Results 1-20 of 616 for drugs speaker:Bernard Durkan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Drugs Strategy: Minister of State at the Department of Health (19 Jan 2022)

Bernard Durkan: ...and that is quite true. I find one thing difficult to understand. We have read, for instance, in reports from Tallaght and so on about young mothers being forced into prostitution to pay for drugs. Whether that is crack cocaine or a beginner drug like cannabis is immaterial. The fact of the matter is that the people who gain most from all this are the drug barons. The late Tony...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Drugs Strategy: Minister of State at the Department of Health (19 Jan 2022)

Bernard Durkan: Before that, I will give an idea of where I am coming from. There is nothing as soul-destroying as when one is dealing with families where there is a drug problem that grows and grows and eventually tears the family apart. The Minister of State spoke of stigma. The stigma is as a result of continued reliance on particular drugs. We need to address that. The whole concept of methadone is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Drugs Strategy: Minister of State at the Department of Health (19 Jan 2022)

Bernard Durkan: I thank the Minister and his colleagues for coming before the committee. I am finding the conversation interesting. I was a member, in a previous incarnation, of a ministerial drugs task force and liaised with the community-based committees. I should say at the outset that I listened to the conversation there on the need for the legalisation of cannabis and I do not accept it at all....

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 2 - Department of the Taoiseach (Supplementary)
Vote 5 - Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Supplementary) (23 Nov 2023)

Bernard Durkan: .... What actions could be taken to focus on those sensitive areas with a view to bringing more pressure to bear? For example, I know there are proposals to liberalise, as I would see it, the drugs regime. Other people might say this is necessary. An argument will ensue that this should be based more on medical support than on policing. I do not agree with that. I believe it is an...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medicinal Products (17 Nov 2020)

Bernard Durkan: 702. To ask the Minister for Health the position regarding approval of new or orphan drugs; the number of such drugs awaiting approval in the system; if Covid-19-related drugs are under consideration at present; if access to or reimbursement of Covid-19-related drugs is being expedited at a European or national level, in light of the ongoing pandemic; and if he will make a statement on the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Meeting on Health Issues (11 Dec 2019)

Bernard Durkan: ...; my last question is coming up. I insist on having parity will all my peers, which can be difficult from time to time. The Chairman might not remember I was a member of the first ministerial drugs task force a long time ago. We seem to have drifted away from the original purpose of the exercise. At that time methadone was a means to an end. Now it seems to be an end in itself which...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Funding of Orphan Drugs: Discussion (12 Jul 2017)

Bernard Durkan: I thank the witnesses for giving their time to come before us this morning. The drugs require Government, ministerial and HSE approval and so on. On the drugs which were referred to, what do the witnesses envisage as the shortest, quickest route that would short-circuit that process for drugs in the future? Each time the question arises, we go through the same process we discussed earlier....

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (24 Feb 2022)

Bernard Durkan: I support the points made by my colleague in regard to the drugs issue. It is a health issue and a justice issue. It has to be approached on two levels and to have all resources made available to deal with it. That needs to be done as a matter of urgency. What we are doing at present is perpetuating it. The drug issue is growing. We are a drug-ridden society, and people will tell you it...

Written Answers — General Medical Services Scheme: General Medical Services Scheme (17 May 2012)

Bernard Durkan: Question 196: To ask the Minister for Health the drugs deemed to be most effective in the treatment of MS; if all such drugs are covered by the general medical service; if it is intended to include the drug Tysabri in the GMS; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24801/12]

Written Answers — National Drugs Strategy: National Drugs Strategy (23 Nov 2006)

Bernard Durkan: Question 242: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the action being taken to address the ever growing problem of drug abuse; if the regional drug task force had adequate resources at its disposal to meet the growing requirements of community based groups involved in combating drugs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39847/06]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medicinal Products Reimbursement (17 Oct 2019)

Bernard Durkan: 236. To ask the Minister for Health when a person (details supplied) will have access to the drug Repatha restored to reimbursement in view of the person's dependency on the drug for the past number of years and whose loss of access to the drug will cause extreme pain, discomfort and anxiety; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42899/19]

Written Answers — National Drugs Strategy: National Drugs Strategy (23 Nov 2006)

Bernard Durkan: Question 139: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the action being taken to address the ever growing problem of drug abuse; if the regional drug task force had adequate resources at its disposal to meet the growing requirements of community based groups involved in combating drugs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39846/06]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Funding and Implementation of the National Cancer Strategy: Discussion (10 Apr 2024)

Bernard Durkan: On the availability of appropriate drugs and new drugs to fight particular cancers as they are diagnosed, Professor Kennedy made reference to a ten-year waiting time for actual results. When the action is put in place, it may take ten years to become obvious. What action might be taken on the availability of the drugs, given that we live in the Single Market? We are entitled to the same...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: An Garda Síochána (1 Jun 2022)

Bernard Durkan: 181. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the extent of the current illegal drug prevention measures available to An Garda Síochána; the adequacy of such measures; the degree to which measures taken continue to disrupt the illegal drug distribution system; the extent to which this contributes to overall drug and crime prevention; and if she will make a...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Departmental Data (26 Apr 2022)

Bernard Durkan: 1484. To ask the Minister for Health the extent to which the use of illegal drugs continues throughout Ireland notwithstanding the various measures in place to curtail the activity; if efforts are being made to measure the extent of the availability of such drugs on the street to the obvious detriment of drug users and addicts throughout Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter....

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Bernard Durkan: Is it possible to identify the number and variety of drugs under investigation, as is usual, how many are generic, the particular conditions to which they are likely to apply, and how urgently that is issue being dealt with? I am talking about identifying the patient type and profile and accelerating the speed with which they can have access to the new drugs. The testing of drugs is...

Organised Crime: Statements (20 Apr 2023)

Bernard Durkan: ...anymore in hundreds of thousands or millions of euro but in billions of euro, and that is a clear indication as to where we are going. A common thread runs through this entire issue, namely, drugs. The drugs issue has to be dealt with, yet we are incapable as a society of dealing with it. The longer it goes on, the worse it gets and the more powerful these gangs become. I listened...

Cannabis Regulation: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (6 Nov 2013)

Bernard Durkan: I must say that I am totally opposed to the proposal. The availability of a particular drug and the fact that it is freely available is not the issue. The question is whether it is good for the person who takes it and whether access should be uncontrolled. Obviously, cannabis has properties which are beneficial to people in pain and so forth, which is recognised. The way to deal with that...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Garda Operations (12 Mar 2015)

Bernard Durkan: 156. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality her future plans to tackle the problem of drug dealing and the increase in the sale and supply of drugs in residential areas within Dublin's north inner city, particularly in the context of the success of Operation Spire, which has led to the level of drug dealing in O'Connell Street and its environs falling sharply; and if she will make a...