Results 1,041-1,060 of 2,007 for speaker:Máire Devine

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (15 May 2018)

Máire Devine: In February, this House unanimously passed a motion to the effect that a non-HSE parent representative be appointed to the HSE primary care national steering group for children with complex medical needs. The HSE has disregarded the will of the Seanad and proceeded with sidelining parents from this decision-making process. The HSE wants to set up a reference group, a proposal which this...

Seanad: Commencement Matters (Resumed): HSE Staff Recruitment (10 May 2018)

Máire Devine: While I asked for the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, to attend the House, I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne. The office of the director general of the HSE is in disarray. Public confidence in high level management in the HSE is at an all-time low and we are all distressed at what is unfolding in the agency. Only last month we had the Garda Commissioner debacle and...

Seanad: Commencement Matters (Resumed): HSE Staff Recruitment (10 May 2018)

Máire Devine: I know section this and section that of the governance Act and so forth. The director general post will revert to chief executive officer again. Cathal Magee left this post because he did not really agree with the idea of a chief executive officer. We are going back for some reason. We do not want somebody parachuted in as has happened. The interim director general cannot become permanent...

Seanad: Order of Business (10 May 2018)

Máire Devine: This morning I brought up a Commencement matter. Unfortunately, the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, understandably but disappointingly, was not available. Another Minister took the Commencement matter. The competition for the next director general of the HSE needs to be transparent and accountable. Most of all we need an open competition. To my absolute horror, the HSE cannot...

Seanad: Order of Business (1 May 2018)

Máire Devine: There is little else to talk about today other than the cervical cancer scandal. What has happened is incredible. We cannot underestimate the fear that women all over this country and their families have been living with since the weekend, and which will continue into the future. The State Claims Agency is a Government agency with an embedded culture of dismissiveness. It is autocratic...

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Apr 2018)

Máire Devine: I have just come from a protest taking place outside the House by a bereft family who lost their young daughter to suicide a few months ago. They are calling for the introduction of a new law, Coco's law. I am aware of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs report that was recently launched. We asked that digital harassment be included in the legislation to mitigate against and be a...

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Apr 2018)

Máire Devine: Yesterday, I tabled a Commencement matter to which the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Jim Daly, responded. My Commencement matter related to a motion passed in this House last February. The motion was unopposed. It stated clearly that a non-HSE parent representative should be on the HSE primary care national steering group for children with complex medical needs....

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Apr 2018)

Máire Devine: I am aware of that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Future of Mental Health Care: Mental Health Services: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Apr 2018)

Máire Devine: I am somewhat biased but I think nurses are the nurturers of our nation. My heart sinks listening to my colleagues, as it did when I listened to members of my union. One could hear a pin drop in this room, listening to the experiences of workers at the coalface in the public service and the damage caused to the health of our children in particular. Mr. Walsh mentioned the commission on...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Primary Care Steering Group (18 Apr 2018)

Máire Devine: In February, the House passed, unopposed, a motion which stated clearly that a non-HSE parent representative should be on the HSE primary care national steering group for children with complex medical needs. The parents of these children, who, through their experience, are experts, rightly rejoiced after the motion was passed. They believed that, finally, they would be listened to and...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Primary Care Steering Group (18 Apr 2018)

Máire Devine: The Minister of State's reply is completely unacceptable. It is also disrespectful to this House. We did not have a discussion in February. We passed a motion unopposed. There is a precedent. Phrases such as "commercially sensitive" are always used to keep people's voices down. These parents are responsible and they will be accountable.It is disgraceful that the Minister of State is...

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Apr 2018)

Máire Devine: I congratulate the Ombudsman, Mr. Peter Tyndall, on his tenacity and determination in getting the Government to accept his recommendations on redress for the Magdalen survivors. The previous attitude was one of reluctance. Ultimately, it was aimed at limiting the numbers of those who might qualify for redress. It was also mean-spirited in nature. Yesterday, however, the Government and the...

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Apr 2018)

Máire Devine: Like Senator Murnane O'Connor, I want to highlight the Women's Aid report Against the Odds. The report was launched today supporting women and children experiencing domestic violence. The report is quite apt in an atmosphere worldwide where the examination of the treatment of women is rising on the agenda. The report certainly shows stark, disappointing and frightening statistics for our...

Seanad: Personal Explanation by Member (27 Mar 2018)

Máire Devine: I wish to put on the record of the House my apology to the family of the late Brian Stack. On Sunday, 18 March I retweeted what I thought to be a genuine tweet without having read the full content of that tweet. A number of follow-up tweets from me were wholly inappropriate and I deeply regret that. I want again to apologise for any and all offence and hurt that was caused by my Twitter...

Seanad: Order of Business (8 Mar 2018)

Máire Devine: Fair play to you.

Seanad: Order of Business (8 Mar 2018)

Máire Devine: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (8 Mar 2018)

Máire Devine: I will try. The Chair will give me some leeway because it is International Women's Day. I commend and respect Senator Ned O'Sullivan for what he has said. I think his journey, which he has shared, will help this country to make its decision on the eighth amendment. I thank him for his thoughtful contribution which was devoid of spin. I would have to be forgiven if I did not talk about...

Seanad: Order of Business (8 Mar 2018)

Máire Devine: Well done.

Seanad: Flooding: Statements (Resumed) (8 Mar 2018)

Máire Devine: I will probably not take the five minutes. My two colleagues, Senator Conway-Walsh and Senator Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, spoke previously. The Minister of State is very welcome to the House. It is good to see him. I want to speak from a Dublin perspective about the impact of coastal erosion along the east coast of Dublin. The Office of Public Works has several flood defences mapped out...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Future of Mental Health Care: Mental Health Services: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2018)

Máire Devine: I thank Dr. Hillery for the presentation and the delegation for attending. It is great to see three women present, especially given the week that is in it. I have a few questions. On public service and psychiatry and consultant psychiatrists, we learned in the earlier session that a senior consultant would earn approximately €185,000. The public would not understand and I suppose...