Results 17,721-17,740 of 18,372 for speaker:Brendan Smith

Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (11 Mar 2008)

Brendan Smith: I move amendment No. 11: In page 9, line 49, to delete "11" and substitute "8".

Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (11 Mar 2008)

Brendan Smith: I thank Deputy Charlie Flanagan for raising some important issues of competition and the dominant position of the VHI. This amendment is not necessary. The Competition Authority is an independent body that is not subject to direction from legislation of this nature. The Competition Authority has powers under section 30 of the Competition Act to take an action where any enterprise may be...

Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (11 Mar 2008)

Brendan Smith: I move amendment No. 13: In page 11, between lines 21 and 22, to insert the following: "(5) A State guarantee shall not be provided to enable the Board or a subsidiary to raise or borrow money under this section or under any other provision of the Voluntary Health Insurance Acts 1957 to 2008.". Members were advised on Committee Stage that an amendment would be tabled on Report Stage to...

Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (11 Mar 2008)

Brendan Smith: I move amendment No. 14: In page 11, lines 22 and 23, to delete all words from and including "(other" in line 22 down to and including "Act" in line 23 and substitute the following: "made by the Minister under section 2(5)(b)(ii) (inserted by section 6(c)) of the Act of 1996 or under section 9 or section 15". These amendments are technical amendments. It is noted that the VHI Acts do not...

Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (11 Mar 2008)

Brendan Smith: I move amendment No. 15: In page 11, line 25, to delete "or regulation".

Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (11 Mar 2008)

Brendan Smith: I move amendment No. 16: In page 11, line 27, to delete "or regulation is laid before it, the order or regulation" and substitute "is laid before it, the order".

Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (11 Mar 2008)

Brendan Smith: On behalf of the Minister, Deputy Harney, and myself, I thank all Members who have participated in the consideration of the Bill on Second, Committee and Report Stages for their different viewpoints. In particular, I thank the Opposition spokespersons in the Dáil and the Seanad for the amendments tabled. The amendments that were accepted or resulted in Parliamentary Counsel drafting...

Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Order for Report Stage (11 Mar 2008)

Brendan Smith: I move: "That Report Stage be taken now."

Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (11 Mar 2008)

Brendan Smith: I move amendment No. 1: In page 4, line 4, to delete "13" and substitute "10". Amendments Nos. 1, 2 and 11 are technical drafting amendments arising primarily from the insertion of three new sections on Committee Stage to correct cross-references to sections in the Bill. Amendment No. 10 is a technical drafting amendment providing consistency on the use of tense.

Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (11 Mar 2008)

Brendan Smith: I move amendment No. 2: In page 4, line 6, to delete "19" and substitute "16".

Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (11 Mar 2008)

Brendan Smith: I move amendment No. 3: In page 4, to delete lines 23 to 37 and substitute the following: 3.—Section 2(1) of the Act of 1994 is amended— (a) by the insertion of the following definition: "'Act of 2001' means the Health Insurance (Amendment) Act 2001;", (b) in the definition of "health insurance contract" (inserted by section 2 of the Act of 2001), by the substitution of the following...

Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (11 Mar 2008)

Brendan Smith: This amendment is to facilitate international health insurance contracts and ensure they will not be subject to regulatory framework. Regarding the reference to persons not ordinarily resident in the State, the word "domiciled" will be removed.

Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (11 Mar 2008)

Brendan Smith: I move amendment No. 4: In page 5, to delete lines 5 to 13 and substitute the following: ""(3) Subsection (1) shall not apply to a health insurance contract— (a) where, and without prejudice to the generality of paragraphs (a) to (d) of the definition of 'health insurance contract' (inserted by section 2 of the Act of 2001) in section 2(1), such a contract, either of itself or as construed...

Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (11 Mar 2008)

Brendan Smith: I move amendment No. 5: In page 5, to delete lines 14 to 22 and substitute the following: 5.—Section 12 (inserted by section 9 of the Act of 2001) of the Act of 1994 is amended, in subsection (2), by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (c): "(c) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraphs (a) to (d) of the definition of 'health insurance contract' (inserted by...

Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (11 Mar 2008)

Brendan Smith: I thank Deputies Jan O'Sullivan, Flanagan and Ó Caoláin for their contributions. This Bill has no provisions that direct the VHI towards becoming involved in co-located hospitals. I understand Deputy Jan O'Sullivan had the opportunity, with Deputy Reilly, to speak at length on this issue on Committee Stage, at which point the amendment was opposed on the basis that it would impose an...

Written Answers — Constitutional Amendments: Constitutional Amendments (5 Mar 2008)

Brendan Smith: As the Deputy is aware, the Twenty-Eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 2007, was published in February 2007 and contained the Government's proposal to amend the Constitution in relation to children. The Programme for Government of June 2007 committed to deepening consensus on the issue and to this end, the Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children [JCCAC] was...

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (5 Mar 2008)

Brendan Smith: As the Deputy will be aware, I have responsibility for the National Childcare Investment Programme 2006-2010 (NCIP) under which the Community Childcare Subvention Scheme (CCSS) is being implemented. The main supports the Government makes available to parents to assist them with their childcare costs are Child Benefit and the Early Childcare Supplement. The latter payment is the...

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (5 Mar 2008)

Brendan Smith: The Deputy's question relates to the management and delivery of health and social services, which are the responsibility of the Health Service Executive under the Health Act 2004. Accordingly, my Department has requested the Parliamentary Affairs Division of the Executive to arrange to have the matter investigated and to have a reply issued directly to the Deputy.

Health Service Staff. (5 Mar 2008)

Brendan Smith: The Government has invested heavily in the education and training of health care personnel in order to secure a good supply of graduates to provide for the health care needs of the population into the future. Since the establishment of the Health Service Executive, the number of speech and language therapists has increased by 215 to 712, an increase of 43%, and the number of occupational...

Health Service Staff. (5 Mar 2008)

Brendan Smith: I take the points made by Deputy Jan O'Sullivan although I do not have the statistics for her own city and county.