Results 10,661-10,680 of 11,255 for speaker:Colm Burke

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Health Service Staffing (13 Mar 2013)

Colm Burke: I thank the Minister of State.

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Health Service Staffing (13 Mar 2013)

Colm Burke: The matter I wish to raise is a new agreement I discovered by accident which has been reached between the HSE and the universities in Pakistan. There is a need to bring the information into the public domain as we got no indication that this was happening. I raise the issue given that more than 200 people were brought in here in 2011 from India and Pakistan under the supervised division...

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Second Stage (13 Mar 2013)

Colm Burke: I welcome the Minister and this Bill. I thank Senators Bacik and Power for the work they have done in this area. Some people get frustrated at times with how long it takes to get legislation passed. I remember starting the campaign to abolish the status of illegitimacy back in 1980, which is before many of the people here this evening were born and even the Minister, Deputy Kathleen Lynch,...

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Mar 2013)

Colm Burke: Following on from what Senator Marc MacSharry said in regard to the banks, it is important that a structure be put in place for dealing with the issues faced by many borrowers. I am concerned at the lack of joined-up thinking by all banks in regard to how they approach those who are in serious difficulty. I understand that different rules operate if the borrower employs a solicitor to speak...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Tackling Childhood Poverty: Discussion (12 Mar 2013)

Colm Burke: I thank all of the witnesses for the presentations today. This is an important issue. I wish to touch briefly on a few matters. In the past ten to 15 years an amount of money has been spent on the improvement of services. Do the witnesses believe we could have achieved a lot more given what we invested? That is something we must examine because I do not wish to see the same mistakes made...

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Mar 2013)

Colm Burke: On the matter raised by Senator Colm Burke, as I indicated, the Minister for Justice and Equality will publish a family relationships and children's Bill later this year. Senator Norris spoke of calm, serious and respectful debate. It is a pity we do not often have that type of debate in the House, especially on the Order of Business.

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Mar 2013)

Colm Burke: I remind Senator MacSharry that-----

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Mar 2013)

Colm Burke: Is Senator MacSharry afraid of the truth?

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Mar 2013)

Colm Burke: I was just trying to remind Senator MacSharry that he did not seem to have difficulty in trusting the banks a number of years ago when we gave all the guarantees.

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Mar 2013)

Colm Burke: We have no difficulty whatsoever in dealing with the banking crisis and the Minister has set out quite clear criteria to the banks on how to deal with mortgages in distress. Senator Rónán Mullen raised the surrogacy issue. There is now a High Court judgment. In fairness, the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, set out in a memorandum guidelines on dealing with some...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Service Executive Service Plan 2013: Discussion with HSE (7 Mar 2013)

Colm Burke: No.

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Mar 2013)

Colm Burke: I raise the concern about developments in the past 24 hours involving the Irish Examiner Group. I am sure all Members will join with me in hoping that it can trade out of its current difficulties. While we might be critical of the media and they might be critical of us, they play an important part in the democratic process. As the main national newspaper in the Munster region, it is...

Seanad: Seanad Electoral Reform Bill 2013: Second Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Colm Burke: I have already set out clearly in the past two years my view on reform. Having come here from Brussels where I worked, there is a better way of doing business. Part of what I learned there in the brief time I was there is that while one does not get 100% of what one seeks, one gets 80% or 90% through the system in place there, where everyone sits around the table to work out the way...

Seanad: Seanad Electoral Reform Bill 2013: Second Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Colm Burke: We are prepared to implement reforms and are working to implement them. I also set out clearly that this House was ideally placed to look at EU legislation, directives and regulations, as they were brought forward. This could be done not when they are approved by the 27 member states but at the initial stages. The European Commission sets out in November its programme for the following 12...

Seanad: Seanad Electoral Reform Bill 2013: Second Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Colm Burke: Absolutely not.

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Mar 2013)

Colm Burke: I raise the issue of the cost of drugs in the health service. It follows on from a detailed report from Susan Mitchell in The Sunday Business Post this week which indicated that in some cases we are now paying 24 times more than what the same drug costs in the United Kingdom. One drug, which is prescribed for patients with a psychiatric complaint, costs the equivalent of ¤50 per treatment...

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Mar 2013)

Colm Burke: We now find that in some cases we are still paying up to 24 times more than what is being paid in the UK, while in other cases it is ten or 11 times more than what is paid in the UK. I ask the Leader to invite the Minister to the House to give an explanation for that. If we are transferring to generic drugs, at the very least we should not pay any more than what is being paid in the UK. The...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Hospital Services (5 Mar 2013)

Colm Burke: I thank the Minister of State for his response and I hope he is right that the position will be filled. My understanding is that it will be difficult to fill the position given that it is a very specialised post and the number of people specialising in the area is small. I note that the Minister of State said arrangements are also being made to establish a regular clinic here with a UK...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Hospital Services (5 Mar 2013)

Colm Burke: I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Alex White, for coming in to take the matter. I ask him to outline the up-to-date position on the provision of urological services for children who have spina bifida and hydrocephalus and, in particular, if arrangements have been made for a consultant paediatric urologist to travel from the United Kingdom on a monthly basis to provide the necessary...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Pay and Conditions of Non-Consultant Hospital Doctors: Discussion (5 Mar 2013)

Colm Burke: I asked two questions. The first was about CVs being sent to the smaller hospitals without them having a say in what CVs are sent to them. While CVs are sent to them, they are selected by a centralised office. The second question is whether there have been discussions with the Medical Council about the doctors in the supervised division. Have there been discussions with the council about...