Results 11,641-11,660 of 12,097 for speaker:Colm Burke

Seanad: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2012: Second Stage (13 Dec 2012)

Colm Burke: It is a requirement.

Seanad: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2012: Second Stage (13 Dec 2012)

Colm Burke: The hospitals will not send back the forms without the---

Seanad: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2012: Second Stage (13 Dec 2012)

Colm Burke: The Senator is not entitled to raise this issue. It is not before the House.

Seanad: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2012: Second Stage (13 Dec 2012)

Colm Burke: I welcome the Minister to the House and thank him for bringing forward this legislation, which I welcome. We have been dealing with this issue through statutory regulations since 1994. There have been a number of regulations and pieces of legislation dealing with this issue. This is about formalising what now needs to put in place to deal with the matter into the future. It is important...

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Dec 2012)

Colm Burke: I agree with the call for a public inquiry into this murder. As a member of the legal profession, I know that one of the roles in acting is to ensure that while the role of the people employed by the state, whether it is the police or the army, is to uphold the law from the point of view of the state, the role of the solicitor is to ensure that the state, itself, is upholding the law in the...

Seanad: Youth Work: Motion (12 Dec 2012)

Colm Burke: I welcome the Minister. I commend the youth workers who put a great deal of time into working with young people and thank them for their work and the contribution that they have made to date and will continue to make in the future. I came into politics directly as a result of being involved in a youth organisation and serving on its national executive when I was only 18 when all of the other...

Seanad: Youth Work: Motion (12 Dec 2012)

Colm Burke: I was involved in youth organisations and then went on to run a centre in a project that was funded by FÁS where there were 50 young people who otherwise would have dropped out of school who had problems with literacy and numeracy. Most of these young people were referred to us by the Garda because they had dropped out of the main system of education. When we conducted a survey of those...

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Dec 2012)

Colm Burke: There are hard and unpopular decisions in respect of this Budget but in health alone, the number of people benefiting from medical cards has gone from over 1.2 million to over 1.8 million. Between medical cards and GP-only medical cards, the figure will be over 2 million by the end of 2013 and funding must be provided for that. It is about trying to get a balance. In fairness, people have...

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Dec 2012)

Colm Burke: The Senator was talking about ¤1 million-----

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Dec 2012)

Colm Burke: I have no difficulty having a debate on any issue relating to the budget but let us be constructive in dealing with it and deal with each issue about which people have concerns. Let us look at the overall budget and what we are trying to do in respect of achieving balance and fairness.

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Dec 2012)

Colm Burke: The Senator supported large investors when her party was in power.

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Dec 2012)

Colm Burke: There are hard and unpopular decisions in respect of this Budget but in health alone, the number of people benefiting from medical cards has gone from over 1.2 million to over 1.8 million. Between medical cards and GP-only medical cards, the figure will be over 2 million by the end of 2013 and funding must be provided for that. It is about trying to get a balance. In fairness, people have...

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Dec 2012)

Colm Burke: The Senator was talking about ¤1 million-----

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Dec 2012)

Colm Burke: I have no difficulty having a debate on any issue relating to the budget but let us be constructive in dealing with it and deal with each issue about which people have concerns. Let us look at the overall budget and what we are trying to do in respect of achieving balance and fairness. The Commission for Energy Regulation states that the number of disconnections more than doubled last year...

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals (Amendment) Bill 2012: Second Stage (11 Dec 2012)

Colm Burke: On Tuesday, 18 December.

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals (Amendment) Bill 2012: Second Stage (11 Dec 2012)

Colm Burke: I welcome the Minister and this Bill. It is important to have proper registration for people who are offering such services. When the review was carried out in 2000 there were only five professional groups subject to statutory registration - doctors, dentists, nurses, opticians and pharmacists. The 2005 Act expanded that to 12 other groups, including clinical biochemists, dieticians,...

Seanad: Report of the Expert Group on the Judgment in the A, B and C v. Ireland Case: Statements (6 Dec 2012)

Colm Burke: On a point of order, it is important to clarify that the Supreme Court heard expert evidence when it was deliberating on the X case.

Seanad: Report of the Expert Group on the Judgment in the A, B and C v. Ireland Case: Statements (6 Dec 2012)

Colm Burke: Incorrect information is being furnished.

Seanad: Report of the Expert Group on the Judgment in the A, B and C v. Ireland Case: Statements (6 Dec 2012)

Colm Burke: I thank the Chair for the notification. The Supreme Court decision 20 years ago set out the view that there was a need for legislation. I believe this is the way forward, but it is not legislation which allows abortion on demand. It is a question of establishing legislation to follow through on the amendment passed in 1983. The way forward is through legislation and regulation and there...

Seanad: Report of the Expert Group on the Judgment in the A, B and C v. Ireland Case: Statements (6 Dec 2012)

Colm Burke: I welcome the report published by the expert group under the chairmanship of Mr. Justice Seán Ryan. We must introduce legislation together with regulations. This is one of the options set out in the report. I wish to outline my position as clearly as possible. I might bore some listeners in quoting case law in support of my argument, but this legislation would not introduce abortion on...