Written Answers Nos. 1150 - 1165
1151. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Health the funding opportunities that exist for a proposed community health project (details supplied) in County Mayo; the criteria for qualifying for departmental support for such projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32307/15]
View answerMy Department administers a National Lottery Discretionary Fund from which once-off grants are paid to community and voluntary organisations providing a range of health related services. The deadline for receipt of applications for funding in 2015 has passed. However, if an organisation wishes to make an application for National Lottery Funding in 2016 it should submit a formal application. Detailed procedures along with the application form for 2016 will be available on the Department's website in January 2016 at www.health.gov.ie.
1152. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Health his proposals to ensure that adequate resources are provided to enable a much shorter timeframe for the processing of discretionary medical card applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32322/15]
View answerUnder the Health Act, 1970, as amended, eligibility for health services is based primarily on residency and means. In accordance with the Act, the assessment for a medical card is determined primarily by reference to the means, including the income and expenditure, of the applicant and his or her partner and dependants.
Following publication of the Report of the Expert Panel on Medical Need for Medical Card Eligibility and the Medical Card Process Review in November 2014, Minister Varadkar and I announced a series of measures to enhance the operation of the medical card scheme and make it more sensitive to people’s needs. These included changes to the governance and organisational structure of the medical card assessment function within the HSE to increase the focus on customer service in the assessment process. The HSE has also taken steps to ensure greater interaction between the medical card central assessment office and the Local Health Office and/or Primary Care Team to see if there are further circumstances or needs that would support a medical card application, and to ensure that assistance is provided to meet the individual's needs as far as possible (where they don't have a medical card).
As the Deputy will be aware, the HSE may exercise discretion and grant a medical card even though an applicant's means exceed the prescribed threshold, where deemed appropriate. Where the HSE invokes discretion, they must do so in a consistent manner and are cognisant of the potential range of circumstances that might prevail in individual cases. The relevant factors in assessing undue hardship may require the HSE to take a number of issues into account and may require the applicant, or the HSE, on behalf of the applicant to interact with a number of sources to establish eligibility which may often be a timely process. The HSE guidelines governing the application of discretion were developed to ensure that fairness and equity is applied to all applicants under these schemes in accordance with the legislation and endeavours to ensure that all persons who are entitled to a medical card or a GP visit card, are facilitated to avail of their entitlement.
The HSE is exercising greater discretion, as is evident in the increase in the number of discretionary medical cards in circulation - by about 76% - from about 52,000 in mid-2014 to over 92,000 at the end of August this year.
Also as part of the reform, a Clinical Advisory Group (CAG) was established by the Director General of the HSE to provide clinical oversight and guidance to the operation of a more compassionate and trusted medical card system. The Group is working on the development of guidance on assessing medical card applications involving significant medical conditions, so as to take account of the burden involved and the needs arising from the condition and to ensure that appropriate services are provided to people who need them.
1153. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Health the position regarding an application for a hearing aid by a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32330/15]
View answerAs this is a service matter, it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply to the Deputy. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.
1154. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Health the amount on an annual basis over the past four years and including projections for next year that the Health Service Executive is paying out to private health insurance companies, private hospitals and private consultants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32334/15]
View answerYour question has been referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply as it is the statutory body with responsibility for delivering health and personal social services. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office who will follow up on the matter.
1155. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Health the status of internal audit across his Department; internal audit's relationship with external auditors and audit committees, as well as internal audit's adherence to professional standards; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32553/15]
View answerMy Department has an established Internal Audit Unit and an Audit Committee both of which operate under charters approved by the Secretary General and the Audit Committee. The Department’s Audit Committee is part of its control environment, tasked with providing independent advice to the Secretary General, as Accounting Officer, regarding the suitability and robustness of the Department’s internal control systems and procedures. Internal Audit meets with the Audit Committee at least 4 times per year and has full and free access to the Audit Committee as required.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) is the Department’s external auditor. Internal Audit provides copies of: minutes of Audit Committee meetings; the Audit Committee Annual Report, and completed audit reports to his office, for information, throughout the year. It also tracks the implementation of issues raised in the C&AG annual audit of the appropriation accounts. The Audit Committee meets with the C&AG annually to discuss their audit and other issues of common concern which may arise.
