Results 461-480 of 7,637 for speaker:Rónán Mullen

Seanad: Charities Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (11 Dec 2008)

Rónán Mullen: I could certainly do with a make-over. I am very much inclined to support Senator Hannigan's amendment. I like the look of it. It proceeds from a generosity of spirit in including groups who have ethical values in our society. The way it is worded, that it would apply to humanism as it applies to religion, does not proceed from any intention to water down religion or the value society...

Seanad: Charities Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (11 Dec 2008)

Rónán Mullen: As I do not want to alarm Senator Norris by agreeing with him on too many matters, I will conclude my comments with that.

Seanad: Charities Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (11 Dec 2008)

Rónán Mullen: I congratulate the Minister of State on bringing forward a very thoughtful and comprehensive amendment. I apologise that I was not here in person to withdraw my amendment No. 29, as I intended to do. I have not had much time to consider the amendment but I can find no flaw in it in terms of the rights of an accused person or the attempt to address a particular mischief. I do not know if...

Seanad: Charities Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (11 Dec 2008)

Rónán Mullen: I await the Leas-Chathaoirleach's ruling as to whether that was a point of order.

Seanad: Charities Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (11 Dec 2008)

Rónán Mullen: Apart from the fact that her comments were not on a point of order, as Senator Bacik well knows, I am not taking issue with her right to express certain concerns from a constitutional perspective or otherwise about the Bill. I am about to address some of those concerns. I will restate what I fear is present in some quarters, namely, a Pavlovian response. That is where people automatically...

Seanad: Charities Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (11 Dec 2008)

Rónán Mullen: I am reminded of the exchange between the barrister, F. E. Smith, and a judge. After hearing a long exposition, the judge——

Seanad: Charities Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (11 Dec 2008)

Rónán Mullen: I do not believe I am subject to a time limitation.

Seanad: Charities Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (11 Dec 2008)

Rónán Mullen: In speaking to the amendment, I am reminded of the exchange between the barrister, F. E. Smith, and the judge where Smith gave a long exposition. The judge said he was none the wiser having heard the comments, to which the barrister responded that perhaps the judge was none the wiser but certainly was better informed. The subsequent response of the judge was to ask if the barrister in...

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Dec 2008)

Rónán Mullen: Is mian liom cur leis an méid atá ráite ag na Seanadóirí Ó Murchú agus Leyden maidir le cás Pamela Izevbekhai. I am not sure whether a motion is required. Senator Ó Murchú, in his typical fashion, put it more eloquently than anybody else when he said that what is needed is a genuine manifestation of the spirit of Christmas. The Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill will come...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Jan 2009)

Rónán Mullen: I call for a debate on the extraordinary and compelling comments of Mr. Justice Paul Carney yesterday when he said that he felt constrained such that he was unable to impose a life sentence on a rapist convicted of rape for the third time because of an appeal against a previous decision of his where a life sentence was reduced. I strongly believe in a rehabilitative system of justice. I am...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Jan 2009)

Rónán Mullen: With regard to the court, it took the Health Service Executive 11 years to bring this matter before the court——

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Jan 2009)

Rónán Mullen: ——and even then we do not know why the High Court made its decision and neither do we know why the HSE did not appeal the decision. I think I know a little bit about law and I can say this much. We have ample legislation in the child care Acts to provide that the State may intervene in cases of abuse and neglect and if it is the case that the courts are being tardy in this matter, it is...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Jan 2009)

Rónán Mullen: —— and we should start trying to deal with the problem and if a constitutional referendum is needed, that is fine by me. It is far more likely that what we need is a tweaking legislation and we need the existing law to be applied by the HSE and others.

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Jan 2009)

Rónán Mullen: We could do with a few more slots.

Seanad: Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse: Motion (27 Jan 2009)

Rónán Mullen: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I support the motion. I am glad the commission is doing its work. Mr. Justice Seán Ryan deserves great credit, as does his predecessor, Ms Justice Mary Laffoy. The mark of a mature society is that it learns from past errors and evils and tries to ensures a brighter future, when the dignity of a person will be fully vindicated. As we reflect on the...

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Feb 2009)

Rónán Mullen: I echo the point about the need for a debate on the Government's cuts as soon as possible. I agree with the sentiments expressed by others on how much it must stick in the craw of ordinary folk who find themselves hard hit in recent times and who seem to be taking the pain while others who are more responsible for the problems we face appear to be getting off scott free. We all agree it was...

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Feb 2009)

Rónán Mullen: The principle of supporting the most vulnerable in the world should not have been attacked in the way it was yesterday. I compliment Senator Norris on last week bringing up the issue of the "Bodies" exhibition. I will raise this as an Adjournment Matter. I wonder why no serious questions have been asked about the provenance of these bodies and why an exhibition essentially about...

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Feb 2009)

Rónán Mullen: It is not appropriate that people should call on the Irish ambassador to the Holy See to make known views when people raising these matters clearly know very little about what has gone on. This has nothing to do with Holocaust denial and everything to do——

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Feb 2009)

Rónán Mullen: It has absolutely nothing to do with it. It is disappointing to hear people who are expert in other areas proceed blithely to deliver themselves of their opinions without, apparently, knowing the essence of the story.

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Feb 2009)

Rónán Mullen: Those who believe in the separation of church and state should surely wonder at the leader of the German Republic's——