Results 5,461-5,480 of 11,695 for speaker:Ivana Bacik

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2018)

Ivana Bacik: I welcome the Minister, and I welcome the opportunity to speak on this group of amendments. For the Labour Party Senators, I have certainly signed up to amendment No. 6. I endorse what Senator Kelleher said about a non-exhaustive list of guidelines to define this question. I agree with Senator Gavan about the danger of inserting a statutory definition of "harm" or "serious harm". The...

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2018)

Ivana Bacik: I wish to speak on amendment No. 9, in particular. It has been tabled by me, my Labour Party colleagues, and colleagues from across the House. As the Minister will be aware, all the amendments in the group seek to do something similar, which is to address the question of the assessment of risk in respect of the various sections. The aim of amendment No. 9 is to insert "or mitigate" after...

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2018)

Ivana Bacik: I thank the Minister for his comprehensive reply. It would be useful, as he has agreed, for those of us who have put forward these amendments to be facilitated in meeting with relevant practitioners or clinical experts. I think the Minister mentioned that would be before Report Stage. I am anticipating a meeting on Wednesday and that would be very helpful.

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2018)

Ivana Bacik: That is disgraceful.

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2018)

Ivana Bacik: The Senator should withdraw the charge.

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2018)

Ivana Bacik: Withdraw it, Senator Mullen.

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Second Stage (6 Dec 2018)

Ivana Bacik: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, to the House and I thank him for his acknowledgement of my small part in one provision of the Bill, which I will come to in a moment. On behalf of the Labour Party Senators, I welcome the provisions of the Bill. As my colleague, Deputy Willie Penrose, has done in the Dáil, I welcome that the Bill gives legislative effect to...

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Second Stage (6 Dec 2018)

Ivana Bacik: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, to the House. I stand here with an overwhelming sense of relief after decades of campaigning on this. During that time I never thought I would see this day. I thought my daughters were going to have to face the same struggles I and so many women of my generation faced. We were too young to have voted in 1983 but we grew up all our adult...

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Second Stage (6 Dec 2018)

Ivana Bacik: -----and the chill of the eighth amendment. Let us be clear: 160,000 of us have faced that over the decades. Twenty-nine years ago, my colleagues and I in the students union in Trinity College felt it particularly closely when we were threatened with prison for giving information on abortion to pregnant women. What stands out for me is the memory of all the women who rang us, desperate for...

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Second Stage (6 Dec 2018)

Ivana Bacik: It could be.

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Second Stage (6 Dec 2018)

Ivana Bacik: The Senator is correct.

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Second Stage (6 Dec 2018)

Ivana Bacik: Yes.

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (5 Dec 2018)

Ivana Bacik: Amendments have been tabled by Senators Ó Ríordáin, Ruane and others dealing specifically with the issue of English language schools which we will come to later. Clearly that has been thrown into sharp focus with the recent closure of Grafton College, of which the Minister of State is well aware. I welcome to the Public Gallery today some of those who have been directly...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (5 Dec 2018)

Ivana Bacik: They have felt, very personally, the impact of the lack of regulation of this sector. Senator Lawlor has posed some important questions and I acknowledge we will be debating the matter when we come to the relevant amendments later, that is, the grouping comprising amendment No. 57 and others. While the Minister of State is well aware of the issue, we need to ensure that this does not happen...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (5 Dec 2018)

Ivana Bacik: I, too, welcome the Grafton College teachers to the Public Gallery. I reiterate how sorry we all are at the situation in which they find themselves given the recent and sudden closure of the college, which, as stated by Senator Ó Ríordáin and others, highlights the issues we had already flagged through these amendments. I commend the work of Unite, the union with whom the...

Seanad: Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (5 Dec 2018)

Ivana Bacik: On behalf of Labour Party Senators, I welcome the Minister of State to the House and congratulate Senator Black and colleagues on this Bill which is just about to be passed by Seanad Éireann. As others have said, it sets down an important marker about the need to uphold and respect international law. It is a Bill about respecting international law and ensuring that we control and...

Seanad: Order of Business (29 Nov 2018)

Ivana Bacik: I congratulate Senator Frances Black on the passage last night of Committee Stage of the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018, which the Labour Party was proud to support. I commend her on obtaining cross-party support for it. I hope the Government will see fit not to oppose the legislation on a further Stage. I have been actively vocal on the issue of rights for...

Seanad: Order of Business (29 Nov 2018)

Ivana Bacik: Yes.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Nov 2018)

Ivana Bacik: I welcome the Minister to the House and take his point about the senior level judicial appointments committee. He has indicated his willingness to take on board some of the points that have been raised about that matter in the context of this debate. I will briefly address the point raised by Senator McDowell and which will be dealt with by amendment No. 90, which is currently under...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Nov 2018)

Ivana Bacik: Senator McDowell raised an important point that relates to an issue I raised on the last occasion with the Minister concerning the way the Bill links with existing legislation. The Minister dealt with that point and I believe he took it as a point worthy of consideration that the definition of "practising barrister" in this legislation is not compatible with the definition in the Legal...