Results 1-20 of 459 for speaker:Phil Prendergast

Seanad: Cancer Services: Motion (26 Sep 2007)

Phil Prendergast: I will not use the eight minutes. I welcome the Minister to the Chamber. I have worked at the front line of the delivery of health services, as a midwife, for more than 20 years. Many aspects of the health services are excellent and I welcome any changes that will give a better patient service. Had I not had the great honour to be elected to this House, I would not have a job because of...

Seanad: Cancer Services: Motion (26 Sep 2007)

Phil Prendergast: ——requiring BreastCheck or prostate cancer treatment services. Services should be provided where they are needed. We would not be let take our cars on the road without passing the NCT but we are not as good when it comes to health services. As somebody who has worked at the front line in the delivery of services, I am concerned about a number of issues. For instance, if someone has the...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Sep 2007)

Phil Prendergast: Senator Bacik should tell us again.

Seanad: Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007: Second Stage (27 Sep 2007)

Phil Prendergast: I wish to share my time with Senator Dominic Hannigan.

Seanad: Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007: Second Stage (27 Sep 2007)

Phil Prendergast: I thank the Minister for her presentation to the House. It is clear a review of the VHI and all health insurance is needed. The Labour Party favours a delivery of universal insurance for all patients. The Minister favours private insurers over the not-for-profit insurance provider and VHI, which has led to significantly higher premia, with an increase of 25% in the past two years and 50%...

Seanad: Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007: Second Stage (27 Sep 2007)

Phil Prendergast: Midwives rule. I would like a review of costings and how we fix prices. A 50% increase in six years is a massive one which impacts on people's ability to pay and denies people access to services. Sometimes being in the VHI limits access to services for people who pay a premium for public services they might require, such as access to physiotherapy for chronic illnesses such as motor neurone...

Seanad: Shannon Airport: Statements (10 Oct 2007)

Phil Prendergast: I wish to share time with Senator Healy-Eames.

Seanad: Shannon Airport: Statements (10 Oct 2007)

Phil Prendergast: It is not good enough for the Minister for Transport and the Marine to wash his hands of this Aer Lingus decision. What use is it for the Government to have a 25% stake in Aer Lingus when the Minister expressed no interest or concern when critical decisions that seriously eroded the region's competitiveness were taken that affected its potential attractiveness for foreign direct investments?...

Seanad: Access to Education: Motion (10 Oct 2007)

Phil Prendergast: I congratulate the Acting Chairman, Senator McCarthy, on his elevation to high office since I last saw him in the Chamber. I am glad of the opportunity to contribute to this debate and while I will not repeat many of the excellent points that have been made by my colleagues, I do wish to raise one issue with the Minister. The gaelscoil in Clonmel began as a temporary arrangement in 1994,...

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Oct 2007)

Phil Prendergast: Just as Eircom has to provide telephone lines throughout the country, An Post is required to deliver letters to all parts of the country. I note that An Post intends to analyse how much that universal service obligation will cost the company. As the Cathaoirleach is aware, rural post offices have been constantly and quietly attacked in recent times. Many of them have closed over the last...

Seanad: Serious Crime: Motion (17 Oct 2007)

Phil Prendergast: I welcome the Minister to the House and am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this debate. I, too, wish Garda Sherlock well in his recovery. For a servant of the State to be shot down while carrying out his brief was a most horrendous event. Drugs and crime are irrevocably linked. Increasingly, it is juveniles who are involved in these crimes and we do not have suitable places...

Seanad: Treaty of Amsterdam: Motion (18 Oct 2007)

Phil Prendergast: I thank the Minister for coming to the House this afternoon. My question merely relates to the fact that there is no qualitative indicator which makes it possible to estimate exactly how many people are affected by this proposal. I am aware that some third country nationals are already covered and if they are in this country legally and are not working, they are entitled to the same...

Seanad: Suicide Prevention Strategy: Statements. (24 Oct 2007)

Phil Prendergast: I welcome the Minister of State and wish him well with his brief. Suicide is the single most distressing subject of our time. To take their own lives people must overcome that tremendous urge everyone has to live. People must be so overcome with despair that they see no other option. It overcomes all their instincts — personal, familial and parental — and the option of suicide takes on...

Seanad: Witness Protection Programme Bill 2007: Second Stage (31 Oct 2007)

Phil Prendergast: I would like to give the House a brief overview of the sections of the Witness Protection Programme Bill 2007, before I say a few words on it. Sections 1 to 3, inclusive, outline the definitions of specific and key terms to be used in the Bill. They give the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the power to make regulations appropriate to the Bill. The sections also explain the...

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (1 Nov 2007)

Phil Prendergast: I am concerned about the HSE embargo on recruitment currently in force which is affecting BreastCheck. Women are not being diagnosed and the services are not available to those who are diagnosed because of this embargo. I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for Health and Children to the House to give her views on this serious issue. I wish to be associated with the remarks of previous...

Seanad: Food Safety: Statements (8 Nov 2007)

Phil Prendergast: Was he from Donegal?

Seanad: Food Safety: Statements (8 Nov 2007)

Phil Prendergast: I wish to share my time with Senator Buttimer.

Seanad: Food Safety: Statements (8 Nov 2007)

Phil Prendergast: I am delighted to be part of this debate and welcome the Minister of State to the House. Many of the issues have been raised already and I will not go into them again. The other day, a baker informed me that while he is obliged to list all ingredients on a product label, there is no obligation to list the products used in wrappers, many of which are sprayed with chemicals. I had never...

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Nov 2007)

Phil Prendergast: I ask the Leader to initiate a review of the Juries Act 1976. As my party's national spokesperson on the older person, I note that people over the age of 70 are prohibited from serving on a jury, as are people who are deaf. A review of this Act is long overdue.

Seanad: Community Child Care Subvention Scheme 2008-2010: Statements (Resumed) (14 Nov 2007)

Phil Prendergast: I wish to share time with Senator Alex White.