Results 8,681-8,700 of 11,255 for speaker:Colm Burke

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (29 Mar 2018)

Colm Burke: In the next few months, Ministers will meet to plan the budget for 2019. It is appropriate that we have a debate here on taxation. Some of the complaints I now receive from employers, particularly with regard to doctors and nurses, are about going into the higher tax bracket once they go over €34,500 in earnings and comparing this with taxation levels in Northern Ireland and the UK....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals on Health Technology Assessment (28 Mar 2018)

Colm Burke: I thank the witnesses for their presentations. My apologies for being late. I had to be in the Seanad. The problem I am encountering is that the pharmaceutical companies are expressing their frustration to us with the process here. In our report on orphan drugs we referred to what occurred in Scotland. It was having the same problem and it set up a new process for dealing with it. With...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals on Health Technology Assessment (28 Mar 2018)

Colm Burke: On the orphan drug issue, the frustration I am talking about is that on average - therefore sometimes it takes longer than this - it takes 23 months for a decision to be made. This is a process the pharmaceutical companies finds frustrating since an assessment had already been done in other countries yet we are then going through the process again. It takes 23 months before any answer is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals on Health Technology Assessment (28 Mar 2018)

Colm Burke: Is it possible to get information on the number of applications that have gone through in recent years? From the committee's perspective, we are being constantly contacted by the pharmaceutical companies and it would be helpful for us if we had those figures and the length of time it took to process applications.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals on Health Technology Assessment (28 Mar 2018)

Colm Burke: I want to raise the issue of the report on orphan drugs. Has the committee formally written to the Minister sending him that report?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals on Health Technology Assessment (28 Mar 2018)

Colm Burke: Has it been formally sent to the Minster rather than the Department? It is important that we correspond with the Minister.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals on Health Technology Assessment (28 Mar 2018)

Colm Burke: I thank the Chairman.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Home Help Service Expenditure (27 Mar 2018)

Colm Burke: I welcome the Minister and very much appreciate him taking the time to deal with this matter which concerns a cost analysis undertaken in the HSE of the provision of home care services. I raise the issue because, on the one hand, the private sector is being criticised severely for the charges it requires people who need home help to pay and, on the other, is being compared with the HSE in...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Home Help Service Expenditure (27 Mar 2018)

Colm Burke: I accept fully what the Minister of State is telling me but has the HSE or the Department ever sat down and done a detailed cost analysis within the HSE because we should not be comparing like with like in respect of the private sector and the HSE? I believe that the cost of the HSE delivering the same service as that delivered by the private sector could be up to between €30 to...

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: An Dara Céim - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Second Stage (27 Mar 2018)

Colm Burke: I welcome the Minister and thank him for steering this Bill through Dáil Éireann before introducing it in the Seanad tonight. The legislation proposes to afford the electorate an opportunity to give their decision on whether the eighth amendment to the Constitution should be left in place or removed. The purpose of the debate is to allow Senators to discuss the Bill to facilitate...

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Mar 2018)

Colm Burke: The issue I wish to raise relates to the provision of home care. I have raised it on a number of occasions. There is a need to grow the service across the country because more people will require home care and we want to keep people out of hospitals and nursing homes. My concern is the policy of the HSE at present. I understand that the HSE cost per hour to provide home care is...

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Mar 2018)

Colm Burke: They are paying the staff the same rate as the HSE.

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Mar 2018)

Colm Burke: They are and if the Senator wishes to debate it I have no problem-----

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Mar 2018)

Colm Burke: If the Senator wants the taxpayer to pay €35 per hour-----

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Mar 2018)

Colm Burke: I have no problem with €35 per hour being charged to the taxpayer but it is important that the taxpayer realises-----

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Mar 2018)

Colm Burke: It is important that the taxpayers realise what is happening. It is costing the HSE €35 per hour to provide home care per hour per patient. There is now a policy in the HSE of stopping people from the private sector without any cost analysis of what it is costing the taxpayer to provide that home care. I am seriously concerned about that. I can give another example relating to the...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Care of the Elderly (21 Mar 2018)

Colm Burke: I welcome the Minister of State. I very much appreciate him dealing with this matter, which relates to the increase in demand there will be for home care now that we have an increasing number of older people in the country. That number will continue to increase at a dramatic pace in the next ten to 12 years. The figures, as I understand them, indicate that 637,000 citizens are over 65....

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Care of the Elderly (21 Mar 2018)

Colm Burke: I thank the Minister of State. He has acknowledged that there will be a substantial increase in the demand for home care. In the context of the national strategy framework for health and social workforce planning, do we have a five-year or ten-year plan to develop this service or are we merely going from year to year? My concern is that it is the latter.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2018)

Colm Burke: I join my colleague, Senator Gavan, in his tribute to Liam O'Flynn and the contribution he made to Irish music over a long number of years. He is a huge loss. It is important that we give recognition to those who have made a major contribution in the promotion of Irish music over a long period. I have raised with the Leader on a number of previous occasions my concerns regarding the issue...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Evaluation of the Use of Prescription Drugs: Discussion (21 Mar 2018)

Colm Burke: I thank those who have presented here this morning for the work they are doing. We appreciate their commitment to trying to improve the health care sector. As the Chairman has outlined, we decided to look at the increase in the prescribing of drugs on foot of media coverage of the issue. According to the paper submitted by Professor Fahey, the percentage of people over the age of 65 to...