Results 681-700 of 24,567 for speaker:Róisín Shortall

Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Report and Final Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Róisín Shortall: When will that happen? A lot of other health legislation is backed up that is supposed to be a priority. Is it the case that there is no timescale?

Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Report and Final Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Róisín Shortall: I will press the amendment.

Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Report and Final Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Róisín Shortall: My other amendment is on contraception. Is the Minister of State saying that these amendments will facilitate the extension of the management of chronic illness as a set of conditions by community pharmacists?

Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Report and Final Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Róisín Shortall: That has been ruled out of order, unfortunately.

Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Report and Final Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Róisín Shortall: I think that is a missed opportunity. It is a pity the Minister of State did not go further, because we would presumably need additional primary legislation to have the management of chronic illnesses placed in the hands of pharmacists. It is regrettable that we did not. I regret that my amendment has been ruled out of order. I welcome what the Minister of State's amendments are doing,...

Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Report and Final Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Róisín Shortall: Is that the Minister or Department saying that?

Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Report and Final Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Róisín Shortall: Okay. That is good.

Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Report and Final Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Róisín Shortall: I move amendment No. 6: In page 10, between lines 7 and 8, to insert the following: “Report on prescription-free oral contraceptives 9. The Minister shall, within six months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on allowing pharmacists to dispense prescription-free oral contraceptives.”. This concerns an issue that has been...

Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Report and Final Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Róisín Shortall: From what I understand of these amendments, I welcome what the Minister of State is saying there and the provision for the making of regulations. Given the shortages of healthcare staff, we need to maximise the capacity of all existing staff and services. Community pharmacies have particular benefits for the roll-out of different health initiatives, not least because they are in every...

Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Róisín Shortall: I agree with a certain amount of the sentiment behind this amendment although I do not entirely agree with the wording. I will repeat a point I made on Second Stage, which is that, while it is sometimes a result of need, people very often consciously choose a childminder because they like the informality and the lower minder-child ratio. It is often viewed as being more homely than a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Amendment) (Licensing of Professional Home Support Providers) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2024)

Róisín Shortall: I wish the witnesses a good morning and thank them for their presentation. It raises a huge number of issues very pertinent to the pre-legislative scrutiny we are doing here and a number of those need to be pursued. The reference to the Home Care Coalition is an important one. Has that coalition had input into the preparation of the legislation?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Amendment) (Licensing of Professional Home Support Providers) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2024)

Róisín Shortall: I think we are all disappointed at the limitations of the legislation. We expected it to go a lot further and to fulfil the programme for Government commitment on a statutory right to home care. There is much confusion around that. It is referred to as the statutory scheme, but it is not the statutory right to home care. On that, and with respect to the coalition, is ALONE saying the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Amendment) (Licensing of Professional Home Support Providers) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2024)

Róisín Shortall: Okay. Mr. Moynihan also made reference to a Law Reform Commission report from 2011, which I was not aware of. That might be something we get a copy of as a committee to see what those recommendations are and he made the point they still hold. I want to get into some of the specifics of what Mr. Moynihan was saying there. He said, "Delivery of an equitable statutory scheme will not be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Amendment) (Licensing of Professional Home Support Providers) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2024)

Róisín Shortall: I think many of us share the concerns about the outsourcing of more and more of our social care services. It certainly raises big issues like the ones Mr. Moynihan has outlined. He also talked about the tender process as it operates at the moment militating against not-for-profit organisations. I am aware of that in a general sense and many smaller not-for-profit organisations that were...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Amendment) (Licensing of Professional Home Support Providers) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2024)

Róisín Shortall: Is that the lack of certainty about it? The funding is similar to a private company as to a not-for-profit organisation, is it not?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Amendment) (Licensing of Professional Home Support Providers) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2024)

Róisín Shortall: There is more flexibility, I suppose, in a bigger, commercial company.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Amendment) (Licensing of Professional Home Support Providers) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2024)

Róisín Shortall: All right. Ms Loughran mentioned the fact the HSE does not provide weekend or out-of-hours services. That is an incredible situation. At least that has been recognised with respect to hospital consultants, for example, and practically everybody else within the health service works 24-7 and is rostered in that way. The HSE not providing out-of-hours services opens the door for private...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Amendment) (Licensing of Professional Home Support Providers) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2024)

Róisín Shortall: Yes. My time is nearly up. I have two points. The first is on what was said about basic tasks like cleaning and so on that are no longer carried out or funded. Again, has this been raised with the HSE? This is a fundamental point because it is key to many older people being able to stay in their own home if they can keep their home clean, do basic tidying and so on, but that is not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Amendment) (Licensing of Professional Home Support Providers) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2024)

Róisín Shortall: I am very conscious of big gaps in PHN services, both for older people and for babies and developmental tests. The HSE does not keep data on vacancies, which says a lot about the lack of priority given to that essential service. I have been chasing that for some time.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Amendment) (Licensing of Professional Home Support Providers) Bill 2024: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2024)

Róisín Shortall: It involves the Government.