Results 1-6 of 6 for flu speaker:Phil Prendergast

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Phil Prendergast: ...of children requiring psychological and psychiatric services, and people will be afraid to visit their general practitioner or hospital for cost reasons or because they fear contracting swine flu, MRSA or clostridium difficile. People are becoming more frightened and increasingly angry. I have never experienced anything like the reaction to this budget. People are withering.

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Nov 2009)

Phil Prendergast: ...they do not get paid. It is a valuable service and they should be entitled to claim their benefits without having to go to this convoluted means to get it. My second point relates to the swine 'flu vaccination programme. I was amazed to find that even though I qualified as a nurse in 1981, I cannot volunteer my services to help with the administration of the vaccine, if I wish to do so,...

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Jul 2009)

Phil Prendergast: How is it intended to fund the management of the swine flu pandemic in the State? I attended a briefing yesterday at which Dr. Tony Houlihan informed us that it is expected that up to 1 million people, or 25% of the population, may succumb to the virus in the coming autumn and winter. Up to 1,000 people may require life support in the hospital system. In the past, budgets were set aside to...

Seanad: Order of Business (8 Jul 2009)

Phil Prendergast: I wish to raise the ability of the State to cope with the swine flu epidemic. Recent hospital bed closures seriously compromise that ability. There are 119 confirmed cases, 45 in the North and 74 in the South, with a huge increase in people being cared for in accident and emergency departments. Swine flu is getting more difficult to diagnose because the bug is mutating and people are...

Seanad: Swine Flu Outbreak: Statements (6 May 2009)

Phil Prendergast: ...took time out to explain to us what was happening. It is always better to give people the information before they read about it as that gives us a chance to have a prepared response. I hope swine flu will be contained and we do not get any more cases in Ireland. If we do, I hope we will handle them correctly. I thank the Minister again for the way in which the issue has been handled.

Seanad: Substance Abuse: Motion (19 Dec 2007)

Phil Prendergast: ...in my remarks. The issue of drug use has been well covered this evening. It is now so serious that we must tackle the causes. It is difficult to assess whether someone is driving under the influence of drugs because there is no means of testing for this. If we could introduce something similar to breath testing it would be helpful. There are prescribed drugs which may impair driving or...