Results 181-200 of 1,253 for speaker:John Crown

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (25 Feb 2015)

John Crown: I am sorry if I have delayed the Minister. As he knows, we have a professional relationship as peers in this House, but in my day job I work for him. I was a little bit tied up this morning, delaying my getting here. What are the contingency plans of the Department and the HSE in the event of the apocalyptic scenario of the great majority of the nurses in the country finding themselves...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (25 Feb 2015)

John Crown: I thank the Minister.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (25 Feb 2015)

John Crown: I am very grateful to the Minister for his thoughtful response. Nurses believe right now that their only two interactions with the board are to be given their money and to be disciplined by them. They are not aware of any great service being rendered to the profession, in particular in the area of continuous professional development and they feel the board has not stepped up to the mark in...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (25 Feb 2015)

John Crown: I agree with the Minister and I do understand the role of the nursing board but the best way to ensure safety is prospectively, not retrospectively. In Ireland we have too often followed the black box philosophy. We put structures in place to investigate health care disasters after they occur. If I may paraphrase an expression usually used in another context, it is the politics of the last...

Seanad: Health Services: Motion (25 Feb 2015)

John Crown: Again, I welcome the Minister. He is a young man and is about the same age as I was when I first became a consultant oncologist in Ireland's medical service. I was full of enthusiasm and optimism and thought a problem was what one was here to fix, not something that made one go away wringing one's hands, which is a common attitude in Ireland. I like to think I have managed to keep some of...

Seanad: Health Services: Motion (25 Feb 2015)

John Crown: I believe it can be fixed and I am not asking people to look at some pie-in-the-sky fantasy. I ask them to look at health systems that actually exist in countries that are similar to Ireland demographically, and on where they fit in terms of OECD wealth scales, etc. I acknowledge no system is without criticism but in such health systems, the torrent of criticism ours faces and which is...

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Feb 2015)

John Crown: I apologise to the Cathaoirleach. I meant to be here earlier but my day job sometimes gets in the way. I wish to formally second Senator Power's amendment to the Order of Business regarding the regulation of e-cigarettes. I am grateful to Senator Mooney for standing in for me. There has been a great deal of misinformation and disinformation doing the rounds since we first proposed this...

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Feb 2015)

John Crown: That is fine. My next question is very relevant, in geographic terms, to the Deputy Leader, who hails from an Atlantic perch located in the south west. I do not mean to precipitate any international incident but in recent weeks there has been press coverage in respect of bombers from a foreign power - at the height of the Cold War these were routinely used to carry nuclear warheads - flying...

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Feb 2015)

John Crown: I apologise for interrupting, but I have some hearing issues. I asked the Leader whether he could find out if Ireland has a defence radar system.

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Feb 2015)

John Crown: Thank you.

Seanad: Public Health (Regulation of Electronic Cigarettes and the Protection of Children) Bill 2015: First Stage (24 Feb 2015)

John Crown: I second the proposal.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (12 Feb 2015)

John Crown: I welcome the Minister and Minister of State and their officials. I have a few quick questions. I am sorry I did not have an opportunity to submit questions. Would the Ministers and the head of the HSE acknowledge, in light of the recent coverage of concerns about obstetric services, that we had a big warning several years ago with the Galway tragedy ? If we just adopted a policy of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (12 Feb 2015)

John Crown: I am not quite finished. Hear me out for a moment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (12 Feb 2015)

John Crown: The Chairman let everybody else go. It is me every time. This is the third time in a row and I had to leave the last meeting.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (12 Feb 2015)

John Crown: At the time Bismarck introduced this policy, the average age at death of a German was 41. The average age at death of a German who was still alive at 65 was 67. On average, people lived two to three years after retirement. A woman who is alive at the retirement age of 65 now will live well into her 80s, as will a man. The average age at death is approximately 80 for a man and mid-80s for...

Seanad: Order of Business (29 Jan 2015)

John Crown: I am sorry if I sound like a broken record, but we will need to have a fresh debate on the issue of hospital waiting lists in the aftermath of data and an international comparison being published, both of which emerged during the week. As the Minister for Health, Deputy Leo Varadkar, has correctly and honestly acknowledged, the HSE figures show an unacceptably long waiting list. Clearly,...

Seanad: Universities (Development and Innovation) (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second Stage (28 Jan 2015)

John Crown: I thank Senator Barrett for allowing me the privilege of seconding this worthy legislative proposal. If and when somebody sits down to write the history of this Seanad, he or she will acknowledge that the Senator has been one of the most serious, insightful and informed legislators we have had in this House over the last four years. He certainly exemplifies the best traditions of this...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Medical Indemnity Insurance Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Jan 2015)

John Crown: I did not get the chance to ask a question. I am sorry I was not here at the beginning.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Medical Indemnity Insurance Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Jan 2015)

John Crown: I am sorry. I thought I indicated to the clerk.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Medical Indemnity Insurance Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Jan 2015)

John Crown: I am very sorry I was not able to get here earlier but I had complex commitments today and I intended no disrespect to any of the witness by not hearing their testimony. As I said last week, I really believe practising medicine in Ireland is nearly uniquely dangerous. A doctor in Ireland has one of the highest chances of finding himself or herself on the receiving end of a lawsuit of any...