Results 7,241-7,260 of 11,979 for speaker:Billy Kelleher

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2013)

Billy Kelleher: It puts pressure on senior officials to be subservient when they believe not that the Minister is acting in an inappropriate way, but that he is going down a policy route not in accordance with the best outcomes for the HSE.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2013)

Billy Kelleher: I move amendment No. 27: In page 26, before section 23, but in Part 2, to insert the following new section:"23.--Any officer or employee of the Executive shall be tax resident in Ireland for the duration of his or her employment with or by the Executive.".The purpose of the amendment is to ensure any officer or employee of the executive shall be tax resident in Ireland for the duration of his...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2013)

Billy Kelleher: At the risk of being repetitive, there are a few points that I must make in the context of section 7. This gives sweeping powers to the Minister and there is no point in us pretending that is not the case. Section 16D(3) states, "The Minister may at any time remove an appointed director from office as a member of the Directorate if ... (c) the removal of the person as an appointed director...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2013)

Billy Kelleher: No.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2013)

Billy Kelleher: It is critically important that we look at this in a serious manner. The section gives the Minister of the day sweeping powers to dismiss a director, and a person who is appointed by whatever mechanism should be in a position where he or she does not feel beholden and can safely say to the Minister that the advice he or she is giving to the Minister is not in accordance with his or her...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2013)

Billy Kelleher: Yes. It is a large section. Section 16C(8) states, "The Minister may issue a direction to the Directorate in relation to the delegation of the Executive’s functions". If the directors have a concern about a certain issue, the Minister can bypass them and delegate the functions of the directorate directly to the director general. Am I misreading it? There must be certain lines of...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2013)

Billy Kelleher: What exactly is the definition of a composition or arrangement? What defines a composition or arrangement? In what Act is it defined?

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2013)

Billy Kelleher: There is no amendment.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2013)

Billy Kelleher: We had. This is a new departure, that senior officials who are charged with significant responsibility are beholden. The Minister cannot walk into his office and dismiss the civil servant. Legally, he cannot do that.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2013)

Billy Kelleher: I accept that, but we are now enshrining in this legislation that the Minister may at any time remove an appointed director from office as a member of the Directorate if the removal-----

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2013)

Billy Kelleher: I oppose the section in that context. It is far-reaching. It brings pressure on-----

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2013)

Billy Kelleher: I move amendment No. 8: In page 9, line 15, to delete “Subject to subsection (4),”.This is in the context of the thrust of Deputy Ó Caoláin's comments and amendments. The issue of concern here is that we are hamstringing the appointment process in view of the fact that those who can be appointed to this new directorship, the director general and the directors, can...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2013)

Billy Kelleher: I can deal with them in terms of section 7. I can be repetitive if people want me to be. I will stick directly to the amendment in this case, but it is the general thrust of the appointment process. We are now charging a person who is running the HSE, which has a budget of €13 billion every year, and we are saying there should be no open recruitment process. We are recruiting from...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2013)

Billy Kelleher: I intend to make one further point. We are restructuring the health services, as is the Minister's right and he said he received a mandate to do so. However, I am very concerned that while the Minister says it is temporary, we cannot foretell what will happen in the future. In the meantime, there must be one remove at least in the appointment process to ensure it would be open, transparent...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2013)

Billy Kelleher: I am not insinuating that the Minister is acting with any ulterior motives. It is just fundamentally wrong.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2013)

Billy Kelleher: I move amendment No. 10: In page 9, to delete lines 25 and 26.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2013)

Billy Kelleher: I move amendment No. 11: In page 10, line 17, after “opinion,” to insert the following:“such opinion being corroborated by independent written medical advice,”.I do not want to make a huge issue of this but this is in the context of independent corroboration of medical evidence. There are many reasons a person may want to be removed from a board for whatever...

Other Questions: Microenterprise Loan Fund (23 Apr 2013)

Billy Kelleher: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the latest uptake with regard to the micro enterprise fund; the number of jobs that have been supported by this investment to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18668/13]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services Issues (23 Apr 2013)

Billy Kelleher: 580. To ask the Minister for Health if he will ensure that the National Plan for Rare Diseases will be in place before the end of 2013 in view of the fact that it is required under the 2009 Council of the European Union recommendation on action in the field of rare diseases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18253/13]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services Staff Recruitment (23 Apr 2013)

Billy Kelleher: 581. To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide an update on when a clinical director for rare diseases will be appointed; the proposed location of the National Office for Rare Disease; when the report from the consultation on rare diseases will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18254/13]