Results 141-160 of 459 for speaker:Phil Prendergast
- Seanad: Hospital Services (20 Jan 2010)
Phil Prendergast: Staff, management, patients and their families were unaware that a plan to close St. Michael's had been drawn up. In fact, discussions on the future of acute mental health services in Tipperary could barely be described as being at a preliminary stage. This plan is a direct contradiction of what the Minister, Deputy Harney, told a meeting of Oireachtas Members for South Tipperary last...
- Seanad: Hospital Services (20 Jan 2010)
Phil Prendergast: I am concluding on this point. The long, narrow Carlow-Kilkenny-south Tipperary mental health area is geographically unsuitable. There is no allowance made for new motorway systems or thought put into patient convenience or preferences. Areas in north Tipperary very close to Clonmel â for example, Thurles and Templemore - are excluded. The road to Kilkenny is unsuitable. The hospital...
- Seanad: Hospital Services (20 Jan 2010)
Phil Prendergast: I am making my final point. I have a relative who has been in front-line management in south Tipperary for many years. Therefore, I am very well acquainted with the facts, figures and realities of working within the unit and aware of the report produced last year. There was never any suggestion all acute services would be removed from Tipperary. Was the Minister of State or the Minister...
- Seanad: Hospital Services (20 Jan 2010)
Phil Prendergast: Did the Minister of State say the beds would be transferred to St. Luke's Hospital in Kilkenny, not St. Canice's.
- Seanad: Hospital Services (20 Jan 2010)
Phil Prendergast: The general hospital.
- Seanad: Hospital Services (20 Jan 2010)
Phil Prendergast: The Minister of State claims this is not a downgrading. Taking 49 beds out of the bed compliment of a general hospital means it attracts a different branding grade and is in effect a downgrading. There is a regional configuration to Kilkenny's advantage. There were no discussions with the clinicians, nursing staff or stakeholders involved prior to it being announced at an ordinary meeting...
- Seanad: Hospital Services (20 Jan 2010)
Phil Prendergast: "Home care treatment teams" was a term pulled from A Vision for Change. It cannot be selectively used for south Tipperary and applied in a positive fashion to Kilkenny.
- Seanad: Hospital Services (20 Jan 2010)
Phil Prendergast: We in Tipperary are very serious about our health services.
- Seanad: Hospital Services (20 Jan 2010)
Phil Prendergast: This hospital has been serving north Tipperary for 160 years.
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)
Phil Prendergast: During her deliberations on the budget, did the Minister seek advice from CWOs around the country and from strategic policy committees, SPCs, on housing and social policy? What else informs her decisions when she goes to cut a budget or make changes? How does she do this with the best intention?
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)
Phil Prendergast: Will the CWO still have authority to help applicants? When I was chair of the SPC on housing and social policy on South Tipperary County Council, I was appalled that accommodation given to tenants for which they were paid rent supplement was inappropriate to their needs and in a dangerous condition. I was worried by accommodation provided under the scheme, which was not suitable, for...
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)
Phil Prendergast: I welcome that.
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)
Phil Prendergast: I agree.
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)
Phil Prendergast: This section amends section 246 of the principal Act and under this section, social welfare claimants must meet a habitual residence condition in order to qualify for benefits. The Department of Social and Family Affairs has argued that these criteria ruled out all asylum seekers, but in a series of cases taken by FLAC over the last two years, the chief social welfare appeals officer held...
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)
Phil Prendergast: This undermines the independence of the social welfare appeals office. When the office makes a decision the Department does not like, the Government changes the law. This enshrines discrimination on the basis of nationality in Ireland. It is deeply divisive and only saves a small amount of money. The need to meet the criteria of the HRC means very few people who are not in need of...
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)
Phil Prendergast: Hear, hear.
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)
Phil Prendergast: Hear, hear.
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)
Phil Prendergast: I join colleagues on this side in asking the Minister to explain the reason the Government did not target the very wealthy and those who avail of tax breaks, including property based tax reliefs, when it had an opportunity to do so. The Labour Party identified more than â¬400 million in savings which could be achieved by tackling these reliefs. Those availing of reliefs were not touched in...
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)
Phil Prendergast: On what basis could someone decide that a person is no longer genuinely seeking work if the person has put forward his or her name in many companies as being available for work and presents himself or herself as being available for work? What would be the basis for deciding that person was not genuine about that?
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)
Phil Prendergast: He is being civil.