Results 481-500 of 1,730 for speaker:Colm Keaveney

Health (General Practitioner Service) Bill 2015: Second Stage (Resumed) (16 Apr 2015)

Colm Keaveney: Deputy James Bannon should wait for the crumbs to fall from somebody else's table. The dramatic cut in the number of medical cards to which I refer was accompanied by hikes in prescription charges, the abolition of the telephone allowance, an increase in DIRT on savings, changes to the household package and the scrapping on the bereavement grant. A sense of security is essential for all...

Health (General Practitioner Service) Bill 2015: Second Stage (Resumed) (16 Apr 2015)

Colm Keaveney: If older people got into difficulty in their homes, previously they could have alerted others to their need for assistance by pressing a panic button. I accept that this is a "smirking" issue for Deputy James Bannon, but it is not for senior citizens throughout the country. The abolition of the allowance removed the security blanket which having an alarm offered to many elderly individuals....

Health (General Practitioner Service) Bill 2015: Second Stage (Resumed) (16 Apr 2015)

Colm Keaveney: In December 2011, a briefing note was sent from the office of the then Minister of State with responsibility for the implementation of GP care. It details the sequencing of the introduction of the free GP scheme as originally intended. This was early in the lifetime of the Government and before electoral concerns came to the fore for the parties in government. The memorandum states that...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Mental Health Services Provision (16 Apr 2015)

Colm Keaveney: 10 o’clock The Minister of State would like us to believe mental health decisions are not political and that, therefore, we cannot ask questions, but we live in a parliamentary democracy and I will hold her to account. On her response to Deputy Billy Kelleher's question, in the past two years the mental health budget was underspent by €70 million, which equates...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Mental Health Services Provision (16 Apr 2015)

Colm Keaveney: It is politics. I know that the Minister of State does not like opposition or accountability, but she will be held to be transparent on the expenditure of public money and the delivery of public policy. She may not like this, but it is the ethos of parliamentary democracy. To return to the question-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Mental Health Services Provision (16 Apr 2015)

Colm Keaveney: ECT is extremely traumatic and research suggests its effectiveness is debatable. According to the figures provided by the Minister of State, 42 involuntary mental health patients were forced to undergo ECT last year, which is an increase from 34 in 2013, 29 in 2012 and 22 in 2011. There is very clear evidence that non-consensual ECT on the increase in the public health service.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Mental Health Services Provision (16 Apr 2015)

Colm Keaveney: On a point of order-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Mental Health Services Provision (16 Apr 2015)

Colm Keaveney: May I respond-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Mental Health Services Provision (16 Apr 2015)

Colm Keaveney: Children are admitted to adult wards.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Mental Health Services Provision (16 Apr 2015)

Colm Keaveney: The Minister of State should inform herself about the cuts she is making to children's-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Mental Health Services Provision (16 Apr 2015)

Colm Keaveney: The Minister of State is not answering the question.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Mental Health Services Provision (16 Apr 2015)

Colm Keaveney: Finally.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Mental Health Services Provision (16 Apr 2015)

Colm Keaveney: If the Minister of State took an interest in anything, it would be an action.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Mental Health Services Provision (16 Apr 2015)

Colm Keaveney: 4. To ask the Minister for Health the way he proposes to address the increase in cases of electroconvulsive therapy being used against a patient’s will; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14853/15]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Mental Health Services Provision (16 Apr 2015)

Colm Keaveney: The UN special rapporteur on torture has urged countries to place an absolute ban on forced medical interventions against people without their consent. That includes the practice of electroconvulsive therapy, ECT. The purpose of this question is to ask the Minister of State how she intends to address the increase in the number of cases of ECT being used on patients against their will. Will...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Mental Health Services Provision (16 Apr 2015)

Colm Keaveney: I thank the Minister of State for the response. In the absence of appropriate legislation, the manner in which the Minister of State approaches the political description of whether consent has been achieved is self-serving. Last year, 42 patients received ECT without their consent. The rate increased significantly.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Mental Health Services Provision (16 Apr 2015)

Colm Keaveney: It is true.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Mental Health Services Provision (16 Apr 2015)

Colm Keaveney: If somebody is not in a position to give consent, there is no appropriate legislation to address capacity in the area.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Mental Health Services Provision (16 Apr 2015)

Colm Keaveney: When can we expect the assisted capacity legislation that would provide for the fairest approach to protect vulnerable people who are receiving a treatment that many people would not believe is applied in this day and age? It can be described as Dickensian or barbaric. Some medical experts in the area believe it is an appropriate intervention but it can be applied without consent.

Fair Pay, Secure Jobs and Trade Union Recognition: Motion [Private Members] (15 Apr 2015)

Colm Keaveney: Yes. The former Minister stated that there was no alternative. Deputy Quinn can boast all he wants, but he is wrong. The people do not want the model or quality of recovery that is being delivered by the Minister, who was sitting beside the Minister of State, Deputy Nash, before running out the door, salivating and somersaulting naked up Grafton Street about the quality of this recovery....