Results 13,821-13,840 of 36,764 for speaker:Enda Kenny
- Leaders' Questions (22 Oct 2013)
Enda Kenny: -----and in which resources will be available to provide facilities for elderly people through the primary care system and through a universal health care system that will provide opportunities and facilities for young children, the extension of the free GP care system, opportunities for those in the middle to have work, careers and opportunity, as well as for those who are elderly to live in...
- Leaders' Questions (22 Oct 2013)
Enda Kenny: Deputy Adams has great faith in Ireland really. He is the man who went off to America to get his health care provided by a private benefactor. I am glad to see he is in a good, healthy condition to raise these points here.
- Leaders' Questions (22 Oct 2013)
Enda Kenny: I might point out to Deputy Adams that an additional €100 million was provided in this budget for facilities for elderly people to give them one of the highest rates of pensions paid in Europe, to maintain their travel, electricity and heating allowances and not to have any change in their net income.
- Leaders' Questions (22 Oct 2013)
Enda Kenny: The mandate given to this Government was to sort out the unprecedented economic mess left behind by incompetence, greed and a culture to which we will never return. That is my mandate as Taoiseach-----
- Leaders' Questions (22 Oct 2013)
Enda Kenny: -----and it is my privilege to lead the Government, which is making serious decisions to make serious changes to rectify this. I pointed out to the Deputy that there have been 16 consecutive months in which there has been a fall in the numbers on the live register.
- Leaders' Questions (22 Oct 2013)
Enda Kenny: The unemployment rate has fallen from 15.5% to 13.5%, consumer confidence is at its highest for six years and there has been a return in places around the country to confidence in the construction sector, which is very important. There are unprecedented levels of confidence and potential in the agrifood sector.
- Leaders' Questions (22 Oct 2013)
Enda Kenny: Deputy Adams does not wish to know these things because his deputy leader sitting beside him last week sought to confine all the young people to the dole for the rest of their lives.
- Leaders' Questions (22 Oct 2013)
Enda Kenny: Sinn Féin does not see opportunities for them to get out to have an opportunity to have a job, a career or to have retraining or upskilling in the many areas of opportunity and potential in the time ahead.
- Leaders' Questions (22 Oct 2013)
Enda Kenny: Consequently, I do not accept Deputy Adams's premise for a resignation. The Government is not in the business of shirking responsibility, unlike some others on the far side of the Chamber.
- Leaders' Questions (22 Oct 2013)
Enda Kenny: The answer to Deputy Martin's question in respect of the change being brought about for over 70s and their medical cards is "No". There will be no change in that. I have already pointed out that 85% of the over 70s will still retain their medical cards.
- Leaders' Questions (22 Oct 2013)
Enda Kenny: It will be in the high 90s and those who do not have a medical card will have the GP card which gives them free access to their doctor. The weekly income is €500 for a single person and €900 for a couple in order to receive a GP visit card and the House knows what that means. Even after the change, at least 93% of persons over 70 years will still have access to a free GP card....
- Leaders' Questions (22 Oct 2013)
Enda Kenny: It is not a case of having someone to blame. Deputy Martin put his foot in it and his footprints are all over the place. Deputy Martin said previously that there would be a clarification of the guidelines under which health board chief executives issue discretionary medical cards and that there were clearly variations between health boards in terms of how they administer them.
- Leaders' Questions (22 Oct 2013)
Enda Kenny: We should not have situations like those involving the children and their mothers who I saw on the television. We have 1.9 million medical cards issued. I put it to Deputy Martin that after speaking to these people directly there was a systems failure that did not take into account or did not know about the information involved, whether it be a failure on some of the people in sending in...
- Leaders' Questions (22 Oct 2013)
Enda Kenny: Some get scared when a letter comes from the HSE but we are changing all of that so that where children need attention or, in particular, facilities, aides or appliances, the system is able to cope with that.
- Leaders' Questions (22 Oct 2013)
Enda Kenny: There is a centralisation of it whereby the assessment is the same for everyone whether in Donegal, Kerry, Waterford or Louth. The change in that structure has led to these cases being highlighted. I hope that out of all this difficulty for the parents and their children the matter will be addressed and it will be. I have spoken to parents myself.
- Leaders' Questions (22 Oct 2013)
Enda Kenny: I have spoken myself to parents in the last few days. We have had some exceptional cases where because of a lack of information or whatever they have been refused.
- Leaders' Questions (22 Oct 2013)
Enda Kenny: The question of aides and appliances and the treatment of these will all be addressed. It may well be, as Deputy Martin rightly pointed out, that of all of the ministries, the Department of Health is the most challenging because one never knows what pressures may arise from difficulties in various parts of the country. The Minister, Deputy Reilly, is seeking, at central level, to cut the...
- Leaders' Questions (22 Oct 2013)
Enda Kenny: Many of them were well in excess of the guidelines for medical cards but because of the weighting attached to their particular discretionary requirements the cards were issued. Fully 20,000 new discretionary cards since the beginning of this year have been issued. Significant numbers of those people were well in excess of the guidelines set down.
- Leaders' Questions (22 Oct 2013)
Enda Kenny: One of the fundamental reasons we need to make difficult choices and difficult changes in the structure of our health system is to cut the cost while preserving the services for those who need them. The main thrust of the changes being brought about is to protect services for those who need them - children, the sick and the elderly. We are doing that against a background of unmitigated...
- Leaders' Questions (22 Oct 2013)
Enda Kenny: Deputy Martin was a member of a group that ran this country-----