Results 11,181-11,200 of 24,635 for speaker:Mary Harney

Departmental Reports. (5 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: I am not appointing more managers — I am simply asking the HSE to put in place a permanent management structure. The primary, community and continuing care unit and the National Hospitals Office, for example, have acting heads.

Departmental Reports. (5 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: There is an acting head in charge of information technology and an acting head in charge of human resources. In fairness, the HSE has gone to the market a couple of times and I understand an appointment is imminent in one case. It has not been easy to fill some of these positions. Some of those originally appointed to fill certain positions have moved on. The first thing I want to see is...

Departmental Reports. (5 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: A number of people were going to meetings.

Departmental Reports. (5 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: The new cancer control plan would never have happened under the former health boards.

Departmental Reports. (5 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: It would never have happened.

Departmental Reports. (5 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: There is no designated centre in the midlands. I could not imagine one of the old health boards deciding not to designate a centre in its functional area.

Departmental Reports. (5 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: Cancer was being treated at three locations in the midlands, which was highly unsafe.

Departmental Reports. (5 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: Quality care could not be assured. That was one of the problems.

Departmental Reports. (5 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: I certainly am. If somebody is trying to——

Departmental Reports. (5 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: Twenty years ago Fine Gael called for the establishment of a semi-State body to deal with the unified health service.

Departmental Reports. (5 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: No organisation is perfect.

Departmental Reports. (5 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: Nothing short of a unified system of delivery——

Departmental Reports. (5 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: I do not accept that.

Ambulance Service. (5 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: My commitment to the continuing development and expansion of the ambulance service is clear from the extent of investment made in the service in recent years. Funding has been allocated by the HSE as part of the fleet replacement policy for the purchase of 67 new ambulances in 2006, 65 new ambulances in 2007 and 50 new ambulances this year. These figures represent a combination of...

Ambulance Service. (5 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: The Deputy referred to Beaumont Hospital the last time I responded to him on Question Time. As he knows, his comments on that occasion were subsequently contradicted by the hospital. We need to be careful when we are putting facts into the public domain through this forum. I mentioned that an additional 50 new ambulances would be purchased this year. That is a considerable commitment.

Ambulance Service. (5 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: No, the figure relates to the country at large. I do not have the breakdown for Dublin and the rest of the country because the Deputy did not request it in his question. I understand private ambulances deal with emergency calls in a small number of instances. As I said, less than 4% of the budget for ambulance services is spent on private services which have a role to play in supplementing...

Ambulance Service. (5 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: I hope the ongoing deliberations between SIPTU which is raising issues in this regard, the HSE and Dublin Fire Brigade will be resolved. That is what I said. I do not have figures for the breakdown of the 50 new ambulances being provided this year but I will make them available to the Deputy when I get them.

Hospital Staff. (5 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 85 and 148 together. Negotiations between health service employers and the Irish Hospital Consultants Association, IHCA, on new contractual arrangements for medical consultants came to a successful conclusion on 24 January 2008. While the Irish Medical Organisation, IMO, withdrew from the talks on 22 January 2008, it engaged in subsequent dialogue with Mr....

Hospital Staff. (5 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: I do not accept that there are many issues outstanding. The agreement was reached and announced in good faith and was signed off on by Mr. Connaughton. As the Deputy is aware, we do not have agreement with the IMO. There were a number of issues in respect of which tidying up exercises were required. One of these related to academic consultants and another to emergency consultants and the...

Hospital Staff. (5 Mar 2008)

Mary Harney: The Deputy misunderstands. These posts are not being funded by additional revenue. The idea is that we suppress junior posts to create senior ones. All bodies acknowledge that we need 6,000 hospital doctors, 4,000 consultants and 2,000 juniors. We have 4,000 juniors and 2,000 consultants. The Deputy knows from his own experience that suppressing the cost of many of the non-consultant...