Results 18,461-18,480 of 74,100 for speaker:Bernard Durkan

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Illness Benefit Payments (22 May 2019)

Bernard Durkan: 200. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if the illness benefit section will contact the human resources department of the Houses of the Oireachtas (details supplied); if this error will be rectified in view of the subsequent effect on the tax record of the person for 2019; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22134/19]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Bernard Durkan: I will stay within half an hour, seeing as that very helpful precedent has been set. I welcome Mr. Reid and wish him well. He will need all of the good wishes and help he can get. He has a formidable task, one which has not been successfully achieved so far. That is not a reflection on any of Mr. Reid's predecessors but simply a statement of fact that the objectives some of us saw as...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Bernard Durkan: I was going to conclude if the Chair so wished. I do not mind. I am staying well within the half hour allocated.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Bernard Durkan: I wish to add a final question before the Minister replies. The National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, has been reasonably successful in dealing with some waiting lists. Have all the referrals gone outside the jurisdiction or have some been dealt with within the jurisdiction? If so, how many? Are there facilities in the private or public sectors within the jurisdiction that could deal...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Bernard Durkan: With no disrespect to the Senators, I hope the Chairman is not clairvoyant.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Bernard Durkan: I have two or three questions that come to mind with regard to the Waterford issue. What are the applicable standards that apply at present in other mortuaries throughout the country? What degree of supervision continues and what action has been, or can be, taken to prevent a recurrence? It was a most embarrassing and insensitive occurrence from the point of view of the relatives of persons...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Bernard Durkan: I thank Ms Rothwell but that does not address the issue. What standards apply in all the other mortuaries in the country? Have they been examined to assess whether they are compliant with modern regulations? Is there a system in place whereby it can be reported that a location is no longer fit for purpose? Has any action been taken or will action be taken?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Bernard Durkan: Chairman, this is where I refer to my oft repeated mention of the chain of command. We do not have a chain of command. The morning after that issue became public, a message should have gone out to all posts that this had happened, what the cause was and stating what action was being taken nationally to deal with a potentially similar issue. It is not enough to say it is being looked at...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Bernard Durkan: What worries me is that I have heard capital planning mentioned three or four times. This is all supposed to have been dealt with in the context of capital planning if we are doing our job. We must have advance planning. If we do not have it, we will not know what we are going to do, what will happen down the road, or what embarrassing situation will pop up out of the woodwork. I am sorry...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Bernard Durkan: Perhaps somebody might tell me how I might be made to understand how it did not happen.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Bernard Durkan: I do not wish to labour the subject, but the response is unsatisfactory. The capital programme at all times should reflect the potentially sensitive areas within the system and it should address them. If that cannot be done, we are operating on a wing and a prayer and not dealing with the job.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Bernard Durkan: My last point relates to the children's hospital. I am not aware of the source of the publicity that suggested there should be a separate entrance, but I would like to find it. If it was a deliberate part of a plan by somebody to create apartheid in the health services, it is unacceptable.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Bernard Durkan: I am conscious of the time so I will not go back into that subject again, but like everybody else, I have a view and I am entitled to express it. That is what I am doing. With regard to the provision of private accommodation in the children's hospital, I do not have an ideological problem with a crossing over between the public and private sectors provided that is necessary. If we are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 May 2019)

Bernard Durkan: Mr. Breslin might look into the allegation as well.

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Climate Change Policy (21 May 2019)

Bernard Durkan: 67. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the three most important actions he plans to take to address the issue of climate change and carbon reduction, including development of the alternative energy sector, incentivising the transport sector and to change to renewable fuels; the extent to which the domestic transport sector can be influential in this; and if...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan Implementation (21 May 2019)

Bernard Durkan: 70. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the extent to which the provision of broadband in all areas nationally is progressing; if he anticipates the provision of services to the blank spaces between services within a reasonable time with particular reference to the recently announced national broadband plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter....

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces Remuneration (21 May 2019)

Bernard Durkan: 109. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the steps taken to ensure that all branches of the Defence Forces have ready access to pay and service conditions comparable to the conditions of those branches alongside which they may be deployed on overseas missions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21765/19]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Insurance Costs (21 May 2019)

Bernard Durkan: 149. To ask the Minister for Finance the extent to which his attention has been drawn to dramatic increases in insurance premiums affecting special needs and other schools, the result of which can only result in closure, in view of the extent of the insurance premium increase in some cases up to 300%; the specific steps he will take to address the issue; and if he will make a statement on the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Insurance Costs (21 May 2019)

Bernard Durkan: 249. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which his attention has been drawn to dramatic increases in insurance premiums affecting special needs and other schools, the result of which can only be closure, in view of the extent of the insurance premium increase, in some cases up to 300%; the specific steps he will take to address the issue; and if he will make a statement...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (21 May 2019)

Bernard Durkan: 260. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the progress in relation to provision of an extension at a school (details supplied); when plans are likely to progress further; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21764/19]