Results 4,001-4,020 of 4,465 for speaker:Jim Walsh

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

Jim Walsh: I thank the Minister for her clarification, which is helpful and informs the debate. I acknowledge there would be difficulties around the gathering of ongoing information. While, as provided for in amendment No. 24, a life-threatening condition might not arise too often in a person's life, such a crisis could trigger a need for a donor to inform their offspring. That does not interfere...

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

Jim Walsh: I said earlier in this debate that I was conflicted as to whether we should remove sections 4 to 42, inclusive, on donor-assisted human reproduction until there has been a full discussion on the ethics of donor-assisted human reproduction and until the Government proposes comprehensive regulation governing the whole area of assisted human reproduction. I was conflicted as to whether to make...

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

Jim Walsh: I thank the Minister for her comments and I will return to what she said shortly. I take on board what Senator Crown said and I know women who have had the experience to which he referred. I also know couples who have had IVF and whose lives have been enhanced so dramatically by the successful birth of their children. Therefore, I understand the situation. My only point is that there are...

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

Jim Walsh: No.

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

Jim Walsh: I move amendment No. 24: In page 27, between lines 23 and 24, to insert the following:"(f) any inheritable life-threatening condition, with an obligation to update this information within six months of the diagnosis of such a condition occurring in the future.".

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

Jim Walsh: Yes. I move amendment No. 28: In page 27, to delete lines 28 and 29 and substitute the following: "(2) A person shall not perform a DAHR procedure other than on the request of a married male-female couple.".

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

Jim Walsh: I move amendment No. 30: In page 28, between lines 26 and 27, to insert the following:“(c) the operator of a DAHR facility is certain that the use of the gamete would not exceed the limit on the number of children who may be born as a result of donor gametes from one individual donor. That limit should be a maximum of three births per individual donor.”. The purpose of this...

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

Jim Walsh: I welcome the good and valuable information the Minister has provided to the House. Will she expand on what the Minister for Health has suggested to the Government with regard to the numbers? There is a need to keep it very tight. We have regulations on who can get married for very specific reasons. I know small pockets of the country where considerable inbreeding led to many mental...

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

Jim Walsh: That is interesting. I was unaware of that, just in case anyone thought otherwise. I would readily concede that the figure I proposed was an arbitrary one. If that is the actual outcome, I will welcome it. I understand the complexity of this issue, which needs to be regulated and dealt with. I applaud and compliment the Minister and her colleague, the Minister for Health, on going down...

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

Jim Walsh: In light of the Minister's response, I am very happy to withdraw my amendment.

Seanad: An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhionannas Pósta) 2015: Céim an Choiste - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2015)

Jim Walsh: It is difficult to know where to start. I agree with much of what Senator Mullen said and with what Senator Zappone said. However, in all of this we need to be very mindful of the level of intolerance that there is among the gay ideological movement. I have used that phrase before and I have been criticised for it. Yet, this is all about ideology. I separate the case for individual gay...

Seanad: An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhionannas Pósta) 2015: Céim an Choiste - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2015)

Jim Walsh: This is a well-known case and the details relating to it are in the public domain.

Seanad: An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhionannas Pósta) 2015: Céim an Choiste - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2015)

Jim Walsh: No, he is not and he is no longer CEO of Mozilla either. Why is that the case? It is because he happened to support the Proposition 8 movement in California - a very liberal state in the US - and gave $1,000 to support its cause of maintaining marriage as being between a man and a woman. Regardless of whether one agrees or disagrees with him, surely to goodness he was entitled to do as I...

Seanad: An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhionannas Pósta) 2015: Céim an Choiste - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2015)

Jim Walsh: Yes. Such atrocities must be condemned outright. It was very interesting that a person who tweeted a particular message on the day after the attack and was taken in by the police. I do not believe freedom of speech is unfettered. We need to be careful, respectful and tolerant but that must be the case on both sides. The latter is not the case at present. I advise Members to go on...

Seanad: An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhionannas Pósta) 2015: Céim an Choiste - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2015)

Jim Walsh: People have been directing certain comments to me. The kind of abuse involved does nothing in the context of encouraging respectful debate on a matter which is very fundamental in nature. I completely accept that this is a fundamental issue for people who are lesbian or homosexual and I understand why that is the case. I happen hold a different perspective and I am of the view that people...

Seanad: An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhionannas Pósta) 2015: Céim an Choiste - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2015)

Jim Walsh: The area of freedom of conscience warrants more from the Minister than sticking to the script. It is an issue. She knows it is an issue. As Minister for Justice and Equality, she has a particular responsibility in the area. We have seen, in Britain and in other countries, situations in which Catholic adoption agencies that were doing good work had to close. What will happen here in that...

Seanad: An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhionannas Pósta) 2015: Céim an Choiste - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2015)

Jim Walsh: Sorry; I did not catch that.

Seanad: An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhionannas Pósta) 2015: Céim an Choiste - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2015)

Jim Walsh: I acknowledge Senator Norris's statement that in the Ashers Bakery case it was a set-up. People, in a provocative way, looked to get the response so that a case could be taken. That is not unique.

Seanad: An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhionannas Pósta) 2015: Céim an Choiste - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2015)

Jim Walsh: All I am saying is there have been many similar examples in this sphere. That should be obvious to all. Although the Minister says people can go to the Supreme Court or wherever to defend their position, we have not yet achieved a true republic in this country where people can access the courts.I have argued many times that the exorbitant legal costs have been ignored by subsequent...

Seanad: An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhionannas Pósta) 2015: Céim an Choiste - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2015)

Jim Walsh: Tairgim leasú a 3: I leathanach 5, línte 19 agus 20, "an tAcht um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhionannas Pósta), 2015" a scriosadh agus "an tAcht um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Pósadh a Athmhíniú), 2015" a chur ina ionad.I move amendment No. 3:In page 4, lines 19 and 20, to delete...