Results 13,981-14,000 of 17,531 for speaker:Jan O'Sullivan

Mental Health Services. (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: I welcome this, the cleverest U-turn I have heard announced in a long time.

Mental Health Services. (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: I do not understand why we were all brought out to look at this site. What sort of planning is this? How did these two units that will no longer fit suddenly appear on the horizon? Did the Minister of State not know he needed them before this site was suggested? It is extraordinary that we are casually being told this site is not big enough after all the trauma the various groups and...

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: I do not mind if Deputy Reilly wants to-----

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: I seek more clarification on this matter. The Minister has introduced some substantial amendments on Report Stage, which we obviously have not had a chance to discuss before. They are amendments we need to get right because we are already falling foul of EU Commissioner McCreevy. We need to be careful not to fall foul of him further in amending this legislation. I regret that we must deal...

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: Why have all these amendments been introduced on Report Stage?

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: Obviously the EU has decided to refer Ireland to the European Court of Justice between Committee and Report Stages. It is pertinent to the debate and the Minister should explain the relevance in terms of the timing of the legislation. It was intended that the VHI would have an exemption up to 1 September. The European Commissioner, who happens to be Mr. Charlie McCreevy, has now referred...

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: All Deputies opposite do not take that position. That is a misrepresentation.

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: I also want to reiterate, as I made clear in my initial contribution, that the Labour Party supports community rating.

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: The referral to the European Court of Justice has taken place since we last discussed the Bill. Clarification is required in this regard. Do we need this legislation to be implemented so that funding can be transferred under community rating to the VHI in order to save it from the European Court of Justice? When can we expect the court's ruling? Is it envisaged that the VHI will have...

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: I thank the Minister for providing a degree of clarification. However, she indicated that it will be 18 to 24 months before there is a decision by the European Court of Justice. Presumably, on that basis, it might be possible to extend the timeframe further in September, if necessary. Does the Minister intend to do so? She has indicated that the VHI will require an injection of capital in...

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Minister stated it was unfair that insurers regulated outside the State compete on a different basis from insurers regulated here. Will she clarify how this issue will be addressed?

Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: The position will not change unless the regulator acts.

Hospitals Building Programme. (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: Question 24: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the proposed co-located hospitals which will qualify for tax relief; the projected amount of that relief; if she has been informed as to the timeframe within which these hospitals will be operational; the number of private hospital beds which will be provided in co-located hospitals; if it is intended that health insurers will be...

Hospitals Building Programme. (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: This project was announced four years ago, in July 2005, on the basis that it was a fast way of getting 1,000 extra beds into the system. Does the Minister accept that the project has been a failure from that point of view? We are four years on but not a single bed has been provided. Not a single brick has been laid for these co-located hospitals. Will the Minister consider abandoning the...

Hospitals Building Programme. (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: Why not use the 1,000 beds that were closed?

Hospitals Building Programme. (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: No, it does not. It would mean changing the whole system.

Hospitals Building Programme. (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Minister knows very well that the Labour Party policy is that there should be no two-tier health system and everybody should be treated the same way. We should not have private beds in any public hospital, nor should we have the kind of system we have at the moment. It is disingenuous to state, on the one hand, that I am saying the VHI should stay in public ownership, while, on the...

Hospitals Building Programme. (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: That is not my model.

Hospitals Building Programme. (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: Not the system we currently have.

Hospitals Building Programme. (1 Jul 2009)

Jan O'Sullivan: We want a universal health system.