Results 81-100 of 359 for long speaker:Anne Rabbitte

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Disability Services (14 Dec 2022)

Anne Rabbitte: ...in CHO 1. Routes may move from closed routes to open routes, which will mean there will be no charge for the people who need to access services. The Senator and I live in the real world. He knows how long that will take to get over the line. However, that is the direction of travel. There is an inequality but a fantastic model has been developed in Leitrim and it can be extended. I...

Seanad: Childcare Services: Motion [Private Members] (7 Dec 2022)

Anne Rabbitte: ...motion from the Labour Party is a welcome opportunity to debate the important issue of early learning and childcare. An amendment to this motion is being tabled. While there is agreement on long-standing challenges in early learning and childcare, we also believe that the extensive commitments by this Government to address these long-standing challenges and the substantial progress we...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Rights of People with Disabilities (6 Dec 2022)

Anne Rabbitte: ...that we are open to the earlier ratification of the Optional Protocol. My Department is currently working to scope out the requirements for earlier ratification. This scoping work is required due to the long-standing position of the State in relation to honouring international agreements. As a matter of policy, Ireland does not enter into binding international treaties until we are...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Health Services Staff (29 Nov 2022)

Anne Rabbitte: ...using the service. It is also important to acknowledge the challenges that are there for staff because they are working under tremendous pressure. These challenges have resulted in unacceptably long delays for families to access much needed therapies for their children. As Minister of State, I once again want to put on the record my sincerest apologies to any family experiencing such...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Rights of People with Disabilities (23 Nov 2022)

Anne Rabbitte: ...that we are open to the earlier ratification of the Optional Protocol. My Department is currently working to scope out the requirements for earlier ratification. This scoping work is required due to the long-standing position of the state in relation to honouring international agreements. As a matter of foreign policy, Ireland does not enter into binding international treaties until we...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Hospital Overcrowding (16 Nov 2022)

Anne Rabbitte: I again state that the Government, along with the Department of Health, remains fully committed to improving services in Limerick and throughout the country. Significant efforts are being made to ensure the issues, such as overcrowding in the emergency department and delays for elective care at UHL, are being addressed as a matter of priority. As I noted, following the Minister, Deputy...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Disability Services (16 Nov 2022)

Anne Rabbitte: ...contact with the Department of Transport on the issue. In an update provided through the NTA rural transport programme, the TFI Local Link Cork office confirmed that the service in question is a long-standing one and is a HSE co-funded service. However, TFI Local Link Cork says it is not aware of any issues with this service. For example, no passengers are being left behind. It...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Hospital Overcrowding (16 Nov 2022)

Anne Rabbitte: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I am taking it on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, so I will keep to the script. I recognise the long-standing interest of the Deputy in the development of healthcare at University Hospital Limerick and the entire mid-west. We are all familiar with the difficulties faced by UHL. It was in consideration of those difficulties...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Hospital Facilities (15 Nov 2022)

Anne Rabbitte: ...Hospital is a level 2 hospital delivering non-complex elective medical surgical services including orthopaedic and minor surgeries and renal services. It has two designated rehabilitation units along with a number of specialist outpatient clinics. As the Senator will be aware, work on the two orthopaedic surgical wards to serve Merlin Park hospital was completed in 2022. The purpose of...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Disability Services (15 Nov 2022)

Anne Rabbitte: ...Assistance dogs also help children with autism to develop coping mechanisms, improve communication skills and their ability to learn and participate in social activities. All these benefits improve the long term quality of the life of the child and reduce the need for other costly supports and interventions.  There are a number of organisations that provide dogs to assist with...

Report of the Joint Committee on Disability Matters on the UNCRPD: Motion [Private Members] (10 Nov 2022)

Anne Rabbitte: ...indicated we are open to the earlier ratification of the optional protocol. My Department is working to scope out the requirements for earlier ratification, and this work is required due to the long-standing position of the State on honouring international agreements. As a matter of foreign policy, Ireland does not enter binding treaties until it is sure the obligations set out within...

Home Care: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (8 Nov 2022)

Anne Rabbitte: ...is how I envisage it within disabilities. Deputy Nolan also spoke in the same vein. It is about giving hours to family carers so that they can support people within their communities while they are awaiting more long-term supports. When people are discharged from hospital or if there is a need or an acuteness within a family setting, they would have a blanket number of hours to support...

Community and Voluntary Sector Workers: Motion [Private Members] (12 Oct 2022)

Anne Rabbitte: ...six weeks, to put this on the agenda. I have been finding this Private Member's motion to be one of the more difficult I have dealt with because, if I were in opposition, I would be standing alongside the Deputies and in support of them, as I did many a year. That is why, when the Minister for Health stood here earlier and spoke about the process, I really welcomed that step change and...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Nursing Homes (12 Oct 2022)

Anne Rabbitte: ...of State announced, prior to budget day, that her priority over the past weeks had been to secure additional funding for budget 2023 to ensure the continuation of all services to high standard. Long-term residential care will be supported through €47 million in additional funding for the nursing home support scheme to maintain services and manage inflationary increases. The...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Home Care Packages (6 Oct 2022)

Anne Rabbitte: ...wear products to eligible persons based on need as a success of the improvement programme. In circumstances where a person does not hold full eligibility, such as a holder of a medical card or a long-term illness scheme card, reimbursement support for incontinence wear products is provided under the drug payment scheme, DPS. While there is no set limit on the quantity, the DPS claim must...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Healthcare Infrastructure Provision (6 Oct 2022)

Anne Rabbitte: ...the elective hospital route is the way to go. We are taking all steps to fast track this proposal within the current rules. By introducing new capacity, we can tackle waiting lists in the long term and free up hospital capacity in the existing wider public hospital network. To conclude, I would note again that I hope Deputy O'Donnell will see the clear benefits that Limerick, the...

Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage (Resumed) (5 Oct 2022)

Anne Rabbitte: ...I will now respond to some specific workforce planning issues raised by various Deputies. On the issue of intern places for medical graduates, following an increase in intern places over several years, we no longer have a shortage of these places. An additional 120 permanent intern places have been created, which represents a 16% increase compared with pre-Covid levels. I confirm that...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Citizens Information Services (5 Oct 2022)

Anne Rabbitte: I will start where the Deputy finished. Citizens information centres are a trusted source of information, advice and advocacy with a long tradition of volunteering. The Minister fully supports the continued valuing of the role of volunteers in CIS companies. The strong view of the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, which I share, is that the important service provided by citizens information...

Financial Resolutions 2022 - Financial Resolution No. 6: General: Financial Resolution (Resumed) (28 Sep 2022)

Anne Rabbitte: ...whole-time equivalents across neurological centres. The next stage of the strategy roll-out is to areas in which we already have trauma in CHO 4, and to have the neurological team in place to work with the community team along with paediatric neurological supports. There is, therefore, a whole package looking after 31 organisations, which we meet on a daily basis, be it in the...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Child Protection (22 Sep 2022)

Anne Rabbitte: ...justice system to make it more user-friendly, streamlined, supportive and, where possible, less adversarial. The terms of reference of the group include developing a high-level vision and medium and long-term objectives for the development of an effective national family justice system. This will be most obvious in the development of the first family justice strategy and its subsequent...