Results 321-340 of 519 for speaker:Mary Ann O'Brien

Seanad: Fluoridation of Water: Motion (1 Oct 2014)

Mary Ann O'Brien: They never will be.

Seanad: Fluoridation of Water: Motion (1 Oct 2014)

Mary Ann O'Brien: One hopes we will not be examining it for too much longer.

Seanad: Fluoridation of Water: Motion (1 Oct 2014)

Mary Ann O'Brien: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Fluoridation of Water: Motion (1 Oct 2014)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I do not know where to begin and I would need 40 minutes. I welcome the Minister of State and I am sorry he was not here for the beginning of the debate. I am extremely sorry the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, is not here. Senator Barrett made the point we need to get on with this and get back to discussing serious health problems. The entire Irish population is involved in this discussion....

Seanad: Fluoridation of Water: Motion (1 Oct 2014)

Mary Ann O'Brien: Sorry, a Leas-Chathaoirligh-----

Seanad: Fluoridation of Water: Motion (1 Oct 2014)

Mary Ann O'Brien: If one has a glass of water it goes at 100 miles by our teeth and into our tummies. Fluoride is not intelligent; it does not have a label stating it must go straight to the teeth. It goes into our tummies. It is soluble. Within five minutes it is in every cell in one's body. I want Senator Barrett to listen to this because we are not only talking about teeth but every cell in the body....

Seanad: Fluoridation of Water: Motion (1 Oct 2014)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for his patience. Israel banned fluoride this year. Its decision was supported by the World Health Organization's statistics proving that tooth decay has declined equally in countries with no mandatory fluoridation. It is about diet; it is about calcium, magnesium and zinc. It is the toothbrush that is the greatest invention of the past 70 years, not...

Seanad: Fluoridation of Water: Motion (1 Oct 2014)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I do not agree with any of them. I stated I am choosing not to put it to a vote.

Seanad: Fluoridation of Water: Motion (1 Oct 2014)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I do not agree with any of the amendments. To be honest, most of them are a joke.

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Oct 2014)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I draw the attention of Members to the shambles that continues to unfold beneath our eyes in the guise of St. James's Hospital. Today the board of the national children's hospital board is coming before the Committee of Public Accounts to be questioned about what is going on with regard to St. James's Hospital. Before we broke up for the summer recess I tabled an Adjournment matter asking...

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Nov 2014)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I support my colleague, Senator Whelan, in his request for a debate with the Minister for Justice and Equality to review the bail laws.

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Nov 2014)

Mary Ann O'Brien: Ten days ago there was a fatal crash on exit 13 of the M7 northbound when five young men, the youngest of whom was 12, were in a car being chased by gardaí. A 30 year old lady, who was coming from doing her supermarket shopping on her way home from work, was killed stone dead. The man driving the car had 20 convictions. What sort of justice system do we have if a man, who has a 12...

Seanad: Health Services: Statements (4 Nov 2014)

Mary Ann O'Brien: Well done to the Minister on his statement on “The Pat Kenny Show” recently that a maternity hospital is to be co-located with the national children’s hospital and the fact that he has asked the national children’s hospital board to consider applying for planning permission for it. It is very much welcomed by us all. After 20 years of wasted time, nobody knows...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Nov 2014)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I welcome UPC's ban on access to child sex abuse websites, but we still have a long way to go on this journey. My Independent colleague Senator Jillian van Turnhout will also be addressing this subject. We do not have any Internet police, and these websites can be hosted and taken down so easily. In addition, UPC is only one Internet provider among others. I ask the Leader to arrange for...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: National Children's Hospital (12 Nov 2014)

Mary Ann O'Brien: The health of our children and future generations is in our hands. It is important we do everything in our power to ensure the national children's hospital is built as soon as possible with as little cost to the Exchequer as possible. In light of the fact that planning permission will not be sought for a maternity hospital at the same time as the new national children's hospital, when will...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: National Children's Hospital (12 Nov 2014)

Mary Ann O'Brien: "Ideal world" is the correct phrase. The Dolphin report recommended that a master plan should be provided by whatever hospital was chosen. I have written to the Minister for Health and made a freedom-of-information request and the only master plan I could find from St. James's Hospital dated from 2008. It has never had a master plan including a maternity hospital. We are all human beings...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: National Children's Hospital (12 Nov 2014)

Mary Ann O'Brien: The Minister of State is at the Cabinet table. Why can we not consider a move at this stage? St. James's Hospital has 200,000 tonnes of soil and grit to be removed, which is 10,000 lorry loads. It will take nine months before building can even begin and that is after the planning permission has been obtained. The site is rife with problems and there are signs that we should take a step...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: National Children's Hospital (12 Nov 2014)

Mary Ann O'Brien: The Minister of State was probably looking forward to having the Mater children's hospital built but that planning permission got turned down. I hope I am incorrect in my worries and anxiousness that St. James's will be turned down by An Bord Pleanála. God help us all if that happens.

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Services for People with Disabilities (25 Nov 2014)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I thank the Minister of State for attending to take this Adjournment matter, which is about a young girl who has a profound intellectual disability and intractable epilepsy. Her family's health has completely broken down. She is 5 ft. 7 in. and weighs 65 kg. After a desperate appeal by her family in 2013 for their daughter to be cared for by the State, assessed and taken into respite care,...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Services for People with Disabilities (25 Nov 2014)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I thank the Minister of State for his reply, but I wished I shared his hope that there will be clarity. Last Friday the family heard from the residential care facility in Nurney that a meeting had been granted. They did not hear from the HSE and the person concerned has not contacted them yet. I am very glad that the HSE manager of disability services in area four, the Leinster region, is...