Results 361-380 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Order of Business (5 Mar 2008)

Bertie Ahern: I can only pass on the Deputy's message.

Order of Business (5 Mar 2008)

Bertie Ahern: Is the Deputy referring to the extradition Bill?

Order of Business (5 Mar 2008)

Bertie Ahern: It will be introduced this year.

Order of Business (5 Mar 2008)

Bertie Ahern: We need the titles of the Bills to which the Deputy is referring.

Leaders' Questions (5 Mar 2008)

Bertie Ahern: The end of February Exchequer returns were published yesterday, as Deputy Kenny noted, and the overall position is that the Exchequer deficit is €125 million at the end of February. The forecast for the Exchequer deficit for the year is €4.866 billion and a general Government deficit of 0.9% of GDP is forecast. The general debt level is projected to be around 26%. Trying to place it in...

Leaders' Questions (5 Mar 2008)

Bertie Ahern: I wish to confirm that the budget day forecasts, both economic and fiscal, have not been changed. The Tánaiste at budget time noted the internal and external risks to economic forecasts. Some of those identified risks are now emerging. I do not think the House can ignore the fact of what is happening internationally. We must at least look at what has happened in the stock markets since...

Leaders' Questions (5 Mar 2008)

Bertie Ahern: I have said and I repeat it again that the budget day forecasts, both economic and fiscal, have not been changed. The expenditure figures were very generous in the budget. Overall current spending is budgeted to increase by approximately €4 billion — that is all for the services area — which is 8% in a difficult year. Capital spending will increase by approximately €1 billion,...

Leaders' Questions (5 Mar 2008)

Bertie Ahern: Deputy Burton is nodding her head against it so I assume that is her policy.

Leaders' Questions (5 Mar 2008)

Bertie Ahern: On the construction side, it is always interesting to listen to the inconsistencies. When we were building 80,000 houses and everybody in construction was getting enormous salaries — the highest in Europe — the developers and construction people were all bad news around here. Now when it tightens up a bit everybody looks to the construction industry to pick it up. The Government has...

Leaders' Questions (5 Mar 2008)

Bertie Ahern: It was for that reason that we decided to up the capital programme last year so that other construction projects away from the residential market would have the fiscal impetus, which was putting vast amounts of resources into other areas to keep it strong. The other areas are holding up very well, whether it is retail, commercial or infrastructural development. The one that is down is the...

Written Answers — Departmental Bodies: Departmental Bodies (4 Mar 2008)

Bertie Ahern: The Taskforce on Active Citizenship completed its work in March 2007 and presented a set of recommendations to Government on measures that could be taken to increase active citizenship and civic participation. The Government agreed in principle to the recommendations and is proceeding to implement them. To achieve this, an Office of Active Citizenship has been established in my Department...

Written Answers — Enterprise Audits: Enterprise Audits (4 Mar 2008)

Bertie Ahern: In line with the commitment we have made in the Programme for Government, we are currently finalising arrangements for an enterprise audit to review the use of existing and redundant agricultural buildings and manufacturing plants in rural areas. As the Deputy will appreciate, this is a comprehensive undertaking involving a number of state agencies and Government Departments. Final...

Order of Business. (4 Mar 2008)

Bertie Ahern: The foreshore amendment Bill, which is under the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, is in preparation. I think some designation of functions issues have to be resolved in that area, but the legislation is due.

Leaders' Questions (4 Mar 2008)

Bertie Ahern: The Minister for Health and Children will be addressing some of these issues tomorrow during Question Time, but the HSE has advised us that colonoscopy scheduling is based on clinical need and that each patient is assessed individually by his general practitioner and referred accordingly. Cases that are classified as urgent are given the next available time slot and patients are usually seen...

Leaders' Questions (4 Mar 2008)

Bertie Ahern: I repeat that of course this is urgent, and hugely so for the people concerned — there is no issue about that. In answer to the question on waiting times, those who are classified as urgent get the next available time slot and that works out usually at between two to three days and five weeks, depending on the geographical location. Therefore, they would all be within the period to which...

Leaders' Questions (4 Mar 2008)

Bertie Ahern: I repeat it is not an assessment of urgent and non-urgent that I am making. It is one that the relevant consultants are making. Cases are classified as urgent by the general practitioner who refers the person to the consultant. They are making the call as to whether it is urgent, not an administrative person. The urgent cases are given the next available time slot and patients are usually...

Leaders' Questions (4 Mar 2008)

Bertie Ahern: The waiting time for routine investigations will be reduced by making better use of existing capacity, which is what Professor Keane said. He believes there are several ways this can be done and the HSE is working with general practitioners to achieve that. Any patient waiting over three months can be referred, or self refer, to the National Treatment Purchase Fund, as a high proportion are...

Leaders' Questions (4 Mar 2008)

Bertie Ahern: I do not want to be repetitious. The HSE has stated that the colonoscopy schedule is based on clinical need. That is a medical position. Thankfully, politicians in Ireland do not act as clinicians.

Leaders' Questions (4 Mar 2008)

Bertie Ahern: Some 100,000 people work in our medical and health service and they conduct the clinical assessment on each patient and refer accordingly. The Deputy wants to keep talking about the 18-month wait. Let me tell him for the third time that cases classified as urgent get the next available slot, which is between two and three days for the majority of these, and, at the bad end, the wait goes to...

Leaders' Questions (4 Mar 2008)

Bertie Ahern: That is not the case in Laois. I checked specifically and saw that urgent cases in Laois get their appointment within three days.