Results 4,601-4,620 of 7,643 for speaker:Rónán Mullen

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

Rónán Mullen: -----under section 10, that is the only way-----

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

Rónán Mullen: I ask for the protection of the Chair. We are of course in a very-----

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

Rónán Mullen: -----difficult situation. I am sincere and fact-based in what I am saying. I am not trying to offend anybody-----

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

Rónán Mullen: We are in a new situation here where we have legislation for the first time that is about deliberately intending to end the life of the foetus. That is a changed situation and that is why every line of this matters enormously, with great respect to my colleagues who have just heckled me now. I will not be doing it to them. Please understand that at least 34% of the people of this country...

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

Rónán Mullen: I have not proposed any amendments to this section, which relates to the issue of "condition likely to lead to death of foetus", or the unborn. As we all know, families find themselves in very tragic and difficult circumstances in this regard. The situations of these families formed much of the background to what led to the campaign to repeal the eighth amendment. My position on this...

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

Rónán Mullen: I move amendment No. 24:In page 9, lines 38 and 39, to delete all words from and including “that” in line 38 down to and including line 39 and substitute the following:"that— (a) the pregnancy concerned has not exceeded 12 weeks of pregnancy, and (b) a termination of the pregnancy concerned is not being sought because of the sex or race of the foetus concerned or...

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

Rónán Mullen: I am right on that.

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

Rónán Mullen: I know that. Going back to the question of truthfulness, which drew some comment, if we are to be truthful and if we say we have specifically excluded disability and if we have not specifically done so then there is a truthfulness deficit. The Minister, referring to the committee I sat on myself, stated it looked at the area of disability and specifically excluded it as grounds for a...

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2018)

Rónán Mullen: As the Minister and colleagues will recall, this amendment has to do with the provision of abortion under section 12 in early pregnancy. It provides for additional text which would ensure that a termination being sought because of the sex or race of the foetus concerned or because of any condition or disability affecting the foetus concerned would not be certified where the medical...

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2018)

Rónán Mullen: There are one or two things that the Minister has said that need very specific working out. I might start with the last point and I am happy to go through it with the Minister, if he is happy to go through it with me. The Minister says that he finds the grounds that the Bill might permit without specifically providing for abortions on grounds of sex and gender more spurious. Why does he...

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2018)

Rónán Mullen: Nobody is trying to put the Minister in a courtroom. Specific questions were put and answered on Committee Stage in the Dáil. Sometimes that is the only way to get clarity. Each time the Minister says something, he puts words in my mouth that have not been said-----

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2018)

Rónán Mullen: -----or he makes allegations about the amendment or the intent of the amendment that simply are not true. For example, it would not make-----

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2018)

Rónán Mullen: The specific exclusion I am proposing would not make section 12 inoperable. My proposal would, in line with the test that is already provided for in section 12, ensure that a doctor does not provide certification if it is his or her "reasonable opinion formed in good faith" that the abortion is being sought on the grounds of disability, gender or sex. That does not make section 12 of this...

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2018)

Rónán Mullen: It simply imposes a specific duty on a doctor in circumstances in which certain knowledge has come to his or her attention. The Minister cannot twist that.

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2018)

Rónán Mullen: Words have ordinary meanings. The Minister brought out the contradiction in the joint committee's aims when he rightly mentioned that it wanted to see abortion legalised without reason up to 12 weeks and also wanted to see a specific exclusion to be provided for in the case of abortion on the grounds of disability. Those two aims are incompatible where information arises that causes...

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2018)

Rónán Mullen: He will confirm that I asked him whether he meant that the Bill does not contemplate it in the sense of not intending abortion on those grounds, or that the Bill does not contemplate it in the sense of not even permitting it by omission.

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2018)

Rónán Mullen: The Senator told me that his view is that it is not contemplated in both senses. That is where the Senator and I have an honest disagreement. I think it is very obvious, in light of the evidence that Senator Ó Domhnaill and I have put before the Minister again, that circumstances can arise in which there will be knowledge of disability prior to the moment when the permitted time limit...

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2018)

Rónán Mullen: It is a very irresponsible comment to make, because the reality is that abortion is associated with disability throughout the world. There is a vulnerability that this Bill is not currently addressing. The Minister made a particular promise to the electorate that he has not kept, namely, the specific exclusion of abortion on the grounds of disability. The Minister promised to be specific....

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2018)

Rónán Mullen: I understand that and I am grateful to the Cathaoirleach. As I said yesterday, I do not want to repeat myself in any way and I have tried to avoid doing that. However, everything that is important has to be put on the record because lives are at stake here. My colleague, Senator Noone, rightly points out that the committee report undergirded the legislation. It is true. It was the...

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2018)

Rónán Mullen: I will have to defer to Senator Norris on anything to do with words.