Results 5,061-5,080 of 5,732 for speaker:Fidelma Healy Eames

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I thank the Minister for attending the debate and for taking us to this point with the Bill. As the Minister said, the right to know one's identity and the right to privacy are two very important rights. In this Bill we believe we are achieving a workable balance that takes account of these two rights. The right to identity is a huge matter in a person's life and that is supported....

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I will address the judgment briefly. The Minister stated that all duties of the natural parents were ended on the adoption placement. I remember the day of the adoption order in my first child's case. It was explained to us as a couple. I thought to myself that I would be naive in the extreme if I believed that a child's basic need to know his or her backstory - as Senator van Turnhout...

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I move amendment No. 9: In page 8, between lines 29 and 30, to insert the following:"(c) a body of persons or society that was, at any time, an "accredited body" as defined by section 10 of the Act of 2010 or that was, at any time, a body of persons or society registered in the Adoption Societies Register maintained under section 35 of the Adoption Act 1952;".This amendment is to clarify...

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I thought it was implicit in the Bill that the birth family's relevant medical history would be passed on. Senator Cullinane might clarify if, in his amendment, he means information over and above what is provided at the time of placement. As Senator Moloney said, by and large, most birth mothers would be quite healthy because they are young. The medical history one gets at that point is...

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Fidelma Healy Eames: My experience is that since the mid-1990s, and probably since the early 1990s, this type of information has been sought from the birth mother when the child is being placed for adoption. However, the birth father's medical history would not necessarily be on record, but half a loaf is better than no bread.

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Fidelma Healy Eames: This is a very positive amendment. It proposes a very healthy approach. It provides for a gentle lead-in to a potential meeting in time. It is unintrusive. It is an opportunity for the young adopted person to say to the birth parent that they respect their privacy. Equally it is an opportunity for the birth parent, who may be reaching out to the adopted young person, to say the same to...

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Fidelma Healy Eames: This is a landmark day for our State; there is no doubt about it. As others have said, we are half way there. The Minister is the only person here today who belongs to the other House. We are now entrusting him with the Bill to take care of it so it will become law. Personally and politically, I am honoured to be a co-sponsor of the Bill. I thank Senators Power and van Turnhout for this...

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Kill each other.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (19 Feb 2015)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I am delighted it is the Minister who is here. She is the person I need. My motion concerns the need for the Minister for Education and Skills to recognise that it makes good, sound educational, financial and domestic or family sense to provide resource support hours for children with Down's syndrome who also have a mild learning difficulty classification, and I hope my argument today will...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (19 Feb 2015)

Fidelma Healy Eames: The little bit of hope I have is that it is the Minister, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, who is in the chair. I mean that sincerely. I think she is very reasonable and practical, and she is listening. However, for the NCSE to say there is not enough evidence to reclassify children who have a mild learning difficulty and Down's syndrome as needing extra resource hours leaves an unbelievable amount...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (19 Feb 2015)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Just make an exception for these children.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (19 Feb 2015)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I thank the Minister. They are worth making an exception for.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Road Projects (24 Feb 2015)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Will the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport address the pressing public concerns about the routes proposed for the Galway outer city bypass? Six routes were proposed in the past few weeks. The process of route selection at a meeting of 500 people last Thursday night was deemed to be unsatisfactory. People's homes, their families and communities have been put under incredible...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Road Projects (24 Feb 2015)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I thank the Minister of State for his lengthy reply. I accept that there are constraints posed by the River Corrib and Galway's status as a medieval city but the effect is not minimal as implied in the Minister of State's response. He said something interesting which I would like him to clarify. He said that a third aspect of the process was that it offered the public an opportunity to...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Road Projects (24 Feb 2015)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Does that mean public transport options and not just the roads?

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Feb 2015)

Fidelma Healy Eames: On Saturday afternoon I received a call from the IDA to say it had a major job announcement for yesterday morning. My first question was whether it would include chimney stacks or would it be lean and green. I asked this because there had been a previous development that did not fly owing to concerns about the health and environmental impacts. I was delighted to hear yesterday's...

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Feb 2015)

Fidelma Healy Eames: After the meeting, we will have a media photo call. If anybody wants to lead the campaign in their constituencies we will facilitate it. I would be very grateful for the support. It is very special project. We hope to get 10,000 signatures in Ireland and while it is no big deal, getting everybody together behind it will make a major difference. I have no questions today.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Road Safety Strategy (4 Mar 2015)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I ask the Minister of State, on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality, to outline why speed vans and speed cameras are not located in dangerous black spots but appear to be placed in areas where speed increases out of necessity. The general public would hold that many of them are placed in borderline areas where the speed limit changes...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Road Safety Strategy (4 Mar 2015)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I appreciate that the Minister of State has given me a comprehensive reply. Of course, I support any initiative that would save lives. In his reply, the Minister of State said that data, including local feedback, have been taken into account to identify blackspots where collisions are occurring. I will check this but I have no evidence that collisions are occurring in the areas I have...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Road Safety Strategy (4 Mar 2015)

Fidelma Healy Eames: That is not what I said. I do not have evidence of-----