Results 121-140 of 853,765 for "section:" . (isset($hansardmajors[$1]["title"]) ? $hansardmajors[$z[1]]["title"] : "$z[1]") OR "section:" . (isset($hansardmajors[$1]["title"]) ? $hansardmajors[$z[1]]["title"] : "$z[1]") speaker:Garret Ahearn

Health (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Oct 2020)

Michael McNamara: Like colleagues in my group, I will vote against this Bill. The Bill is a fig leaf. It tries to give responsibility to An Garda Síochána to do the work the health service failed to do. Whether it failed to do that because it was mismanaged or was inadequately resourced is not pertinent. Either way, the responsibility for that rests firmly with the Government. The Minister of...

Health (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Oct 2020)

Catherine Connolly: I thank the Deputy.

Health (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Oct 2020)

Michael McNamara: Laws are made by the Oireachtas. Yes, we can delegate powers.

Health (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Oct 2020)

Catherine Connolly: I thank the Deputy.

Health (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Oct 2020)

Michael McNamara: Could I use some of the time the Government did not use?

Health (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Oct 2020)

Michael Fitzmaurice: A matter was raised after I left the Dáil yesterday which I want to clarify, and a few more Deputies talked about it. I did not mention any name of a place and I will stand over every bit of information that I stated on Leaders' Questions yesterday. I ask the Minister to clarify that I was not the Deputy he was referring to about scaremongering. I would like that to be clarified...

Health (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Oct 2020)

Mattie McGrath: Some Government Deputies wrongly accused Deputy Shortall of not supporting the Garda, so in case they try to do the same again, I want to put on the record that I support the Garda 100%. We have an excellent community division in Tipperary. It was stood down but is back up running now. I support Sergeant Ray Moloney, Superintendent Denis Whelan and all the inspectors in Cahir and thank...

Health (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Oct 2020)

Catherine Connolly: I will do my best to be focused in my ten minutes. Two of the Minister's statements do not fill me with trust. I will come back to the factual situation, particularly regarding the Policing Authority and its eight reports to date. As the Minister knows, a situation has arisen in a nursing home in Ahascragh in east Galway, just outside my constituency, though the word "situation" does not...

Health (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Oct 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: I will start my contribution with some breaking news. The media has a responsibility if they put out a story by way of breaking news but the Government has a responsibility to give the proper information. I see the Ceann Comhairle was at the front of a breaking news story last week that 400 former Deputies were told, by way of a headline, not to attend the bar and, in small print underneath...

Health (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Oct 2020)

Martin Kenny: It is important to point out that the vast majority of people want to comply with the guidelines and do the right thing and that they are doing their very best to do so. Sometimes people make mistakes and step over the line without realising it, often in rural areas where the distance of 5 km is an issue for many people. It is important that the Government is very clear with people that...

Health (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Oct 2020)

Michael Collins: The coronavirus is a deadly disease and a curse that has hit our country. I have always believed it is a massive danger but that we should also be doing everything in our power to bring people with us and not dictate to people. There will always be people who will break the law. We will never be able to rectify that in our political careers. Certainly, there are elements of danger but we...

Health (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Oct 2020)

Matt Shanahan: I support the comments of Deputy Daly regarding University Hospital Kerry, a facility I know well. It suffers from significant deficits. These are largely attributable to the inadequacies of the South/Southwest Hospital Group administration, to which University Hospital Waterford is also connected, unfortunately. The proposed legislation signals our arrival at a difficult juncture. The...

Health (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Oct 2020)

Denis Naughten: If we had seen enforcement at level 3, rather than engagement, we might not have found ourselves at level 5 at all. It is obvious that, for some, education and encouragement just will not work and their behaviour will not change until we get real about enforcement. We have heard the stories about house parties and other scenarios whereby people awaiting test results failed to isolate and...

Health (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Oct 2020)

Peadar Tóibín: The great civil libertarian Stephen Donnelly is introducing a law in the Dáil to fine people for playing golf, attending a sneaky mass, swimming or going to a gym. Basically, the Government is raising the white flag. It has lost the good will of the people and now it is seeking to coerce them. Covid-19 is a serious illness for sure, and we need to do all we can to reduce the...

Health (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Oct 2020)

Pa Daly: The tracing system is a shambles. We see the same factories that continued their non-essential work throughout lockdown now forcing workers to take holidays over the coming weeks. We are asked to vote for regulations without scrutiny. That is not acceptable. Are our hospitals now ready? A number of people within the health service have shared concerns with me. They could be described...

Health (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Oct 2020)

Verona Murphy: I am amazed at the announcements this morning from the NVRL at University College Dublin, of which Dr. Cillian De Gascun is the laboratory director. The Ministers have to decide who is going to take care of the shortfall mentioned in this announcement. We have lost the capacity for 30,000 tests at the laboratory. We do not know who will do them instead or what preparations have been made...

Health (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Oct 2020)

Bernard Durkan: I have listened with interest to the debate on this Bill, which follows on from many similar debates in recent months. Lest Opposition Members feel that the Government is repressive and not conscious of the need to observe civil liberties, I assure them that the reverse is the case. Members of the Government are as alert as anybody else in this House to the fact that it is unfortunate that...

Health (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Oct 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: News has just broken that the National Virus Reference Laboratory, NVRL, in University College Dublin has released the following urgent notification in relation to SARS-CoV-2 testing at NVRL: Due to unavoidable staff shortages the VRL will not be able to provide any SARS-CoV-2 testing on the weekends of the 24th/25th and 26th October and the weekend of the 31st October/1st November 2020....

Health (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Oct 2020)

Mick Barry: We are debating legislation to give emergency powers to the State regarding gatherings in people's homes. The powers would allow a garda to call to a house, ask the people in the house to leave, and if they refuse to leave, the primary resident can be fined €1,000. A person on the way to the house can be stopped by the Garda and instructed to leave the area and return home. If that...

Health (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Oct 2020)

Matt Carthy: The Bill essentially asks the Dáil to give the Government licence to introduce a broad variety of fines for individuals. It asks for powers that could only and should only be granted to a Government that has substantial levels of trust and confidence among the population. I regret to say that this Government does not have that trust or confidence. It absolutely should have. Arguably...