Results 9,481-9,500 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Order of Business (11 Dec 2014)

Brendan Howlin: I am advised by the Minister for Health, Deputy Leo Varadkar, that there is already formal policy on open disclosure.

Order of Business (11 Dec 2014)

Brendan Howlin: That has been communicated to all staff. That should be happening. To ensure it does it will be followed up next year with legislation.

Order of Business (11 Dec 2014)

Brendan Howlin: I will raise the Deputy's concern directly with the Minister and since it has come from both sides of the House I will convey to him the sense of urgency that Members feel on this matter.

Order of Business (11 Dec 2014)

Brendan Howlin: I understand that a protocol is being negotiated between officials of my Department and the Office of the Ombudsman and that the draft has been sent by my Department. We are awaiting a reply from the Office of the Ombudsman.

Order of Business (11 Dec 2014)

Brendan Howlin: Both Bills are expected next year. The heads of both Bills have not yet been brought to Government.

Order of Business (11 Dec 2014)

Brendan Howlin: I thank the Deputies for their comments. I should explain to those Members of the House who were not in attendance at the Select Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform. Vote 12 relates to the payment of pension entitlements to retiring civil servants. Some 1,100 have worked all their lives in the Civil Service and are entitled to their pensions. I am anxious that they are paid. The...

Order of Business (11 Dec 2014)

Brendan Howlin: The particular information the Deputies sought was a breakdown of each type of pensioner. It was a very reasonable request. It is being compiled from Departments because it does not exist in one spreadsheet. The assistant secretary of my Department rang Deputy Sean Fleming this morning offering a full personal briefing today on the matter and offered to give the Deputies a précis of...

Order of Business (11 Dec 2014)

Brendan Howlin: Old Fianna Fáil used to support this.

Order of Business (11 Dec 2014)

Brendan Howlin: It is agreed.

Order of Business (11 Dec 2014)

Brendan Howlin: Is the Deputy going to vote against the pensions?

Order of Business (11 Dec 2014)

Brendan Howlin: Old Fianna Fáil would have supported the pensioners.

Order of Business (11 Dec 2014)

Brendan Howlin: Yes. There will be votes tomorrow.

Order of Business (11 Dec 2014)

Brendan Howlin: Everybody in the House was shocked at the revelations about Arás Attracta. Having seen so much and after so many inquiries, one imagines that one is inured to those things. However, I watched it with colleagues from the House and I found it really disturbing. I agree with the Deputy that there needs to be a full inquiry into it. The first inquiry, obviously, because what we saw prima...

Order of Business (11 Dec 2014)

Brendan Howlin: ----- facility like it. While I know I should not respond to Deputy Broughan's sidebar, this is not about resources. There were five trained nurses shown on screen in a bungalow. This was about abuse of power.

Order of Business (11 Dec 2014)

Brendan Howlin: I know I should not encourage the Deputy. The notion that a Minister sitting in a Department is responsible for the action of 100,000 public servants-----

Order of Business (11 Dec 2014)

Brendan Howlin: ----- is bizarre. We need to have accountability on the front line-----

Order of Business (11 Dec 2014)

Brendan Howlin: -----among people who are delivering services. We need proper oversight of them and proper mechanisms to ensure that any wrongdoing is outed. That is why we have, for example, enacted the Protected Disclosures Act to give real protection to whistleblowers who see wrongdoing without putting themselves on the hazard. However, we need to do much more.

Order of Business (11 Dec 2014)

Brendan Howlin: I am informed that the Seanad electoral (university Members) (amendment) Bill will be next year as will the industrial relations (collective bargaining) Bill.

Leaders' Questions (11 Dec 2014)

Brendan Howlin: I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for her question and her acknowledgement of the fact this is a very complex area which requires a multifaceted approach. This has already been embraced by the Minister, Deputy Kelly, in what Deputy O'Sullivan has characterised as a collaborative non-party way. It is a priority, and the centrepiece of my Budget Statement was the twin issues of providing social...

Leaders' Questions (11 Dec 2014)

Brendan Howlin: She has made very sensible proposals and I am anxious to embrace them. The scale and nature of the drug problem in Ireland is evolving. It is not a constant issue. There are issues we now need to begin to address again. When I was the Minister for Health, a very long time ago, the issue of providing injecting heroin users with methadone was first highlighted. I am not sure this is a...