Results 14,341-14,360 of 24,635 for speaker:Mary Harney

Pharmacy Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Apr 2007)

Mary Harney: I am very impressed.

Pharmacy Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Apr 2007)

Mary Harney: It is unbalanced in several respects. It would not be so bad if it were only in terms of gender.

Pharmacy Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Apr 2007)

Mary Harney: I am not sure we can change the electoral system in the Pharmacy Bill.

Pharmacy Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Apr 2007)

Mary Harney: Forcing solutions on democracies does not work. To take teaching and nursing as examples, both professions are predominately female — 80% to 90% of nurses and teachers are, I believe, female — yet women frequently exclude themselves from positions as trade union representatives in these professions. They do so for good reasons, including on family grounds, but they also make career...

Pharmacy Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Apr 2007)

Mary Harney: This debate is taking place at 9.50 p.m. Those of us fortunate enough to live in the Dublin region will be able to travel home tonight, whereas at least two of the Deputies present have probably been away from home for the past couple of days. This is not easy for men or women and much more could be done to make parliamentary structures more family friendly. While such changes could...

Pharmacy Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Apr 2007)

Mary Harney: I move amendment No. 6a: In page 13, between lines 43 and 44, to insert the following: "(7) The Minister may not refuse to appoint to the Council a person nominated under paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (3) or selected under paragraph (f) (as read with subsection (5)) or (g) of subsection (3).".

Pharmacy Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Apr 2007)

Mary Harney: With regard to the accounting profession, the supervisory body was established because there are different branches of accountancy which each has regulatory functions. At the tribunals, the role of accountants in signing off on audited accounts was seriously questioned in many cases. It could be argued that if the accountants had done their job, many of the tribunals would not have been...

Pharmacy Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Apr 2007)

Mary Harney: It is not in any way the same.

Pharmacy Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Apr 2007)

Mary Harney: The purpose of that was to supervise how the bodies operated. The Deputy is not suggesting a supervisory body that will supervise how the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland or the Medical Council regulate. He is suggesting that we have a body at the level of which the various regulatory bodies would meet. These bodies have very separate functions. One does not need to prescribe in law for...

Pharmacy Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Apr 2007)

Mary Harney: Every time there is a problem in this country, people either call for more legislation or some other body. Sometimes we simply need to make the bodies that exist work. This proposal is too prescriptive and bureaucratic.

Pharmacy Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Apr 2007)

Mary Harney: We set up a group to consider whether we would have State regulation of accountants or whether we would do something——

Pharmacy Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Apr 2007)

Mary Harney: Patient safety is at the heart of all this.

Pharmacy Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Apr 2007)

Mary Harney: These bodies must regulate in the public interest. They are not representative bodies for either the doctors or the pharmacists. They exist to regulate the profession in the public interest and to support the profession. They have very separate functions. Perhaps some day we will have one regulatory body for all health care professions.

Pharmacy Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Apr 2007)

Mary Harney: The Deputy made this point on Committee Stage last week. It would be extraordinarily bureaucratic, excessively prescriptive and unnecessary. There is sufficient authority for the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland and the Medical Council to engage with each other. There is no difficulty with that. If we begin legislating and formalising that——

Pharmacy Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Apr 2007)

Mary Harney: I am not trying to be unfair to the Deputy as I know he has been helpful but he raised this earlier and I did not agree to it. With regard to consulting, which was raised by Deputy McManus, of course this will happen. Again, I do not believe we need to be prescriptive with regard to who one consults and when one consults them. In fact, as with the Medical Practitioners Bill, there has been...

Pharmacy Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Apr 2007)

Mary Harney: I accept the amendment.

Pharmacy Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Apr 2007)

Mary Harney: I am satisfied that section 5 provides for the dissolution of the old society and the establishment of the new one and that there is no discontinuity. A similar situation is provided for in the Veterinary Practice Act and since Committee Stage, I have sought the views of the Attorney General in respect of this issue.

Seanad: Medical Practitioners Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (4 Apr 2007)

Mary Harney: The Senators made some valid points. Many of the foreign students educated in our medical schools wish to return to their own countries to practise medicine. Moving the intern year to a postgraduate year may mean that many of them will complete their clinical placement or internship abroad and this could help ease some of the pressure for places in Ireland. I am of the view that our...

Seanad: Medical Practitioners Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (4 Apr 2007)

Mary Harney: A period of three months would not be unreasonable. Two issues arise in respect of the six-month period. For all sorts of reasons, 1 January is the worst possible day of the year on which to start a new job. The position is similar as regards 1 July. It was suggested to me that the commencement dates should be moved to March and October. I have forgotten what reasons were offered in...

Seanad: Medical Practitioners Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (4 Apr 2007)

Mary Harney: I completely agree with the Senator in that regard.