Results 18,921-18,940 of 74,100 for speaker:Bernard Durkan

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Question Heading for question(s) 216 (3 Apr 2019)

Bernard Durkan: 216. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if his Department continues to address issues such as rural and urban isolation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15633/19]

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Rural Broadband Scheme (3 Apr 2019)

Bernard Durkan: 217. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the extent to which his Department addresses such issues as local connectivity in rural areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15634/19]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Alliance Building to Strengthen the EU: Dr. Catherine Day (3 Apr 2019)

Bernard Durkan: I welcome Dr. Day to the meeting. I have no doubt that the role she continues to play will bear good fruit in the future as it has in the past. I happened to be at a meeting in Bucharest for the past two days at which the same subject matter was up for debate. I have been attending meetings for a long time in Europe. I have been doing it for almost 40 years, when I think of it. The same...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Apr 2019)

Bernard Durkan: To follow up on Deputy Murphy O'Mahony's question, who advised the Minister not to go ahead with the review programme?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Apr 2019)

Bernard Durkan: If senior officials or a body advises the Minister not to proceed in a particular fashion there has to be some reason because presumably the Minister erred on the side of safety to reassure the public, insofar as it can be done, which is a big issue as far as we are concerned because the public asks us questions. People do not always respond kindly if we cannot give adequate answers. It...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Apr 2019)

Bernard Durkan: That is not the business of the Committee of Public Accounts; that is the business of this committee.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Apr 2019)

Bernard Durkan: The Committee of Public Accounts has a different function altogether. It reviews expenditure, not public policy. That is not its business at all and I would like to reiterate that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Apr 2019)

Bernard Durkan: I am not blaming the messenger, but a week or two ago the papers reported that almost 2,500 women were on a waiting list to be tested. Between the crisis first bursting on the scene and this week, how many of the women have been tested? I worry that we go from week to week where there is another announcement that something else has arisen or there is a pending problem and that erodes public...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Apr 2019)

Bernard Durkan: How short of what is required is the service?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Apr 2019)

Bernard Durkan: Is it 20% or 30%?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Apr 2019)

Bernard Durkan: Are we capturing it on the basis of a better system or are we capturing the fall-off from the UK's system and applying it here?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Apr 2019)

Bernard Durkan: From a health and safety perspective, what is an excessive waiting period for the return of results?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Apr 2019)

Bernard Durkan: As the weeks go buy, how successfully has public confidence in the system been restored by way of overhauling the numbers? I acknowledge there is a long-term plan but that could take one, two or three years. Three years is a long time.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Apr 2019)

Bernard Durkan: I have raised one issue on numerous occasions. We seem to be bedevilled by waiting lists in this country for almost everything. There is now a waiting list for everything. That should not be the case. As the new applicants come on stream, some of whom are more urgent than others, do they go onto a waiting list? Is it possible to attack the waiting list from both sides and is that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Apr 2019)

Bernard Durkan: I am sorry to interrupt. The danger is that the referral is being referred on. The crucial question is how long it takes to deal with the referral. We do not know the answer.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Apr 2019)

Bernard Durkan: I listened as carefully as I could to the various points. We need to think about the situation a few months ago, when the issue first became public. If I was the Minister, I would want to know what went wrong. The Minister quite correctly did everything possible to ensure that all the available buttons were pushed to begin a new era with a new confidence into the system. As the Chair...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Apr 2019)

Bernard Durkan: I have measured the time for all the other speakers to prove my point. You can measure my time as well, Chairman. I insist on taking adequate time to deal with the subject. I am trying to do that. With the exception of this morning I have been here every morning at the start of the meeting and I have stayed right through to the end, which is more than can be said for many people. I do...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Apr 2019)

Bernard Durkan: If the Deputy waits, she will find out. The point that I wanted to make is that we need to know now – we need an honest opinion – whether we can be assured that we will find in two or four weeks time an improvement in the situation sufficient to allow us to say that we are moving in the right direction. Alternatively, we could find in two or three weeks that we have another...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Apr 2019)

Bernard Durkan: We shall wait and see. I should have said to my colleague that I am a member of the committee and I am entitled to raise questions as often as I like. When I go into other committees I do not delay and I do not delay on this committee either.

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Rail Services Provision (2 Apr 2019)

Bernard Durkan: 56. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the extent to which it is proposed to increase the capacity of the commuter rail service in the north County Kildare commuter belt, with particular reference to the rail stations at Sallins, Celbridge, Confey, Leixlip, Maynooth and Kilcock, having particular regard to the need to ensure the availability of extra carriages in order to...