Results 161-180 of 1,253 for speaker:John Crown

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (10 Mar 2015)

John Crown: I welcome my friends and colleagues from my old medical school and congratulate my former classmate, Professor Murray, on the appropriate public stance he has taken on this critically important health issue. Most of us make our own deals with the devil when it comes to alcohol. People who understand what alcohol is all about have made decisions about certain compromises they make in return...

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Mar 2015)

John Crown: I wish to comment on reports over the weekend about wide disparities in survival from cardiac events or heart attacks in hospitals across the country. This had a particular resonance for me because in the early years of this particular Seanad, similar specific allegations were made about Roscommon hospital and at the time, it appeared as though those allegations were being used in defence of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Cost of Prescription Drugs: Discussion (5 Mar 2015)

John Crown: I welcome our guests. This is an important discussion. It is complex and it is important to dig down into some of the specifics. I speak with a little familiarity with this area, having founded the All Ireland Cooperative Oncology Research Group, ICORG, many years ago. Most of my research has in fact involved drug development, and that is what I have been primarily interested in. I am...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Cost of Prescription Drugs: Discussion (5 Mar 2015)

John Crown: Is it correct to say that IPHA primarily represents Irish affiliates and is not the professional representative body for major international manufacturers?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Cost of Prescription Drugs: Discussion (5 Mar 2015)

John Crown: There is some confusion about that. Without meaning any disrespect, it is important to be clear that we are not talking to the people who represent the manufacturers in Ringaskiddy and so on but to representatives of Irish affiliates, which are mainly about sales.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Cost of Prescription Drugs: Discussion (5 Mar 2015)

John Crown: These are very important hearings and I thank the participants. I raised an issue in the earlier session in regard to the possibility that companies had been lobbying our Government, alleging that domestic purchasing policies for the tiny, infinitesimally small by international standards, Irish market in some way influences the siting of manufacturing plants in Ireland. I said I believed...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Cost of Prescription Drugs: Discussion (5 Mar 2015)

John Crown: If may ask your indulgence, I had to step away for an emergency. Would it be inappropriate to ask if my other questions in this regard-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Cost of Prescription Drugs: Discussion (5 Mar 2015)

John Crown: We staged a coup in the Chairman's absence.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Cost of Prescription Drugs: Discussion (5 Mar 2015)

John Crown: I presume generic products manufactured in Ireland are overwhelmingly for export. Can Mr. Gallagher give us a back-of-an-envelope figure for the value of generics exports? We have heard the figure of €40 billion to €50 billion for pharmaceutical exports.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Cost of Prescription Drugs: Discussion (5 Mar 2015)

John Crown: Thank you.

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Mar 2015)

John Crown: I have noticed substantial speculation in recent days which is a result of the welcome attention that has been placed on a very unwelcome problem, namely, the question of overcrowding in emergency rooms and the ultimate cause of the bottlenecks that prevent people in need transitioning through emergency rooms into more appropriate inpatient beds, if they are not suitable for discharge to...

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Mar 2015)

John Crown: I am formally asking the Leader of the House to consider it today. I also support Senator Quinn's motion.

Seanad: Succession (Amendment) Bill 2015: First Stage (3 Mar 2015)

John Crown: I second the proposal.

Seanad: Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Bill 2014: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (3 Mar 2015)

John Crown: I echo some of Senator Henry's remarks. The Minister deserves great credit for taking this cause on board. As we have heard repetitively, but correctly, Ireland has been a leader in this area, first through the legislation introduced by Deputy Micheál Martin and then through the various Bills brought forward by the Minister, Deputy Reilly. I am not even a little concerned about an...

Seanad: Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Bill 2014: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (3 Mar 2015)

John Crown: -----because the smuggled product is cheap and it is a cheaper way to hook children on cigarettes. They will do anything to make cheaper product available. When we see the internecine webs of convoluted and highly implausible sales routes that have been plotted by the major companies through tiny countries, where cigarettes are being imported in such numbers that it would suggest every...

Seanad: Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Bill 2014: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (3 Mar 2015)

John Crown: We want them either to have the smarts and intelligence to take up an alternative line of business or to go out of business. If they are going to insist on working in businesses which have as their business plan the simple four words "addict children to carcinogens" we want them to fail. In no sense are they partners of ours. The Minister has been a noble exception but other members of the...

Seanad: Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Bill 2014: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (3 Mar 2015)

John Crown: That is very simple. My own sense is that the Government and its agencies should not have anything to do with public relations companies. Every public representative should be made to stand or fall on his or her own reputation. Every public or civil servant, above a certain grade, should be put on a rotation where once a month, or once every two months, they are the ones who answer...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Implementation of National Rare Disease Plan 2014-18: Discussion (26 Feb 2015)

John Crown: I welcome the witnesses and beg their indulgence if I sound tired and cranky. It recently dawned on me that I am well into my 22nd year of being back in Ireland and I am still trying to grapple with the issues arising in regard to the common disease of cancer. We are not doing very well with the common diseases and, while that does not mean we should not try to deal with the rare diseases,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Implementation of National Rare Disease Plan 2014-18: Discussion (26 Feb 2015)

John Crown: Will there be national funding for the existing local unit? Will there be an acknowledgement that it is providing a national service in order that it will not have to fight with management of Crumlin hosital for a share of the local pie?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Implementation of National Rare Disease Plan 2014-18: Discussion (26 Feb 2015)

John Crown: I will make a little bet with Ms Byrne that it will tell her that she needs to have a service there right now and should just provide for a modest increase in funding to allow it to perform a national function without there having to be nickels and dimes from local hospital management pending the development of the national service, but we can wait for the report. My opinion is, however, free.