Internal Audit in my Department is guided by the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, determined in November 2012, that these standards should apply across all Departments and other Vote Holders.
1156. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Health the annual cost to his Department of fees paid to private for-profit companies to provide services such as consultancy work, recruitment services and other outsourced services, for example, cleaning, catering and so on; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32716/15]
View answerThe detailed information requested by the Deputy regarding fees paid for outsourced services is currently being collated and will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as it is available.
1157. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Health the annual cost to his Department of fees paid to private for-profit companies to provide public services, for example, waste collection, motorway toll operators, public transport such as Veolia-Luas and private bus companies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32723/15]
View answerThe detailed information requested by the Deputy regarding fees paid for public services is currently being collated and will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as it is available.
1158. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the discussions he has had with the Egyptian authorities regarding the case of a person (details supplied). [30486/15]
View answerThe Egyptian authorities are in no doubt about our position and we are keeping channels of communication with them open and sustained. I have had numerous conversations and meetings with my Egyptian counterpart, with other high level figures in the Egyptian system and with the Egyptian Ambassador here in Dublin at which I have raised my continuing concerns about this case. This engagement is in addition to ongoing contacts and discussions that my officials are pursuing in relation to this case. We keep all aspects of this case under continuing review.
1159. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on ring-fencing a set percentage of Irish national income for overseas aid; the position of the Government to United Nations targets in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31028/15]
View answer1160. Deputy Joe Costello asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his plans to increase the overseas development aid budget in the upcoming budget; if so, the percentage increase; the strategy for reaching the 0.7% of gross national product United Nations target; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31032/15]
View answer1162. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will fully recommit to the 0.7% target in respect of the provision of foreign aid (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30432/15]
View answer1174. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will reaffirm Ireland's commitment to reaching the targeted 0.7% of gross national product for oversees development aid; when he envisages that this will take place; the measures his Department is taking to ensure this is achieved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32027/15]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 1159, 1160, 1162 and 1174 together.
The Government is strongly committed to Ireland’s overseas aid programme, which is at the heart of our foreign policy. “One World, One Future” our policy for international development, sets out our vision for a sustainable and just world, and reaffirms our commitment to the UN target of providing 0.7% of Gross National Product (GNP) on Official Development Assistance (ODA). We have stated clearly that we intend to make further progress on this commitment as our economic recovery consolidates.
In July, I led the Irish delegation to the Third International Conference on Financing for Development held in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. The conference successfully concluded with the adoption of the “Addis Ababa Agenda for Action” which sets out in detail the financing needs for sustainable development for the next fifteen years. In the run up to the Addis conference Ireland was instrumental in helping broker agreement among EU Member States, recommitting to the UN 0.7% target, and to ensuring that at least 0.2% of GNP is directed to Least Developed Countries as ODA, within the timeframe of the Sustainable Development Agenda, which runs to 2030. The ‘Addis Ababa Action Agenda’ specifically welcomed the decision by the European Union to affirm its collective commitment to those targets.
The Addis agreement, together with the very successful agreement at the UN on new Sustainable Development Goals, which will be formally adopted by world leaders in New York this week, and the agreement currently being negotiated under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), have the potential to transform the approach to sustainable development globally and end extreme poverty and hunger in our lifetime. We are currently at an advanced stage of the 2016 Estimates process. While final allocations for Budget 2016 are ultimately a matter for Government, I can assure the Deputy that the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and I will be making the strongest possible case for an increase in the allocation to Official Development Assistance.
1161. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will support a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30431/15]
View answer1163. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the assistance and consular services made available to a person (details supplied) from County Cork who has been sentenced to 12 years in jail in the Philippines, and how he proposes to assist this person who claims to be the victim of a miscarriage of justice. [30440/15]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 1161 and 1163 together.
