Results 1,001-1,020 of 4,399 for speaker:Martin Browne

Committee on Public Petitions: Closure of Vital Health Services: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: Does Mr. Ryan wish to respond?

Committee on Public Petitions: Closure of Vital Health Services: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: I want to say something before Ms O'Donovan comes in. I appreciate what Mr. Ryan is saying, but the incidents we have seen in Owenacurra and St. Brigid's especially, moving people back to care in their homes is moving people farther away from their families.

Committee on Public Petitions: Closure of Vital Health Services: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: Owenacurra has been raised by more than one person, including Deputy Hourigan on several occasions. We have raised the issue of St. Brigid's District Hospital in Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. Clogheen is 40 minutes' drive away. St. Teresa's is that distance away from Carrick-on-Suir with no public transport. It is hard to say they are trying to bring care back into people's homes....

Committee on Public Petitions: Closure of Vital Health Services: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: I have a couple of points on Owenacurra and some on St. Brigid's. In the opening statement, the HSE referred to a plan to provide a ten-bed purpose-built rehabilitative residential unit in Midleton. Where does that stand? Has funding been ring-fenced for that project? When is it due to be completed?

Committee on Public Petitions: Closure of Vital Health Services: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: Is the money ring-fenced?

Committee on Public Petitions: Closure of Vital Health Services: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: So there is no guarantee.

Committee on Public Petitions: Closure of Vital Health Services: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: Going back to something Mr. Ryan said, that it could not be done on the site of Owenacurra, I spent 35 years in construction and there were many buildings where they had a lack of services. I remember Tallaght nurses' hospital. That was built up while all the services went on right beside it in the same building. This idea that you cannot keep building or that you need to clear everything...

Committee on Public Petitions: Closure of Vital Health Services: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: I appreciate that but he went to Cork to see the Owenacurra centre from where people are being moved. They are being moved to St. Stephen's and St. Finbarr's hospitals. Surely as CEO, when he was checking Owenacurra centre, he should have visited the places to which patients were being moved as well, especially when concerns had been raised about those two hospitals?

Committee on Public Petitions: Closure of Vital Health Services: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: Deputy Hourigan raised this issue and Deputy Buckley has asked us to raise it. Is there coercion involved in patients being moved? The last time Deputy Buckley raised this issue the representatives of the HSE who were here would not even consider to it. They reckoned that coercion was not even a possibility. Some members of the committee expressed dissatisfaction with the need to transfer...

Committee on Public Petitions: Closure of Vital Health Services: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: In this report from the committee, members express dissatisfaction because patients are being moved against their express wishes and Ms O'Donovan is saying they are not.

Committee on Public Petitions: Closure of Vital Health Services: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: Who sat on the HSE safety and quality committee?

Committee on Public Petitions: Closure of Vital Health Services: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: It is not anybody in here or the campaign group.

Committee on Public Petitions: Closure of Vital Health Services: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: Will the HSE guarantee those patients who are not moving that they will be allowed back? I do not want to put words in Ms O'Donovan's mouth but the answer she gave suggests the patients are going to move them in any case. The attitude seems to be that they will be fine wherever they are put and a new cohort will come into Owenacurra centre when it reopens. They will be moved and the HSE...

Committee on Public Petitions: Closure of Vital Health Services: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: St. Brigid's Hospital had three palliative care, two respite and 11 convalescent beds. How many beds are now in place in Tipperary to replace those taken from St. Brigid's? Ms Susan Mullins appeared before the committee in July. Since that time, things have become a lot worse in her view regarding the provision of healthcare, especially in respect of care at the step-down facilities. She...

Committee on Public Petitions: Closure of Vital Health Services: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: Thank you. Does Mr. Ryan wish to make a closing statement?

Committee on Public Petitions: Closure of Vital Health Services: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: As said earlier, if we do not get them this time, we will have you back here again because this is the third or fourth time that we have asked. I appreciate what the witnesses have told us and we will take them at their word. I thank Mr. Ryan, Mr. Fitzmaurice, Ms O'Donovan and Ms McDaid for appearing before the committee. We found this meeting very beneficial. Hopefully, some of the...

Committee on Public Petitions: Closure of Vital Health Services: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: Due to the lack of a quorum, we have to defer consideration of petitions until our meeting on 19 October, when we will discuss all the petitions that were before us today. I thank Ms Karen Bebbington, Ms Barbara Hughes, Mr. Alex Alino and all the staff for the work they do to make the chairing of these meetings and the committee itself so easy-flowing. There is no other business so the...

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023: Second Stage (4 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: It is vitally important that the provisions contained within a Bill such as this strengthens the laws against sexual offences. I would also suggest that of similar importance is a Bill that is structured in such a way as to give victims of these crimes the confidence to enter the legal process in the knowledge that it provides the assistance and protections that people in their situation...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Health Services Staff (4 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: I echo what Deputy Dillon has said. I thank the Minister of State for taking this issue this morning. It is a pity that the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, himself is not present to listen to us. Section 39 workers in our healthcare service are at the coalface morning, noon and night. I spoke to some of the service users in the Irish Wheelchair Association, IWA, in Tipperary town...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Health Services Staff (4 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: As Deputy Dillon pointed out, the offer of a 5% increase cannot be accepted. It is as simple as that. All these workers were treated the same when the pay cuts came. All they are asking for is the same treatment when pay is being replaced. The figure of 5% is the exact reason there is a problem with recruitment and retention in the service. There is a difference of €4.20 per hour...