Results 1,041-1,060 of 2,967 for speaker:Pat Buckley

Committee on Public Petitions: Engagement with European Ombudsman (23 Mar 2023)

Pat Buckley: I thank Ms O'Reilly for her time today. I was interested to hear about the Covid recovery fund and very interested to read the press statement from the European Court of Auditors, which stated: Citizens will only trust new ways of EU funding if they can be sure that their money is being spent properly ... Currently, there is a gap in terms of the assurance the Commission can provide for...

Committee on Public Petitions: Engagement with European Ombudsman (23 Mar 2023)

Pat Buckley: That is absolutely perfect. I wanted to see had I gone in the right direction. I know it takes time for the European Court of Justice to go through the cases but I just wanted clarity. I am glad Ms O'Reilly has given me that information and there is actually an avenue there.

Committee on Public Petitions: Engagement with European Ombudsman (23 Mar 2023)

Pat Buckley: I thank Ms O'Reilly very much.

Committee on Public Petitions: Engagement with European Ombudsman (23 Mar 2023)

Pat Buckley: Fair play to Ms O'Reilly. I would love her job, to be honest. I would actually love her job.

Committee on Public Petitions: Engagement with European Ombudsman (23 Mar 2023)

Pat Buckley: Absolutely. It is on the public record. I would like to return to something I have previously spoken to Ms O'Reilly about. I got the document and her office looked into it. The response that came back to the question I had about the issues with the Owenacurra centre was that the European Ombudsman can not look into complaints about publicly funded healthcare systems like the HSE. Where...

Committee on Public Petitions: Engagement with European Ombudsman (23 Mar 2023)

Pat Buckley: It is a question of oversight and accountability. One cannot get anything. Once one goes into the system, whether it is the Mental Health Commission, the HSE, Tusla or anything else, it is just a constant circle. Ms O'Reilly spoke in her opening statement about accountability and transparency. That is where my bugbear was. As I said at the start, these are people, human beings, who are...

Committee on Public Petitions: Engagement with European Ombudsman (23 Mar 2023)

Pat Buckley: I have tried that.

Committee on Public Petitions: Engagement with European Ombudsman (23 Mar 2023)

Pat Buckley: Yes, €724 billion is a lot of money, and €989 million is a lot of money. I want a tip on something else. I asked Ms O'Reilly about referring cases to the European Court of Justice, ECJ, or to the Public Prosecutor's Office within the EU because I approached the European Court of Justice a number of months ago with what I feel is a human rights-based issue. I wrote to Ms...

Committee on Public Petitions: Engagement with European Ombudsman (23 Mar 2023)

Pat Buckley: I wrote to Ms O'Reilly's office and received a response back. I gather from the response that it was a matter for the European Court of Justice so I decided to go there.

Committee on Public Petitions: Engagement with European Ombudsman (23 Mar 2023)

Pat Buckley: It is not too often that we get the European Ombudsman to attend and I will catch her on the spot. I wish to return to an issue about which I have spoken to her, namely, the health centres, and so on. She may remember that I mentioned a mental health and respite centre for old folks, the Owenacurra mental health centre in Midleton, County Cork. If I send the details to her, can the...

Committee on Public Petitions: Engagement with European Ombudsman (23 Mar 2023)

Pat Buckley: I would greatly appreciate that and I thank Ms O'Reilly very much.

Committee on Public Petitions: Engagement with European Ombudsman (23 Mar 2023)

Pat Buckley: I do not wish to dwell on this but there is frustration when you are trying to do the right thing. As Ms O'Reilly said, it is not about finger-pointing, but surely somebody has to take responsibility. That centre was fully integrated within a town where the people living in the centre could walk into the town. There was a doctor across the road in the community hospital. The dentist, the...

Committee on Public Petitions: Engagement with European Ombudsman (23 Mar 2023)

Pat Buckley: Ms O'Reilly is fairly spot on there.

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (23 Mar 2023)

Pat Buckley: I acknowledge that it is a fairly extensive response. I thank the case workers involved because a lot of work has gone into this. Hopefully, the case will be resolved at some stage. For the benefit of people watching, we sometimes ask for patience because things do not happen overnight. There is a lot of to and fro but it has to be done. We will work on behalf of the petitioners but, as...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (23 Mar 2023)

Pat Buckley: I agree with the proposal. I understand the frustration from family members and so on. It is similar to the situation with autism in terms of assessment of needs and so on. I ask that we write to the HSE to find out if any of the families in question have ever used an initiative similar to the cross-Border initiative that exists for funding cataract procedures and so on? Has that ever...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (23 Mar 2023)

Pat Buckley: That is too late.

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (23 Mar 2023)

Pat Buckley: I simply agree with it. It is an interesting aspect and I would like to see the response when it comes back.

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (23 Mar 2023)

Pat Buckley: I absolutely agree.

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (23 Mar 2023)

Pat Buckley: I thank the committee, the secretariat and all the staff for the work they do as a phenomenal amount of work goes into this. It must be acknowledged.

High Energy Costs: Motion [Private Members] (7 Mar 2023)

Pat Buckley: I will cut straight to the chase. I thank Deputy Doherty for tabling the motion and I ask the Government to withdraw its countermotion. The Minister mentioned a few payments. He should remember one thing. Governments are supposed to serve the people. The payments the Minister mentioned are taxpayers' money. The Government is giving it back to the same people. It is not targeting it. I...