Results 1,041-1,060 of 4,026 for speaker:

Written Answers — Department of Health: Departmental Expenditure (19 Oct 2023)

Duncan Smith: 360. To ask the Minister for Health how much has been spent on leasing capacity in private hospitals in 2022 and 2023, respectively; the projected spend in 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45943/23]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Budget 2024 (19 Oct 2023)

Duncan Smith: 361. To ask the Minister for Health to confirm if additional funding has been secured in Budget 2024 for the implementation of the safe staffing; how much funding is in place for phase two of the Framework for Safe Nurse Staffing and Skill Mix; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45944/23]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Waiting Lists (19 Oct 2023)

Duncan Smith: 362. To ask the Minister for Health to provide a breakdown of allocations of spending under the waiting list action plan to date in 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45945/23]

Trends in Mortality and Estimates of Excess Mortality: Statements (18 Oct 2023)

Duncan Smith: I welcome the opportunity to debate this issue. It is a difficult one to discuss for a number of reasons. I found the Minister of State's opening statement to be helpful and very honest about the complexities in the epidemiology and the difficulty with calculating excess mortality. Those are very real difficulties and complexities. This issue was first introduced to many of us, including...

Driving Test Waiting Times: Motion [Private Members] (18 Oct 2023)

Duncan Smith: I thank the Rural Independent Group for bringing this motion to the Chamber. It is something we have spoken about on many occasions in the Committee on Transport and Communications but to have a two-hour debate on it in the Dáil is most welcome. We are in the midst of a huge problem in road safety and many other issues in our roads. Chief among that is the wait list for driving tests....

Sustainability of Stability of Services Provided by Section 39 and Section 56 Organisations on behalf of the HSE and Tusla: Statements (12 Oct 2023)

Duncan Smith: I have stood across the House from the Minister of State more often than I have stood across from any other Minister in my time in the Dáil. While I may have taken issue with figures and things she has said before, I have never had such an issue with something she has said in the Dáil as I have with one of the lines in her contribution today. She said there is a collective...

Financial Resolution No. 3: Tobacco Products Tax (10 Oct 2023)

Duncan Smith: I am three and a half years in the Dáil, and the only time we debate tobacco reduction and smoking prevalence is on budget night through the instrument of a taxation measure. The aim is for a tobacco-free Ireland by 2025, which is a smoking prevalence rate of less than 5%. It is a 12-year campaign. We have a smoking prevalence of approximately 18% at the moment - 750,000 people. It...

Financial Resolutions 2023 - Budget Statement 2024 (10 Oct 2023)

Duncan Smith: Last year, I stood here with my colleagues in the Labour Party, hoping that we would have a budget that would provide that very thing: hope. Hope for people who are looking for a home, hope to tackle our climate crisis, hope to tackle the cost of living, hope that our health service would be improved and hope that there would be a very real investment for those most vulnerable in our...

Financial Resolutions 2023 - Budget Statement 2024 (10 Oct 2023)

Duncan Smith: What a poverty of ambition. Where will the Government even get those 10,200 units?

Financial Resolutions 2023 - Budget Statement 2024 (10 Oct 2023)

Duncan Smith: There is no plan whatsoever. With Fine Gael, its senior Ministers seem to be more connected with any vacant role in Europe than they are with their own communities. What have they done? They have allowed any energy in the Government to be led by Fianna Fáil. In this budget, we have seen Fianna Fáil invest in their own reliables: landlords and developers. For people of my...

Financial Resolutions 2023 - Budget Statement 2024 (10 Oct 2023)

Duncan Smith: It will be one of the toughest actions we will have ever seen in the history of this State.

Financial Resolutions 2023 - Budget Statement 2024 (10 Oct 2023)

Duncan Smith: We are a week away from it and there is no mention of it. We will have statements on that in particular on Thursday, but why is there no mention of it? Why is this important? I think it is because these workers are in an area that this Government does not care about, namely, people with disabilities, who are the most vulnerable in our society. This is a €14 billion budget. It...

Financial Resolutions 2023 - Budget Statement 2024 (10 Oct 2023)

Duncan Smith: We have seen money being allocated to hire 22,000 nurses. I do not know where the Government is going to get them, because it was not able to hire the nurses it accounted for last year.

Financial Resolutions 2023 - Budget Statement 2024 (10 Oct 2023)

Duncan Smith: This is the most disingenuous nonsense I have ever seen in a budget. On free GP care, it was finally extended to children under the age of eight this year and beyond to those under age 12, announced three or four years ago at this stage, and two or three Ministers ago. What the Government could do to actually improve access to our GP services is bring in a pharmacy-based minor ailments...

Financial Resolutions 2023 - Budget Statement 2024 (10 Oct 2023)

Duncan Smith: These are relatively small investments that would have a massive impact but no, the Government does not want to roll up its sleeves and get involved in the tricky negotiations it can take to deliver schemes such as these. Again, this is a tired Government that is abandoning its people. Today is World Mental Health Day. It was hoped by people in the mental health services that maybe they...

Financial Resolutions 2023 - Budget Statement 2024 (10 Oct 2023)

Duncan Smith: Absolutely nothing is happening - nothing. This is not just assessment of needs, which we need for education services. Even though the HSE says that you do not need it in order to get on a therapeutic or clinical list, we know that, really, you do.

Financial Resolutions 2023 - Budget Statement 2024 (10 Oct 2023)

Duncan Smith: We have seen nothing, never mind actually getting to dealing with the lists themselves. We want to see the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and this Government follow through on their commitments that were made in the early summer. They got them through a 24-hour news cycle that day, but it has not actually followed through to budget day or followed through to the services in our...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Broadband Infrastructure (10 Oct 2023)

Duncan Smith: 37. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when broadband infrastructure in new builds in Ireland will be completed, and in particular the Estate of Kenure Gate, Rush; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43944/23]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Aviation Industry (10 Oct 2023)

Duncan Smith: 65. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport how many private jet flights landed and departed the State in 2022, excluding military or diplomatic flights; where those flights landed and departed from; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43786/23]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (10 Oct 2023)

Duncan Smith: 239. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware that a number of primary school children in Donabate (details supplied) have been unable to find a school placement locally and will now have to now travel by public transport to Swords to school; if she will immediately begin the process of acquiring a site for the other proposed primary schools which form part of the proposed...