Results 6,241-6,260 of 11,864 for speaker:Ivana Bacik

Seanad: Pensions (Equal Pension Treatment in Occupational Benefit Scheme) (Amendment) Bill 2016: First Stage (8 Dec 2016)

Ivana Bacik: Next Tuesday.

Seanad: Public Bodies Review Agency Bill 2016: Second Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Ivana Bacik: I welcome the Minister to the House and welcome the opportunity to have this debate. I commend Senator Ó Céidigh on bringing forward this Bill and on enabling us to discuss the important issue of governance and accountability of public bodies. I was particularly interested to hear of Senator Kelleher's experience in the UK and her comments that reviews there tend to be undertaken...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Situation in Syria: Discussion (1 Dec 2016)

Ivana Bacik: I thank the witnesses for their presentations. I am concerned that we did not hear from any of the witnesses any condemnation of the brutal regime of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Our Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has briefed us on the fact that Assad has sought to undermine every effort at reaching a negotiated resolution to the conflict since 2011. While we may...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Situation in Syria: Discussion (1 Dec 2016)

Ivana Bacik: What about the Russian ambassador's point that his Government is trying to negotiate with moderate groups and has negotiated peace agreements?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Situation in Syria: Discussion (1 Dec 2016)

Ivana Bacik: I presume Dr. Badreddin Hassoun would have no problem with the legal accountability for war crimes in Syria or international investigations against the Assad regime as well as against ISIS for the genocide of the Yazidi people, and that international investigations for war crimes would also be conducted and started against the Syrian regime.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Situation in Syria: Discussion (1 Dec 2016)

Ivana Bacik: The Irish Government has a core objective in Syria and we have contributed €62 million in humanitarian aid to Syria. We are very supportive of peace efforts. We support the renewal of the UN-led efforts to renew political negotiations to end the conflict, based on the 2012 Geneva communiqué and UN Security Council resolution 2254. Does Dr. Badreddin Hassoun support these efforts?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Situation in Syria: Discussion (1 Dec 2016)

Ivana Bacik: My question is whether Dr. Badreddin Hassoun supports the Irish Government's objective?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Situation in Syria: Discussion (1 Dec 2016)

Ivana Bacik: Is there any Russian complicity in war crimes against civilian populations in Syria?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Situation in Syria: Discussion (1 Dec 2016)

Ivana Bacik: What about eastern Aleppo?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Situation in Syria: Discussion (1 Dec 2016)

Ivana Bacik: Dr. Badreddin Hassoun does not seem to acknowledge Russian or Syrian Government complicity in the bombardment of civilians in eastern Aleppo. That is not the reality we see.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Situation in Syria: Discussion (1 Dec 2016)

Ivana Bacik: To destroy the opposition to the regime. That is what it has been doing.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Situation in Syria: Discussion (1 Dec 2016)

Ivana Bacik: Is Dr. Badreddin Hassoun saying the international community and the United Nations are wrong?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Situation in Syria: Discussion (1 Dec 2016)

Ivana Bacik: I thank Mr. Yassin-Kassab for the presentation. He is very welcome. Mr. Yassin-Kassab offers a bleak outlook. We would all share his distress at seeing what has happened in Syria and as the Chair has said, particularly at seeing the carnage inflicted on the civilian population. I do not know whether Mr. Yassin-Kassab had the opportunity to hear the exchanges earlier where some of us...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Situation in Syria: Discussion (1 Dec 2016)

Ivana Bacik: I am sorry that was a long set of questions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Situation in Syria: Discussion (1 Dec 2016)

Ivana Bacik: I am not representing the Government.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Situation in Syria: Discussion (1 Dec 2016)

Ivana Bacik: The point I raised earlier was from a briefing we received from Médecins sans Frontières, MSF, earlier this week. It had 45 tonnes of medical supplies in a convoy waiting to enter east Aleppo. However, it had been unable to gain access this week.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Recent Actions of Government of Turkey: Motion (1 Dec 2016)

Ivana Bacik: Like Deputy Crowe, I met with the adviser to the MP who had been prevented from travelling. I support the motion and have countersigned it. I think Deputies Maureen O'Sullivan and Darragh O'Brien have also done so. We ask that it be forwarded to the chairperson of the Turkish Parliament committee on foreign affairs.

Seanad: Order of Business (30 Nov 2016)

Ivana Bacik: I renew my call for a debate on Syria and the appalling bombardment of civilians in Aleppo. We are seeing really horrific scenes from Aleppo this week. Indeed, the French foreign Minister has described what we are seeing as potentially the biggest massacre of civilians since World War II. I know the UN Security Council is convening an emergency meeting. I had the privilege yesterday of...

Seanad: Presidential Voting Rights: Motion (30 Nov 2016)

Ivana Bacik: I welcome the Minister and commend our Sinn Féin colleagues on tabling the motion which I am happy to support on behalf of the Labour Party. We will oppose the Government amendment. I have three personal reasons before coming to the broader reasons for why I think the House should support the motion. I was a member of the diaspora briefly myself. Like Senator Kelleher, I lived in...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Suspended Sentences of Imprisonment) Bill 2016: Committee and Remaining Stages (30 Nov 2016)

Ivana Bacik: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I also welcome the passage of the Bill, which received widespread welcome on Second Stage. No one has tabled an amendment to it. We all recognised the importance of its passage in order to ensure the effective implementation of suspended sentences.