Results 41-60 of 10,571 for speaker:Colm Burke

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2011: Second Stage (26 Jul 2011)

Colm Burke: I welcome the Minister to the House and thank him for bringing forward this legislation. Many of the issues I wanted to raise have been mentioned but I will refer to one or two issues, one of which concerns my experience of dealing with young people. Many years ago I had the privilege of being invited onto a committee on the north side of Cork city which was deciding what to do about the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2011: Second Stage (26 Jul 2011)

Colm Burke: Tomorrow.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2011: Second Stage (26 Jul 2011)

Colm Burke: At 10 a.m. tomorrow.

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Jul 2011)

Colm Burke: I wish to follow up on the comments of Senator John Crown on the figures for County Roscommon. For the past few weeks I have been in discussions with a number of people involved in health care. The figures for the procedures they have carried out do not correspond with the figures given. One person has advised me they were credited with carrying out operations they had not done. These are...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Jul 2011)

Colm Burke: I am not calling for a debate but asking for the matter to be dealt with in order that proper records will be sent from hospitals to the central unit which records the numbers of procedures carried out. The information crediting consultants with operations is inaccurate, which raises serious questions about who is recording the figures. Records are kept very well in theatres but in-between...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jul 2011)

Colm Burke: I thank the Minister for introducing this legislation, which is welcome and is extremely important. Like Senator O'Donovan, my experience in the District Court has been of a limited nature. I was surprised by the figures given for the use of community service orders. It is also welcome because it deals with the imposition of fines. The Act of 2010 helped in this regard. Previously,...

Seanad: Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (27 Jul 2011)

Colm Burke: I thank the Minister for bringing forward the Bill. Section 32 of the Bill deals with the Coroners Act. Coroners are not required to hold inquests within a specific period of time. I raised this matter with the Minister previously, along with my colleague, Senator Tom Sheahan, who was also aware of an unreasonable period of time being allowed to elapse before an inquest was held. I know...

Seanad: Family Home Bill 2011: Second Stage (27 Jul 2011)

Colm Burke: I thank Senator Marc MacSharry and his colleagues for introducing these proposals. However, I do not support the draft Bill because, like the Minister of State, I am of the view that it is unconstitutional. The judgment delivered by Ms Justice Dunne on 25 July casts doubt on the legality of any repossessions in respect of a certain cohort of distressed mortgage holders. It is interesting...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Sep 2011)

Colm Burke: The Government has established the JobBridge programme, which is a welcome development. Recently, I was contacted by someone who is running a community hospital. They are prepared to provide training to people who want to work as carers in the community. They have set up a training scheme within the community hospital, which is not taking jobs away from anyone. They have more than...

Seanad: Order of Business. (21 Sep 2011)

Colm Burke: I wish to raise an issue with regard to health. I remind Senators that we inherited a dysfunctional health service from the previous Government.

Seanad: Order of Business. (21 Sep 2011)

Colm Burke: We should not forget-----

Seanad: Order of Business. (21 Sep 2011)

Colm Burke: I will give an example-----

Seanad: Order of Business. (21 Sep 2011)

Colm Burke: I do indeed. I will give an example of the lack of organisation in the service. The centralised recruitment system was established by the HSE as far back as last December. It took until 29 June before agreement was reached with the Irish Medical Council on how the recruitment of new doctors would be managed.

Seanad: Order of Business. (21 Sep 2011)

Colm Burke: We have a medical council which sets the standards.

Seanad: Order of Business. (21 Sep 2011)

Colm Burke: The issue I want to raise is the fact that the junior doctors who came here in August gave a month's notice from the jobs they had held. They are professionals who resigned. As of today's date, they have not been given a date to sit the exams to enable them to practise here. Some of them have been here for more than ten weeks and they cannot sit the exams. They have been told they may not...

Seanad: Order of Business. (21 Sep 2011)

Colm Burke: This a Medical Council issue. I want the Minister, the Medical Council and the HSE to deal with it immediately. It should not be left until October for those people to sit the exams. They are professional people who gave up good jobs. They came to this country to get us out of a bind in terms of a shortage of junior doctors that we inherited from the previous Government.

Seanad: Order of Business. (21 Sep 2011)

Colm Burke: The Minister must deal with the issue with the Medical Council and the HSE.

Seanad: Reporting of Lobbying in Criminal Legal Cases Bill 2011: Second Stage (21 Sep 2011)

Colm Burke: I welcome Senator Crown's initiative in drafting this Bill. It was not drafted overnight and much effort was put into it. I thank him for doing that. I pay tribute to any Member of the House who makes the effort to bring forward a draft Bill. Unfortunately, however, I cannot agree with the proposal for a number of reasons. One reason is that section 6 of the Prosecution of Offences Act...

Seanad: Twenty-Ninth Amendment of the Constitution (Judges' Remuneration) Bill 2011: Second Stage (21 Sep 2011)

Colm Burke: I again welcome the Minister to the House. I also welcome this legislation. Previous speakers have already covered many of the issues I wanted to raise. Earlier today, I referred to the independence of the Judiciary. In my experience over the years, I have found that at all times judges have ensured a clear line is drawn as regards their independence and how they arrive at their...

Seanad: Road Traffic (No. 2) Bill 2011: Second Stage (27 Sep 2011)

Colm Burke: I will be brief as all the issues I had hoped to raise were raised by the Acting Chairman, Senator Catherine Noone, and my colleagues, Senators Pat O'Neill and Imelda Henry. I am concerned about a technical aspect of the Bill, that is, the taking of a blood sample in the hospital. I understand that if a sample is taken in a Garda station, a sample is also given to the accused party. The...