Results 1,061-1,080 of 1,253 for speaker:John Crown

Seanad: Access to Cancer Treatment Bill 2012: Second Stage (11 Jul 2012)

John Crown: On another point of information, nowhere in the Bill is there a suggestion patients should not be monitored or should not have access to multidisciplinary care. All of the multidisciplinary planning and consultation in the world is of no good if the recommendation of the multidisciplinary team is that a drug which is not yet available be used in treatment.

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Jul 2012)

John Crown: I welcome the announcement, reported today, that the State is undertaking that women who were victimised by the implantation of industrial-grade silicon in PIP breast implants will have recourse to it if the companies responsible for inserting the implants cannot be forced to look after them. I encourage the Minister for Health to use all power at his disposal in national and international...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Jun 2012)

John Crown: Perhaps the Leader would bring the following comments to the attention of the Minister for Health. First, I wish to talk about sin. The capital sin in a recession is not the spending of money, it is the wasting of money. A hugely wasteful spend is occurring in our health service right now. Figures emerged last week that showed 350,000 Irish citizens on some type of waiting list for...

Seanad: Seanad Reform: Motion (20 Jun 2012)

John Crown: I wish to share two minutes of my time with Senator Rónán Mullen.

Seanad: Seanad Reform: Motion (20 Jun 2012)

John Crown: I have tried to think of a good analogy for the facial appearance of the Minister of State and his predecessor here this afternoon. The best that I can think of is that they seem about as enthusiastic as the fraternal delegate from the Taliban going to a women's political association meeting.

Seanad: Seanad Reform: Motion (20 Jun 2012)

John Crown: It would be, yes.

Seanad: Seanad Reform: Motion (20 Jun 2012)

John Crown: In general, yes. Please do not take it personally.

Seanad: Seanad Reform: Motion (20 Jun 2012)

John Crown: I understand the circumstance in which they have found themselves press-ganged into a duty that they evidently find - I won't say distasteful - somewhat down the list of priorities for what had been their planned activities for today. It is well known that when I ran for the Seanad a year ago-----

Seanad: Seanad Reform: Motion (20 Jun 2012)

John Crown: Okay. There are many things I do not like either but that is just the way it is.

Seanad: Seanad Reform: Motion (20 Jun 2012)

John Crown: I thank the Minister of State. However, I stand by my comments. When I ran for the Seanad a year ago I stated that I would never run again for it as currently constituted. There is a very strong case to be made for either its abolition or reform. My three complaints about the Seanad are that it is undemocratic. It has introduced an electoral cast system into the country where some...

Seanad: Seanad Reform: Motion (20 Jun 2012)

John Crown: The most critical component of the constitution of any country is how it elects its national parliament. If we are having a constitutional convention and it deals with issues which some would see as relatively trivial and insubstantial in direct comparison to the actual Constitution of the national Parliament, one has to say there is something severely wrong with the democratic process. I...

Seanad: Order of Business. (6 Jun 2012)

John Crown: As we are now more than a year into the term of the Government, I ask the Leader to consider scheduling in the near future a formal broadly based debate on the fundamentals of health policy reform. This should not be another of the very worthy but piecemeal debates we have had on individual pieces of legislation, which could be broadly construed as part of an overall agenda for reform, but I...

Seanad: Order of Business (17 May 2012)

John Crown: There has been considerable discussion here and elsewhere over the past several days about the disclosure that various senior staff in the public service had been re-hired following their retirements. Much of the discussion is focused on the appropriateness of this practice, the potential waste, and there has been a focus on the degree of compensation for people whose new temporary salaries...

Seanad: Order of Business (17 May 2012)

John Crown: The question related to the advisability of mandatory retirement, not to the rehiring.

Seanad: Order of Business (16 May 2012)

John Crown: On this happy day, 24 hours after President Obama in the White House publicly announced to the world that he was honouring Robbie Keane for being the Republic of Ireland's leading scorer, I would like to ask the Deputy Leader to bring to the attention of the relevant Minister during this, the year of science, that there are two other Irish people who, I believe, deserve recognition. One of...

Seanad: Order of Business (16 May 2012)

John Crown: The second item I would like the Deputy Leader to bring to the attention of the Minister for Health and the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, and to any of my Seanad colleagues who may be from Cavan, is that there is another wholly unsung heroine of Irish science, Dr. Mary Patricia Cole, born in Cavan and educated in Carrickfergus, Portrush, Coleraine High School, Methodist...

Seanad: Order of Business (15 May 2012)

John Crown: I would like the Deputy Leader to seek clarification from the Minister for Health on two issues, the first of which relates to an emerging policy of public patients being stripped of their choice of public hospital. That is occurring in this country. It has serious implications for many citizens who would like aspects of their care to be provided in hospitals other than those geographically...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (10 May 2012)

John Crown: I strongly support Senator Barrett's amendment. Having worked on the fringe and, in recent years, directly in the academic medical and academic scientific sectors for the past 19 years, I have a certain perspective on this matter. It is that we have not supported the sector well and that any deficiencies that exist within the sector cry out for reform of the way we organise, fund and...

Seanad: Protection of Children's Health from Tobacco Smoke Bill 2012: Second Stage (9 May 2012)

John Crown: I do not intend to ban them.

Seanad: Protection of Children's Health from Tobacco Smoke Bill 2012: Second Stage (9 May 2012)

John Crown: I express my overwhelming sense of gratitude to my Seanad colleagues for their support for this legislation. In particular, I thank Senators Jillian van Turnhout and Mark Daly for helping to draft it and bring it to this stage. I thank the Seanad for the quality of the debate, the high level of information provided and the attention given to it. I also thank the parliamentary parties. I...