Results 10,961-10,980 of 11,292 for speaker:Colm Burke

Seanad: Radical Seanad Reform Through Legislative Change: Statements (Resumed) (9 Oct 2012)

Colm Burke: Ar 10.30 maidin amarách.

Seanad: Radical Seanad Reform Through Legislative Change: Statements (Resumed) (9 Oct 2012)

Colm Burke: I congratulate the people who drafted the document, who came forward with some very positive proposals. I have already made my views known on the issue and the need for us in the Seanad to be proactive in monitoring what is coming through from Europe. I previously proposed that two days a month should be set aside to deal with European regulations and directives. It is great that we have...

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Oct 2012)

Colm Burke: I wish to raise the issue of private schools. I do not agree with my colleague. I believe any decision to pay less to one area of education over another would give rise to constitutional issues.

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Oct 2012)

Colm Burke: It is an issue that needs to be carefully debated. All children are entitled to equal access in terms of funding of education. We need to be careful on that issue. Another issue of concern is that of illegal drugs and the problems we face in this regard, in particular in the Cork area. I understand - I am open to correction on this - that as many as nine people have died over the past few...

Seanad: Common Agricultural Policy: Motion (4 Oct 2012)

Colm Burke: I thank the Minister for giving us a comprehensive overview of the CAP reforms. Having worked in Europe for two years, I am very much aware of how the system works in reaching compromise and achieving progress together. Recent briefings from Teagasc and Macra na Feirme touched on the fragmentation of farms. If one goes back over 100 years when the Land Commission was established, there was...

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Oct 2012)

Colm Burke: It is interesting when Members criticise management of the health service. If one looks at where we have come from, we allowed the drugs bill to increase from ¤576 million to ¤1.9 billion a year without any check being made and a health system to develop in which fewer than 10% of the people in charge of managing finance within the HSE had a financial management qualification. That...

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Oct 2012)

Colm Burke: In the last 18 months the health budget has been reduced by ¤1.75 billion because we have to respond to what the taxpayer can afford to pay. In Galway we have reduced the waiting list from 9,000 people waiting longer than 12 months to 900. These are the facts.

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Oct 2012)

Colm Burke: The number of people with medical cards has increased from 1,146,000 to 1,800,000. That is what we are dealing with in the health service. That is the reality.

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Oct 2012)

Colm Burke: I would have no difficulty in having a debate to express confidence in the Minister because he is dealing with the real issues. He has set up the special delivery unit which is dealing with issues in hospitals to make them more efficient and get better value for taxpayers. Let us have a debate about the facts.

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Oct 2012)

Colm Burke: We will do what Members opposite did not do for ten years.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Childhood Obesity: Discussion (Resumed) (4 Oct 2012)

Colm Burke: Recently a medical consultant told me about a parent who had presented with a child who was overweight. They examined the lifestyle of the family and discovered that the child who was aged 16 years and very overweight did not get up until 2 p.m. When the doctor advised what the family needed to do, they simply did not want to hear it. There seems to be a problem where some parents insist...

Seanad: Thirty-First Amendment of the Constitution (Children) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (3 Oct 2012)

Colm Burke: The word "parents" is used in Article 42A.2.1°. I raise an issue about-----

Seanad: Thirty-First Amendment of the Constitution (Children) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (3 Oct 2012)

Colm Burke: It is just in relation to the overall section.

Seanad: Thirty-First Amendment of the Constitution (Children) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (3 Oct 2012)

Colm Burke: I am not in agreement with the proposed amendment.

Seanad: Thirty-First Amendment of the Constitution (Children) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (3 Oct 2012)

Colm Burke: I agree with Senator van Turnhout. I also checked about the inclusion of the words ?and significantly?. It would raise the bar extremely high. It would cause more problems than it would solve in the sense that the bar would be set so high that the courts would find themselves again in a stranglehold such as that to which I referred yesterday in the context of Mr. Justice Lynch in the JH...

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Oct 2012)

Colm Burke: I am mesmerised by the fact that Senator Byrne's party spokesperson on health has not been seen for the past ten days.

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Oct 2012)

Colm Burke: That same spokesperson had a major disagreement with the former Minister outside this House.

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Oct 2012)

Colm Burke: Yes. One of the issues that has arisen with regard to health care is the lack of financial management in the HSE. In fact, as few as 10% of the people involved in financial management have a qualification in financial management. We took over that system from the previous Government which allowed the situation whereby people with no expertise were appointed to positions. I ask that the...

Seanad: Thirty-First Amendment of the Constitution (Children) Bill 2012: Second Stage (2 Oct 2012)

Colm Burke: I thank the Minister, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, for bringing forward this proposal for a constitutional amendment on children's rights. The timeline of the debate on this issue goes back as far as the taskforce on child care services which reported in 1980. Senator Jillian van Turnhout referred to the many calls for constitutional change going back over years. The Minister referred to the...

Seanad: Thirty-First Amendment of the Constitution (Children) Bill 2012: Second Stage (2 Oct 2012)

Colm Burke: This is a sign of things to come.