Results 8,501-8,520 of 11,246 for speaker:Colm Burke

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Nursing Home Services (20 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: My understanding is that Nursing Homes Ireland made a submission to the Department more than six months ago and has been raising this issue for some time with the Department. The Department has not corresponded with the Minister of State's Department, but I will again take back his message. There is a serious shortage, and it is interesting that it does not just apply to Ireland. For...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: I join Senator Boyhan in recognising World Refugee Day. It is important to continue to highlight the atrocities occurring around the world but also to give support to the many agencies helping those in refugee camps. I visited a refugee camp on the Sudanese border some years ago and they are difficult to manage. There were more than 570,000 people from four countries living in the camp I...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: It is a huge challenge facing us.

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: We need to review this and change the qualifying criteria but we also need to deliver houses. We need to do much more in that area.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Second Stage (20 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: I welcome the Minister to the House. Coming from the legal profession, I have some concerns on the Bill. It is important to recognise that the system of appointment to the judicial service has been in place since 1922 and the Judiciary has served the country very well. The Judiciary has pushed out the boundaries in constitutional cases and has given rights which were perceived not to...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Second Stage (20 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: In fairness, the people to whom the Senator is referring are not here to give their views or defend themselves.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Home Care Packages (13 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank her for dealing with this matter. The question I raise is in regard to homecare providers. A presentation was given recently to a meeting of the Joint Committee on Health that I chaired on 29 May last at which homecare providers advised that they are finding it difficult to recruit people because of full employment and the fact that...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Home Care Packages (13 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: I thank the Minister of State. There are two sides to this issue. One is about providing home care, which is a major challenge we now face. Home care providers have told me they cannot get people to work because if they employ them for three hours a day for five days a week, they will get no allowance of any description. They have said that if it was an hours-based system, they could get...

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: I agree with what my colleague has said about the delays in the production of CervicalCheck files. One of the problems in the health service is that there has been very little computerisation of the system in recent years. Other countries, including Denmark, started to computerise records as long ago as 1996. By contrast, there has been little or no investment in the computerisation system...

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: We are now paying the price in the health service. Every effort must be made to make sure there will be adequate computerisation of all medical records in order that delays like those which have occurred in this case do not recur. Every effort must be made to provide the files in a timely manner and on the earliest possible date. I have written to the Minister about a commitment given in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Patient Safety (Licensing) Bill: Discussion (13 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: I apologise for not being here earlier but I had to be in the Seanad for a Commencement matter. I have come across open disclosure on many occasions. If an incident occurs in which the medical team does not know exactly what went wrong, it can decide on an external review. However, I have seen cases where there was agreement as to who would carry out the review but where the HSE...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Patient Safety (Licensing) Bill: Discussion (13 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Patient Safety (Licensing) Bill: Discussion (13 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: I apologise for not being here for the submission made by Mr. Quinn. He said this will limit the power of the regulator to assess the fitness of individual senior managers in public hospitals. That goes back to my earlier question, when I pointed out that senior management overruled the advice of medical practitioners. If this is the situation under this legislation now, where senior...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Patient Safety (Licensing) Bill: Discussion (13 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: Would the witness prefer-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Patient Safety (Licensing) Bill: Discussion (13 Jun 2018)

Colm Burke: Is there an appetite for incorporating the change HIQA is seeking?

Seanad: Incorrect Birth Registrations: Statements (Resumed) (30 May 2018)

Colm Burke: I thank the Minister for coming to the House and for the work she has done. This is a very complicated matter and we need to be upfront and truthful with people. I do not believe that this issue is confined to adoption societies. I know of at least two cases where hospitals were involved. It was a very simple procedure. If Ms X went to have a baby and was advised beforehand that Ms Y was...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Regulation of Home Care Provision: Discussion (30 May 2018)

Colm Burke: First of all, I wish to apologise for the Chairman and Vice Chairman, who are at other meetings at present. They have asked me to step in to open this session. We are dealing with regulation of home care providers. On behalf of the committee I welcome Mr. Pat Healy and Mr. Michael Fitzgerald of the HSE; Mr. Ed Murphy and Mr. Ed Crotty of Home and Community Care Ireland; and Ms Allison...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Regulation of Home Care Provision: Discussion (30 May 2018)

Colm Burke: I thank Mr. Healy for his comprehensive statement on the issue of home care. I ask Mr. Ed Murphy from the HCCI to make his presentation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Regulation of Home Care Provision: Discussion (30 May 2018)

Colm Burke: I thank Mr. Murphy. I invite Ms Metcalfe to make her presentation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Regulation of Home Care Provision: Discussion (30 May 2018)

Colm Burke: I thank the witnesses for their comprehensive presentations and for making the time and effort to prepare them. Before calling on members for their questions, Ms Metcalfe raised the 2011 LRC report. On foot of that report, I published the Health (Amendment) (Professional Home Care) Bill 2016. It has been debated in the Seanad and has gone to the Department of Health for its consideration....