Browne: I support Members who asked for a debate on fire safety. I suggest we invite the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to the House to ask how many prosecutions for breaches of fire safety have occurred since the Stardust tragedy. I refer in particular to nightclubs, pubs and hotels in regard to which I suspect there have been very few. Will the Leader ask the Minister...

Seanad: Order of Business. (15 Feb 2006)

Fergal Browne: Does that also apply to the Dáil?

Seanad: Job Creation. (9 Feb 2006)

Fergal Browne: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe to the House. For years in Carlow we were told by the IDA that we could not get industry because we did not have a business park. Then thankfully, due to the foresight of the former county manager, Mr. Tom Dowling and the current incumbent, Mr. Joe Crockett as well as the Carlow public representatives, the purchase of a 70-acre piece of...

Seanad: Job Creation. (9 Feb 2006)

Fergal Browne: That did not seem to apply to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, in Dundalk, to the Tánaiste, Deputy Harney, in Clondalkin or to the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Martin, in Cork.