The Embassy of Ireland in Singapore, which is accredited to the Philippines, as well as the Honorary Consulate General in Manila and the Consular Assistance Unit of my Department in Dublin have provided ongoing assistance to this citizen and their family since July 2013. This assistance has included providing a list of lawyers; making representations to the prison service on the citizen’s welfare after the person was detained; and facilitating the safe retrieval of personal belongings after the person’s release on bail.
The Embassy continues to make representations to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila in relation to this case and has sought information on the timeframe for the appeals process.
It is important to bear in mind the role of the Irish Government where citizens are imprisoned abroad. When an Irish citizen is charged with an offence under the laws of a foreign country, it is the foreign laws that apply and it is the relevant foreign court that decides on matters such as bail.
Further information on the consular role of the Department is available on our website www.dfa.ie. However, I would like to reassure the Deputy that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will continue to provide all appropriate consular assistance to the citizen and their family.
1164. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he is aware of the human rights abuses which are being inflicted upon the community of Caquetá in Colombia due to a campaign the community has conducted against the imposition of an oil company in the area; and if he is satisfied that this is an environment in which Irish business should be encouraged to invest. [30459/15]
View answerI am aware of the reports referred to by the Deputy. When I met with the Colombian Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ms. Patti Londoño, in Dublin on 18 June 2015 I raised the human rights situation in Colombia with her, emphasising the importance Ireland places on protecting trades unionists, human rights defenders, journalists and others. I also raised a number of specific cases with the Vice-Minister. Officers from our Embassy in Mexico regularly discuss human rights issues with government interlocutors during their visits to Colombia and meet with international and local civil society organisations working on human rights issues there, including on environmental rights.
Irish Aid provides funding to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia which is specifically targeted to their work in the south-west of Colombia. The Embassy of Ireland in Mexico also oversees Irish Aid funding to a number of civil society organisations in Colombia, with a focus on the protection of human rights defenders and raising awareness of violations.
Human rights in Colombia are a major concern for the EU, including Ireland and other member states, and are addressed in detail in the context of the EU-Colombia Human Rights Dialogue. Through this mechanism, which addresses the subject directly with the Colombian authorities at official level, the EU engages in a structured manner across the full range of human rights issues, including human rights defenders and trade unionists, prisoners, land restitution and environmental issues. I believe that our policy of regular engagement, dialogue, and scrutiny within this structured framework is the best way to promote human rights in Colombia.
The EU-Colombia/Peru Free Trade Agreement contains mechanisms for stakeholder consultation in relation to initiatives that could have consequences for labour and/or the environment. The implementation of the Agreement is overseen by a Trade Committee. Officials from our Embassy in Mexico participated in a meeting of the Trade Committee in Bogotá in June 2015, at which questions of civil society participation, sustainable development, labour and environmental rights were discussed directly with Colombian and Peruvian officials.
All of this engagement takes place in a difficult context. Colombia faces a significant challenge in overcoming decades of violence. Peace talks are continuing in Havana between the government and the main guerrilla organisation.
1165. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will report on meetings held with the Speaker of Iran’s Parliament, Mr. Ali Larijani, on his recent visit here; his views on the matter of human rights in Iran and Ireland's relationship with Iran; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30463/15]
View answerI reported on my meetings with Mr. Larijani in my reply to the Deputy’s Question no 637 on 16 July. Following the successful achievement of an agreement with Iran to end the long running concerns about its nuclear programme, I am cautiously hopeful that this very welcome achievement may in due course lead to a broader improvement in relations with Iran. There remain significant concerns in relation to Iran’s support for militant groups in the Middle East region, and human rights issues in Iran. These concerns have been spelt out in reports and resolutions at the UN General Assembly, the Human Rights Council, in bilateral contacts and elsewhere.
The Iranian Government has made a number of positive statements on its intentions in relation to human rights issues since it took office in 2013. I look forward to seeing the Iranian Government act on its good intentions in this regard.
