Results 9,401-9,420 of 11,979 for speaker:Billy Kelleher
- Tax Collection (11 Jan 2012)
Billy Kelleher: For how long will the Government blame the previous tenants for the state of its dirty kitchen?
- Insurance Industry (11 Jan 2012)
Billy Kelleher: Question 4: To ask the Minister for Health if he has carried out an impact analysis of changes in Budget 2012 to generate extra revenue from private health insurers and their customers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1630/12]
- Insurance Industry (11 Jan 2012)
Billy Kelleher: In last weekend's edition of the Sunday Business Post I read an article on some of the Minister's comments last January when he described the increases in insurance premium as an horrendous and appalling attack on ordinary families. The key decisions in the budget from the Department and the Government in the context of redesignating beds and charging the full amount will have a major impact...
- Insurance Industry (11 Jan 2012)
Billy Kelleher: Fine Gael is in government and when the Minister was in Opposition his view was completely different. I am only quoting his view.
- Insurance Industry (11 Jan 2012)
Billy Kelleher: The paper of record must be mistaken then.
- Insurance Industry (11 Jan 2012)
Billy Kelleher: Going back over the history lesson briefly, the insurance market has been opened up. Does the Minister not agree? There are now other health insurers providing cover. This has led to difficulties in the context of risk equalisation and cherry picking but, fundamentally, the bottom line is that premiums are going through the roof continually and the decisions the Government made in the...
- HSE Senior Management Remuneration (11 Jan 2012)
Billy Kelleher: Lessons have been learned.
- Health Services (11 Jan 2012)
Billy Kelleher: I thank the Minister for his reply. Obviously I accept there is huge pressure on hospitals in the delivery of front-line services in particular. However, this goes against every statement made last year by the Minister and the Government in the context of protecting front-line services. As a fair and reasonable person, I wish to give the special delivery unit time to work to ascertain...
- Health Services (11 Jan 2012)
Billy Kelleher: As for the hospitals which are in severe difficulty and are bringing forward deficits from 2011 to 2012, I refer to the Minister's proposed changes to how hospitals charge private patients. Is there not an added incentive that in future, hospitals will prioritise private patients, given their ability to recoup the full costs from such patients? Moreover, in the context of hospitals being...
- Health Services (11 Jan 2012)
Billy Kelleher: The Minister should not deny the facts.
- Mental Health Services (11 Jan 2012)
Billy Kelleher: While I have stated publicly that the Minister of State has a strong commitment to the issue of mental health and the implementation of the strategy of A Vision for Change, what clearly is needed now is action beyond the words and commitment. It is beginning to become evident there already has been a downgrading of psychiatric services. While we welcome the ring-fencing of a sum of â¬35...
- Mental Health Services (11 Jan 2012)
Billy Kelleher: Will the Minister of State agree that people are being centralised back into the system rather than being treated in the community in line with a proposal made in A Vision for Change? Clearly, the decision to close these two units indicates what was proposed in A Vision for Change is being reversed.
- Mental Health Services (11 Jan 2012)
Billy Kelleher: I read the Minister of State's comments on the late Sean McCarthy who was a champion of people with a psychiatric illness and a fond colleague and friend of ours in this House. It is clear that there is a downgrading of services, even though there is a commitment to ring-fence a sum of â¬35 million. On 15 December the Minister of State said the Department had sanctioned the lifting of the...
- Universal Health Insurance (11 Jan 2012)
Billy Kelleher: Question 17: To ask the Minister for Health the provisional estimates for the total cost of universal health insurance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1164/12]
- Universal Health Insurance (11 Jan 2012)
Billy Kelleher: This is an extremely important issue and it must be discussed. The Minister referred to the publication of a White Paper at the end of this year. At that stage, he will have been in office for almost two years. He has made commitments in respect of health insurance and he referred to a long timeframe and a lead-in period. In the meantime, we are faced with a crisis of major proportions in...
- Universal Health Insurance (11 Jan 2012)
Billy Kelleher: There were many reasons for that, including legal ones.
- Insurance Industry (11 Jan 2012)
Billy Kelleher: Question 1: To ask the Minister for Health the measures he intends to take to deal with the drop off in the number of persons that have private health insurance; the measures he will take to ensure the increase in the community rating levy will not be passed on to private health insurance customers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1629/12]
- Insurance Industry (11 Jan 2012)
Billy Kelleher: I also wish everybody a happy new year and in respect of the Department of Health, a peaceful new year among the Ministers. While I welcome the Minister's reply, it does not address the key issue, that the cost of health insurance is inflating rapidly and many families are no longer able to afford to have private cover. During a Dáil debate this time last year the Minister stated he...
- Insurance Industry (11 Jan 2012)
Billy Kelleher: Nobody disputes the fact that there should be intergenerational solidarity and that we should support those more in need of private health insurance as they grow older and become more dependent on the health service. The key point, however, is that more people are giving up private health insurance. The Minister has a proposal with regard to implementation of a universal health insurance...
- Order of Business (16 Dec 2011)
Billy Kelleher: We will be playing soccer in no-man's-land soon.