Results 281-300 of 20,459 for speaker:Frances Fitzgerald

Seanad: Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (9 Apr 2008)

Frances Fitzgerald: This is a technical amendment. Many Members raised the issue of having multinational companies here and having people who have health insurance products that might be deemed to be illegal, as it were, in this country, or that they would not be covered or would be exempted by the legislation. I believe this change clarifies the matter. We wanted to ensure their arrangements were not caught...

Seanad: Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (9 Apr 2008)

Frances Fitzgerald: I welcome its inclusion, which is in the interest of transparency for the market. Given the dominant position VHI has had up to now and given the changes we are making to increase the work VHI can do, it would seem appropriate that that information be supplied to the Competition Authority and made available in a public way to competitors and to the media in general. It is a useful addition...

Seanad: Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (9 Apr 2008)

Frances Fitzgerald: This is an interesting amendment. It effectively puts into the law and makes very clear that 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. Perhaps the Minister of State could clarify if this was at the core of the EU concerns about the subsidy of...

Seanad: Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (9 Apr 2008)

Frances Fitzgerald: Obviously we raised a number of concerns in the course of this debate about the evolving health insurance market here. We highlighted issues about which we were concerned, some of which centred on the database. VHI has the potential for abuse of that database given the extension of subsidiaries etc. However, now is not the time to go into those matters again. We also raised our concerns...

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs: Motion (9 Apr 2008)

Frances Fitzgerald: I move: That Seanad Éireann noting that: the Minister for Education and Science has been slow to enact the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act, (EPSEN) 2004 as advised by the National Council for Special Education; schools and parents have difficulty accessing psychological assessments; parents of children with autism and other special needs still find themselves in the...

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs: Motion (9 Apr 2008)

Frances Fitzgerald: It is the most extraordinary wording I have seen in an amendment and is so far from the truth that it beggars belief. The Minister promised to increase the number of national educational psychologists by 31 to 158 but only 11 have been delivered. The programme for Government pledges to increase the number of psychologists to 200 by the end of 2009 but given the lack of educational...

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs: Motion (9 Apr 2008)

Frances Fitzgerald: I look forward to hearing what the Minister of State has to say tonight on implementing A Vision for Change and providing more beds and units for children in need of in-patient care. In 2006, 3,000 children and adolescents waited an average of 15 months for a psychiatric assessment. The waiting list was longer in 2007 and the money for the implementation of A Vision for Change was slashed....

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs: Motion (9 Apr 2008)

Frances Fitzgerald: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs: Motion (9 Apr 2008)

Frances Fitzgerald: I thank my colleagues who have spoken on the motion. The Minister of State has given us a detailed account of the Government's approach to the issue of disability and special educational needs for which I thank him. However, there is a gap between the amendment moved by the Government, the content of the Minister of State's speech and the reality on the ground. I can see that the...

Seanad: Kidnapping and Detention of Ms Ingrid Betancourt: Motion (10 Apr 2008)

Frances Fitzgerald: I wish to share my time with Senator Hannigan. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ahern, to the House today and thank him for coming here to address this all-party motion. Many Senators have expressed their concern about the situation in which Ms Ingrid Betancourt finds herself in Colombia today. Any right-thinking person would be horrified at her situation. It is very...

Seanad: Death of Former President: Expressions of Sympathy (15 Apr 2008)

Frances Fitzgerald: On behalf of the Fine Gael Party in Seanad Éireann, I rise today to extend my deepest sympathies to the family of our late President, Dr. Patrick Hillery, particularly his wife Maeve, son John and the extended family. While extending these sympathies to Dr. Hillery's family, I also thank them for sharing with us and the country a man of integrity, warmth, honesty and ability. It is somewhat...

Seanad: Schools Building Projects (17 Apr 2008)

Frances Fitzgerald: I thank you, a Leas-Chathaoirligh, for the opportunity to raise this issue — the need for the Minister for Education and Science to outline the progress which has been made in acquiring a site for Scoil na Camoige in Clondalkin, Dublin; to outline plans for the development of a new gaelscoileanna site in Clondalkin; to clarify if funding has been granted; and to outline how the project will...

Seanad: Schools Building Projects (17 Apr 2008)

Frances Fitzgerald: While I thank the Minister of State for his reply, I am disappointed there is no clear information on the timeframe for the receipt of funding for this school. Is the Minister of State in a position to provide more detailed information, which is lacking in the reply and which effectively only states what we know and what is already in the public arena? We need to know, however, when the...

Seanad: Schools Building Projects (17 Apr 2008)

Frances Fitzgerald: I thank the Minister of State.

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Apr 2008)

Frances Fitzgerald: Many people are extremely concerned about the very sad case in Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, where the wrong kidney was removed from a child during an operation. The family wants privacy but given the enormous concern that a case like this raises among patients and families, whatever report is prepared should be made available as soon as possible. We must know the facts...

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Apr 2008)

Frances Fitzgerald: Senator Cassidy was quite inaccurate in what he said. Fine Gael has taken a most proactive approach, as emphasised by the huge number of public meetings we have held, which thousands of people attended. If there has been any delay in selling the merits of the Lisbon treaty, it has been on the Government side of the House. The Government has been very slow in circulating the kind of...

Seanad: Patient Safety: Statements (22 Apr 2008)

Frances Fitzgerald: I wish to share time with Senator Healy-Eames.

Seanad: Patient Safety: Statements (22 Apr 2008)

Frances Fitzgerald: I welcome and thank the Minister for her attendance in the House today. I regret we do not have more time to discuss with her the many issues of the health service which Senators would like to raise. We should not have to request the Minister's presence in this House. We should not yet again have had to ask her to come to the House owing to deep-rooted and genuine concerns in respect of...

Seanad: Patient Safety: Statements (22 Apr 2008)

Frances Fitzgerald: What is the plan of action in respect of the removal of local services before specialist services are in place? I do not have to time to deal with issues such as MRSA or mental health services for children but I ask that the Minister address some of the points I have raised. Clearly, we need more time to discuss this issue.

Seanad: Patient Safety: Statements (22 Apr 2008)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Minister has had so many questions that it is clear we need more time for a debate on all the major pillars of the health service.