Results 41-60 of 309 for speaker:Keith Swanick

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Emergency Department Overcrowding: Discussion (25 Jan 2017)

Keith Swanick: I welcome all the contributions. I will start with Dr. O'Connor's comments, which I agree totally with. I worked in Blanchardstown hospital as a senior registrar under Mr. Derek Barton a few years ago, and I know first hand the pressure that doctors are under. Indeed, in my time, the recess room was located in a prefabricated building to the side of the emergency department. I also note...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Emergency Department Overcrowding: Discussion (25 Jan 2017)

Keith Swanick: There is a vote in the Seanad. I must excuse myself.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Departmental Agencies (1 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, for coming to the House to discuss the investment of taxpayers' money in the tobacco industry by two publicly funded organisations under the remit of the Department of Justice and Equality, namely the Charities Regulatory Authority and the Courts Service.In response to a parliamentary question submitted by Deputy Jack Chambers, the Minister...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Departmental Agencies (1 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: I thank the Minister of State for his response. I believe that the 1.51% allocation for stocks in tobacco companies is too much. I am aware of the NTMA's willingness to divest of its tobacco stocks but my question relates to the CIF. While I appreciate what the Minister of State has said, I will continue to pursue this issue and will work with others to bring a motion of resolution before...

Seanad: Order of Business (1 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: This morning, the Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality, Deputy Stanton, was present for a Commencement debate, which I initiated, regarding bodies under the Department's remit and their investments in the tobacco industry. In response to a parliamentary question submitted by Deputy Jack Chambers, the Tánaiste confirmed that the common investment fund holds a small...

Seanad: Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2016: Second Stage (1 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: Fianna Fáil will support this Bill, which makes necessary changes in several areas. I welcome the amendment of the Nursing Homes Support Scheme Act 2009, which underpins the fair deal scheme, to exclude ex gratiapayments to patients of the Lourdes Hospital redress scheme, the Lourdes Hospital payment scheme, the symphysiotomy payment scheme and schemes for individuals disabled by...

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: I would also like to echo the sentiments around the House regarding the "Prime Time" report last night.It is shocking to think that 81,000 people are on a waiting list and 34,000 people are awaiting endoscopy procedures which are vital in the diagnosis of gastrointestinal cancers. I call for an urgent debate on a separate issue, namely, to ascertain the plans the Minister has in place to...

Seanad: Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2016: Committee and Remaining Stages (7 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: I wish to discuss my amendments. I am disappointed that they were not ruled out of order. They were designed to address the situation of mandatory retirement for critical health professionals in the public health system.These are senior decision makers in our system, who are forced to retire for no reason other than their age. As Professor Crown stated during the 2015 debate, we are not so...

Seanad: Amendments to Councillors' Conditions: Statements (8 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: I thank the Minister for taking the time to come to the House to address the concerns of local authority members. While not always a common feature in this House, there is unanimous support to have councillors' pay and conditions comprehensively addressed. Last year I compiled a comprehensive research report on mental health among local authority members that I sent to the Minister's...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Catheterisation Laboratory Clinical Review: Discussion (8 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: I welcome Dr. Herity. I will follow up on something the Minister of State and Deputy Cullinane mentioned earlier with regard to the fact that 40% of the workload undertaken in UHW is performed by consultants Dr. Niall Colwell from South Tipperary General Hospital and Dr. Aidan Buckley. Why were these consultants not spoken to or consulted with? I would have thought it prudent for all...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Catheterisation Laboratory Clinical Review: Discussion (8 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: My question is brief. The question is not in my role as a Senator but as a doctor. It is from one doctor to another. Does Dr. Herity believe that in the absence of a second catheterisation laboratory and a 24-7 service, lives are being endangered and people are dying? It is a simple question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Catheterisation Laboratory Clinical Review: Discussion (8 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: Is that not the nub of the whole situation? As a rural practitioner, I respectfully disagree with the point made by Dr. Herity that the 90-minute target time is invariably an aspiration. A 24-7 service in Waterford would cater for those patients who are being disenfranchised.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Coast Guard Services (15 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: I thank the Minister for coming to the House to address the glaring anomaly in legislation, or lack thereof, covering the Irish Coast Guard. As a medic on the west coast, I regularly liaise with the Irish Coast Guard and experience first hand the bravery and commitment of its members to serving the public while putting their own lives in danger. On every single call out they are exposed to...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Coast Guard Services (15 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: With the greatest respect to the Minister, I fundamentally disagree with the sentiments he has expressed. There is a need to put the Coast Guard on a statutory footing and that response could have been e-mailed to me, quite frankly. I ask the Minister to engage personally with the Coast Guard, to meet its representatives face to face and listen to their real and valid concerns. I also...

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: I wish to raise the incredible story of a concerned citizen, Paul Egan, who should be called a Good Samaritan. It started almost three weeks ago on 27 January in Keshkerrigan, County Leitrim, when Paul Egan, a HSE employee from Sligo encountered a very serious car crash. He witnessed an 18-year old woman, Tamara Jade Huxtable, from Drumshanbo, County Leitrim, wandering in the middle of the...

Seanad: Hospital Waiting Lists: Motion (15 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: I move amendment No. 1:To delete all words after “That Seanad Éireann” and substitute:“noting:- the very great distress and pain being suffered by people enduring long periods on hospital waiting lists; - the fact that the long waiting times are further exacerbating the clinical conditions needing treatment thereby producing more pain and suffering; and - that such...

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: Over recent weeks, the appalling condition of Ireland's health system, particularly the unacceptable waiting lists, has been to the fore. The Euro Health Consumer Index has ranked Ireland's health care system 21st out of 35 countries. Ahead of Ireland are countries with much lower incomes, such as Macedonia and Slovenia. Our accident and emergency unit waiting times are the worst in...

Seanad: Symphysiotomy Payment Scheme: Statements (Resumed) (22 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: I will start with the words of one survivor of symphysiotomy:They gave me gas and air and an injection, and took me to another room, where they tied my legs up on each side. There were two nurses on each side of me. I saw this doctor at the end of my bed with a big, long silver thing. They made a hole in your private parts, and he inserted this silver thing up and cut the pubic bone and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: I will be concise in my contributions because I understand that important parliamentary party meetings are happening in half an hour. I was absent earlier because there were statements on symphysiotomy in the Seanad, so some of my points may already have been touched on. I thank the Minister of State and the HSE team for answering some of the questions I submitted. Things have moved on...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Keith Swanick: Fair enough. I understand the team will meet every second month. Do we have an exact timeline for when the meeting will occur? Obviously, it will result in a recommendation for Cabinet and it is important to have an exact timeline on it. Will it be next week or the week after? We saw today another passionate presentation from CF sufferers and their family members. As we know, every day...