Results 15,301-15,320 of 16,537 for speaker:Brian Lenihan Jnr

Health Services: Motion (Resumed). (26 Oct 2005)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: We hear the litany but we never hear one constructive idea.

Health Services: Motion (Resumed). (26 Oct 2005)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Am I to be allowed proceed without interruption?

Health Services: Motion (Resumed). (26 Oct 2005)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: First, the Government brought forward the idea——

Health Services: Motion (Resumed). (26 Oct 2005)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I did not hear any ideas from Deputy Costello. Nobody has a monopoly on compassion.

Health Services: Motion (Resumed). (26 Oct 2005)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: No Member in this House has a monopoly on compassion in regard to individual cases.

Health Services: Motion (Resumed). (26 Oct 2005)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Yes, and we are doing something. The first thing we did was to set up the Health Service Executive. I note that all Opposition parties opposed that. It was clearly and transparently a sensible decision arrived at and implemented by the Government.

Health Services: Motion (Resumed). (26 Oct 2005)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Professor Drumm is an excellent man. He has already made some interesting comments about bed capacity. I wonder will the Opposition reflect on them.

Health Services: Motion (Resumed). (26 Oct 2005)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: It contradicts every motion the Opposition put forward.

Health Services: Motion (Resumed). (26 Oct 2005)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Am I allowed to proceed? I have often listened in the House to special pleas, local bargains and hard cases. Are we going to take responsibility for managing a service?

Health Services: Motion (Resumed). (26 Oct 2005)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The Members opposite clearly do not like facts. That is the problem with Members on the other side of the House.

Health Services: Motion (Resumed). (26 Oct 2005)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: There has been a major increase in investment in the health service. The Health Service Executive is implementing a consistent line of policy. I see this in my own section of the Department. Every citizen now has the same rights, irrespective of what region of the country he or she is from.

Health Services: Motion (Resumed). (26 Oct 2005)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I will address that later. I will also address Deputy Burton's extraordinary intervention later.

Health Services: Motion (Resumed). (26 Oct 2005)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The Tánaiste has clearly initiated a number of measures to improve the position in accident and emergency units but it will take time for them to come into effect. I accept that her initial schedule may have been over-ambitious but I have no doubt the initiatives she has taken will take effect.

Health Services: Motion (Resumed). (26 Oct 2005)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I wish to refer to the national treatment purchase fund. That is another matter about which we never hear from the Opposition benches.

Health Services: Motion (Resumed). (26 Oct 2005)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: No, we did not. The treatment purchase fund has been successful in treating over 35,000 persons up to the end of last September.

Health Services: Motion (Resumed). (26 Oct 2005)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: It continues to use the capacity available in hospitals to ensure that acute beds are available for emergency patients.

Health Services: Motion (Resumed). (26 Oct 2005)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Notwithstanding Professor Drumm's opinion, we are committed to increasing acute hospital bed capacity. This will have a significant effect on addressing the capacity of acute hospitals.

Health Services: Motion (Resumed). (26 Oct 2005)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I would very much like to deal with the issue of Deputy Burton's attempted sabotage of the future of the Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown, which was truly fraudulent.

Health Services: Motion (Resumed). (26 Oct 2005)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The name is still in place, and proudly so.

Health Services: Motion (Resumed). (26 Oct 2005)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The Deputy will be glad to hear that I referred to its name in my address just before the Taoiseach contributed at the Fianna Fáil Ard-Fheis. There are also admirers of James Connolly on this side of the House. Let us face the fact that public patients deserve to be treated in public hospitals.