Results 281-300 of 309 for speaker:Keith Swanick

Seanad: Order of Business (30 Nov 2016)

Keith Swanick: The recent barbaric actions of ISIS have horrified and shocked the world. I am certain every Member of Seanad Éireann agrees that its actions are a stain on humanity. We have been disgusted by the barbarism displayed in the filming and photographing of victims and the subsequent publication of executions for propaganda purposes. There is no place in a civil society for this inhumane...

Seanad: Order of Business (30 Nov 2016)

Keith Swanick: On a point of principle, the statement by the President horrified me and I struggled to understand how he could, on behalf of the Irish people, express such glowing tributes to a tyrant and dictator.

Seanad: Order of Business (30 Nov 2016)

Keith Swanick: The glaring omission of the human rights atrocities by the Castro regime was disgusting. The remarks do not speak on my behalf. Words are important and I want to distance myself from the comments of President Higgins.

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Nov 2016)

Keith Swanick: I recently read that, following a year-long campaign, Trinity College Dublin is set to divest the €6.1 million it has indirectly invested in fossil fuel companies. Fossil Free TCD has been lobbying and campaigning very diligently on this issue for many months, with the culmination this week of a commitment to divest. I believe the students should be applauded on their resilience and...

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Nov 2016)

Keith Swanick: As a health professional, I am concerned about a disturbing and unregulated trend that has emerged in the health care sector of late. I refer to so-called health specialists with no formal medical or nursing training who rent rooms in hotels around the country. They provide cardiovascular health assessments to vulnerable patients using simple probes that can be bought on eBay yet they...

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Nov 2016)

Keith Swanick: In July and August my office sent out more than 940 confidential mental health questionnaires to all local authority members throughout the country, from all parties and none. This was the first comprehensive anonymous mental health questionnaire to be circulated to councillors. To tell the truth, the findings, which I presented at an AILG conference in Gorey recently, were stark and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update On Health Issues: Discussion (10 Nov 2016)

Keith Swanick: I have been liaising with my party colleagues, Deputy Butler and Councillor Murphy, on Waterford hospital. Dr. Heraty recommended that the hospital should be funded for an additional two angiography sessions per week, which would deliver approximately 3,000 more appointments. What is the timeframe for this to be implemented? Will it be later this year or early next year? I welcome the...

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Nov 2016)

Keith Swanick: On this day in 1989 all of us were alive and probably watched the evening news as the Berlin Wall came crashing down, a moment we will never forget. We have just had a bitterly divisive US presidential election where one candidate, now the President-elect, decided to whip up anti-migrant sentiment and anger with the suggestion of building a wall on the Mexican frontier. Here, on our island,...

Seanad: Health (Amendment) (Professional Home Care) Bill 2016: Second Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Keith Swanick: Fianna Fáil is happy to support this legislation, which stems from a Law Reform Commission report published five years ago. The legislation provides for a regulatory framework and legal standards to be put in place for professional home carers engaged in the provision of care to people in their own homes. Similar legislation based on the Law Reform Commission report was published by...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Oct 2016)

Keith Swanick: I again bring to the attention of the House the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA, and the strategic investment fund equity holding in tobacco companies. Last week in the House, the Minister of State, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, confirmed to me that the NTMA and the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF, have equity holdings in three separate tobacco companies. I acknowledge that all of...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Oct 2016)

Keith Swanick: Since the Seanad commenced its sitting this morning, over 200 calls will have been received by the emergency call answering service, which is responsible for all 999 and 112 calls. In 2015, it received 1.8 million calls, an average of 5,100 per day. The reason I raise this issue today is because Hallowe'en night is only days away and, unfortunately, has become a byword for stories about...

Seanad: Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Oct 2016)

Keith Swanick: Fianna Fáil welcomes the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill. Harmful drinking is a major issue. More than 8,000 people were treated for problem alcohol use in 2012. Alcohol is associated with 2,000 beds being occupied every night in the acute hospital sector, one quarter of injuries suffered by those presenting at emergency departments and over half of all attendances at specialised...

Seanad: Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Oct 2016)

Keith Swanick: I welcome the comments of my fellow Senators on alcohol advertising. I acknowledge what the Minister of State has said with regard to securing European agreement. However, the whole process needs to be accelerated, especially with regard to online advertising. Much of the time children do not watch television; they are on their iPads all the time. We are going to be behind the ball if we...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Ireland Strategic Investment Fund Investments (19 Oct 2016)

Keith Swanick: I thank the Minister of State for taking this important motion on investments held by the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA, through the strategic investment fund. This is a health and financial policy issue, because tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in Ireland and is an enormous strain on our health system. We always want to see the NTMA generate a significant...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Ireland Strategic Investment Fund Investments (19 Oct 2016)

Keith Swanick: I will be brief. I would like to remind the House of some keys facts from the World Health Organization. Tobacco kills up to half of its users and approximately 6 million people each year globally. Why is the taxpayer continuing to invest in this sector? I refer the Minister of State, Deputy Murphy, to a previous statement by the former Minister of State, Deputy Fergus O'Dowd, during the...

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Oct 2016)

Keith Swanick: One image or storyline often defines a conflict or tragedy. For example, we often think of the iconic image of nine year old Kim Phuc, the girl pictured naked as she fled horrific violence in south Vietnam in 1972. In the midst of the carnage and the suffering she experienced as a result of severe burns on her back, there can seem to be no hope at times. Seventeen surgical procedures were...

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Oct 2016)

Keith Swanick: At the end of December in the Dublin north-east regional health forum a motion was put forward relating to dental health in children. The motion called on the HSE to make available sufficient funding to ensure all primary schoolchildren receive a minimum dental service in second and sixth class and, ideally, in fourth class as well. The motion comes as a result of the problem posed by tooth...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Open Disclosure: Department of Health (13 Oct 2016)

Keith Swanick: I have two very brief points. Dr. Holohan said that the senior clinical physician may be engaged in the reporting mechanism. On a practical level, patients spend a lot more time in the community than they do in hospitals. How would Dr. Holohan envisage this reporting happening in a community or a primary care setting where the health professional might be working in isolation, be it a GP,...

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Oct 2016)

Keith Swanick: According to the HSE, on average at least six people die accidentally from carbon monoxide poisoning each year. Everyone in this House will be aware that last week was Carbon Monoxide Awareness week. The reason I raise this matter today is that this is a preventable issue. The risk of carbon monoxide poisoning is something that we should be aware of 365 days a year and not just for one...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Parking Charges (20 Jul 2016)

Keith Swanick: I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Helen McEntee, for coming to the House. I want to ask for a review of parking charges at HSE hospitals across the country to ensure low-cost parking is available to patients and visitors to the public hospital system. I also want to ask if any single organisation has a contract with the HSE to charge for parking and-or clamping on hospital grounds....