Results 1,981-2,000 of 4,465 for speaker:Jim Walsh
- Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2010)
Jim Walsh: We have a Constitution-----
- Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2010)
Jim Walsh: -----which protects the interests of the family and children and there is an onus on everyone to uphold it. I appeal to the Minister to review these appointments given the emphasis he placed on Legal Aspects of Family Relationships, a paper published by the Law Reform Commission. If the commission's members are not objective, only one outcome will be possible and the traditional family will...
- Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2010)
Jim Walsh: That is my opinion and I am entitled, as a Member of the House, to make that point.
- Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2010)
Jim Walsh: I am speaking to the amendment.
- Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2010)
Jim Walsh: On the amendment, my concern is about children. I am highly critical of people with a driven agenda being appointed to positions in which they can have adverse effects on children. That should not be permitted and the State is not fulfilling its obligations in that regard. I make no apology for making that criticism. This issue is related to the adoption issue which is fundamental to what...
- Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2010)
Jim Walsh: Time limits do not apply on Committee Stage. I am not trying to delay the House but I insist on being allowed to make my point.
- Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2010)
Jim Walsh: Despite what the Clerk of the Seanad may think, I want to make my point. My view on guardianship is entirely different from my view on adoption. Where children of-----
- Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2010)
Jim Walsh: Senator Norris discussed guardianship.
- Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2010)
Jim Walsh: I am entitled to respond to what was said.
- Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2010)
Jim Walsh: Senator Norris referred to guardianship.
- Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2010)
Jim Walsh: My view on guardianship may not be 100 miles from Senator Norris's view on the issue.
- Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2010)
Jim Walsh: When I spoke about guardianship, the Leas-Chathaoirleach referred me to section 90, which in fact deals with the interpretation of domestic violence.
- Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2010)
Jim Walsh: That is correct. They deal with the issue of children, which includes the guardianship issue to which other speakers have referred. There are issues that need to be carefully evaluated and examined. We have to be mindful of where children bond in a relationship. If civil partnership had gone on over a number of years and children had been living in a good, low conflict environment, that...
- Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Jul 2010)
Jim Walsh: These amendments go to the heart of a very important issue and also challenge us in many ways. They are a test for the depth of our Christianity and our republican ethos. That is my firm belief. I gave my views with regard to guardianship which may have surprised Senator Norris. These issues need to be looked at and teased out thoroughly and objectively because they are complicated....
- Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Jul 2010)
Jim Walsh: The converse is true. Why should we discriminate between civil partnership and marriage if marriage was not the institution into which children are born in the natural order? Without that issue surely there would be no need to have any such discrimination and there would be very little need to give any sort of unique financial assistance.
- Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Jul 2010)
Jim Walsh: I do not. I mean that the natural order where children emerge focuses my mind. In the overwhelming majority of cases that will be through the institution of heterosexual relationships, specifically marriage. I was very taken by and wish to acknowledge that I was reassured by the Minister's response to us on the last amendment, tabled by Senator Norris. We touched on this issue and on...
- Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Jul 2010)
Jim Walsh: Given that this is an extremely important matter I ask the Minister to consider appointing an objective committee, commission or group - I exclude the Law Reform Commission because its views are already on the record - to look at international surveys which have been done, especially in the United States and Great Britain, with regard to the impact on children of the various kinds of...
- Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Jul 2010)
Jim Walsh: That is not true.
- Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Jul 2010)
Jim Walsh: On a point of order, that comparator was not made. That is a distortion. I ask the Senator to correct that.
- Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Jul 2010)
Jim Walsh: I am taken by one of the points made by Senator Mullen on testamentary guardians. Perhaps there is some scope within it for a resolution of this issue. Issues surrounding children need to be addressed in their best interests; there should be no other agenda attached. In that regard, to underline the complexity of the matter to which the Minister referred, some time ago I chaired a meeting...