Results 5,101-5,120 of 7,643 for speaker:Rónán Mullen

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (10 Jul 2019)

Rónán Mullen: The rat was hiding in plain sight.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (10 Jul 2019)

Rónán Mullen: "I think she would like to have the baby in the same way she would like to have a nice doll." Those were the chilling words used by Ms Justice Nathalie Lieven in a British court recently justifying her decision to force a mentally disabled woman to abort her late-term child of 22 weeks in the womb in violation of her wishes and indeed the wishes of her mother, her legal advisers and a social...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (10 Jul 2019)

Rónán Mullen: I am sorry about that. I raised the case of the Hyde family recently. They moved to Australia and their application for permanent residency was denied because their child had been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. That incredible decision was thankfully reversed as a result of a last minute intervention by the immigration Minister in Australia and the family will be allowed to remain after...

Seanad: Genetic Testing: Motion (10 Jul 2019)

Rónán Mullen: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Tréaslaím le mo chara, an Seanadóir Norris, as an rún seo a chur faoinár mbráid. I commend Senator Norris. He and I often disagree deeply on important and sensitive issues. This is an important area of human dignity on which we certainly agree. I have some questions but I would not like to be seen as being in the...

Seanad: Genetic Testing: Motion (10 Jul 2019)

Rónán Mullen: -----that would not stop me supporting the necessary DNA testing because I believe that knowledge is good if it can do good and be used for a good purpose. It is also legitimate to be concerned about what people in power do with knowledge. If medical science can identify a newborn baby's predisposition to cancer, cystic fibrosis or some other serious condition, is it only a matter of time...

Seanad: Genetic Testing: Motion (10 Jul 2019)

Rónán Mullen: Senator Norris raised it too.

Seanad: Parole Bill 2016: Committee and Remaining Stages (11 Jul 2019)

Rónán Mullen: I commend Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell on bringing forward this important amendment. Just as I supported her Private Members' Bill last week, I am very happy to support the amendment. I support the principle that judges should be in a position to make a recommendation. As I pointed out last week, and it arises here again, the precise amendment we are looking at would provide that a...

Seanad: Parole Bill 2016: Committee and Remaining Stages (11 Jul 2019)

Rónán Mullen: -----it is reasonable for us to seek to intervene at this point in the matter. Senator Bacik did a slight injustice to Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell in not acknowledging what she herself said, namely, that she accepts the principle of the Bill in general. This is an important point. What I hear coming from Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell is that she accepts the principle of the Bill but...

Seanad: Parole Bill 2016: Committee and Remaining Stages (11 Jul 2019)

Rónán Mullen: -----subject to a certain maximum and, I dare say, a certain minimum period also. I will make one final point in passing. Sentencing is the time to deal with the attitude that underlies crime and the circumstances surrounding it. There is a lot of talk these days about the need to name and create penalties for specific hate crimes. While I understand the thinking and sentiment behind it,...

Seanad: Parole Bill 2016: Committee and Remaining Stages (11 Jul 2019)

Rónán Mullen: -----but it is something I have been meaning to get off my chest for some time. I will take the opportunity to expand on it at some future date.

Seanad: Parole Bill 2016: Committee and Remaining Stages (11 Jul 2019)

Rónán Mullen: I was not endorsing an eye for an eye.

Seanad: Seanad Reform Implementation Group: Statements (24 Sep 2019)

Rónán Mullen: I do not believe those things.

Seanad: Seanad Reform Implementation Group: Statements (24 Sep 2019)

Rónán Mullen: Jacob Rees-Mogg has taught us all a lesson on that.

Seanad: Seanad Reform Implementation Group: Statements (24 Sep 2019)

Rónán Mullen: I welcome the Minister of State. I will take as my starting point Senator Paddy Burke's comment that the current Seanad, in a way that has never previously been the case, is not under the thumb of the Government. I suspect that depends on how one defines the "Government". I am not sure that historians will necessarily take the view that this Seanad showed itself to be completely...

Seanad: Seanad Reform Implementation Group: Statements (24 Sep 2019)

Rónán Mullen: In other areas the Government has said that it wants to change the law and change things significantly, has sought the permission of the public in a referendum, and at the time has modelled what it proposes to do. It does not seem to be unreasonable that the Government, however one defines it in the current reality, would get together its preferred choice of Seanad reform and would make the...

Seanad: Seanad Reform Implementation Group: Statements (24 Sep 2019)

Rónán Mullen: A man from my own neck of the woods, Michael Tierney, was a very eminent Senator. It, of course, made sense in terms of inclusion of the Protestant minority and their voice in the new State to represent Trinity College adequately and fairly, but we need to be honest and say that this is an anachronism. I would rather see a generous election of Senators by citizens with no reference to...

Seanad: Blasphemy (Abolition of Offences and Related Matters) Bill 2019: Second Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Rónán Mullen: I was listening to Senator McDowell's remarks before leaving my office and I was very impressed by everything he had to say, particularly in the way he pointed to the incoherence between the constitutional change that the Government went to great efforts to bring about and the remaining existing provisions in the Constitution. He is warning about absolutely gratuitous attacks on religion now...

Seanad: Blasphemy (Abolition of Offences and Related Matters) Bill 2019: Second Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Rónán Mullen: I was about to say that I do accept there is a certain legitimacy to what the Minister of State said in regard to other countries invoking Ireland's law. However, the logical and sensible thing to do is not to endorse their point of view by pretending that our law was ever the same as theirs, but to take every opportunity in diplomatic fora to condemn them for making such bogus...

Seanad: Blasphemy (Abolition of Offences and Related Matters) Bill 2019: Second Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Rónán Mullen: I am certainly not referring to Senator Norris. The people who seek that outcome are undermining Ireland's future and opening up a future where populists will thrive because there will be no desire-----

Seanad: Blasphemy (Abolition of Offences and Related Matters) Bill 2019: Second Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Rónán Mullen: -----to reflect on our heritage and on the things that bind us and have bound us in the past, for good or ill. The only policy that seems to satisfy some people these days in relation to religious practice is one of erosion and denigration. This is the problem of people scratching an itch. There is a certain itch about religion and faith that people feel they have to scratch....