Results 12,861-12,880 of 45,510 for speaker:Simon Harris
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: Let us get this coalition going.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: Welcome back.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: I think Mr. Woods wishes to respond.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: I thank Senator Colm Burke for raising these matters. On his proposal to use the South Infirmary for cataract operations, as an example I refer to the investment we made through the NTPF working with the HSE in Nenagh hospital, where the hospital group came forward with a proposal to say that it had underutilised theatres and with an investment of about €1 million, from memory, that...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: I believe Mr. Reid has dealt with the questions.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: Earlier I said 83 beds of the 190 have been approved. Running a live tracker here, I now believe it is 107 beds because 25 for Tallaght have now also been approved. Therefore 107 of the additional 190 we hope to open have now been approved. If we stay for the day we might get that figure up even further. It is 107 and we can keep the committee updated as the numbers come in. I thank...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: I will comment briefly on the issue of drug addiction. I want to reinforce the point the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, made about stigma. I spent approximately two hours at a private meeting of families impacted by addiction last night. It is a weekly addiction family support meeting in Dublin which I was kindly allowed to attend. The issue of stigma came up over and over again and the...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: I am more than happy to take a break but I have an engagement at 1 p.m., however the Chairman wishes to factor that in.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: That is a great question. We are all trying to find extra capacity to deal with the immediate problems. We know we need to do better in terms of building more hospital capacity and more community capacity in the coming months and years. Basically, it is a call out to the system, and I echo that call again today. If a hospital manager or a hospital group manager believes that he or she can...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: I agree with the Deputy 100%, with the caveat that it has to be a matter of choice - I know the Deputy would agree with that too. We asked our group in the Department to bring together all the different units involved in this area in terms of eligibility and the likes as well as health and health policy. We published the report. My officials and others, including representatives of the...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: I did not hear the report but I am not surprised to hear that view. Let us consider what direct provision and emergency accommodation for people coming to our country are about. This is about people coming from what can be a highly traumatic environment and fleeing oppression to another country. We can all imagine the trauma of that. We can only begin to imagine the trauma of that for a...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: There are three parts to this. The Chairman raised the matter with me in the Dáil last week. The first part is to acknowledge that we need to train far more GPs. I am pleased to see that the number of GPs entering training is increasing. That is not a political statement. The Irish College of General Practitioners and others are welcoming this. We are now training more GPs than...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: People have an intimate relationship with the GP, and it is an important one.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: To the very best of my knowledge, my colleague, the Minister of State with responsibility for Bantry and mental health and older people-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: He is not here, but I note Deputy Murphy O'Mahony and the Minister of State are getting on far better these days since his announcement.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: The Deputy does not mind me saying these things - there is less sting in it. I will get the Deputy a written update on this, but to the best of my knowledge they are on track.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: Please do.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: I am.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: I must have missed that radio programme as well.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)
Simon Harris: I am passionately in favour of it, as is the Deputy. We passed this landmark legislation. A hell of a lot of people put a large number of obstacles in our way. Vested interests with deep pockets attempted to stop us passing the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018. I acknowledge that we passed it together with civic society and public health advocates. I thank people for their co-operation....