Results 5,141-5,160 of 5,732 for speaker:Fidelma Healy Eames

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

Fidelma Healy Eames: Can we fix it so that when the consent is given initially, all those eventualities will be looked at? Life is not perfect.

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

Fidelma Healy Eames: I have a lot of sympathy with this amendment because I know how important it is in the area of adoption, for example. When birth parents have met adoptive parents before the placement, one of the conversations to occur has been on what are a person's interests or on the type of interests in which the family is engaged. For example, it could be as basic as whether the birth parents had...

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

Fidelma Healy Eames: ----- I can stand over the point that it is a strong indicator that the child is likely to have the very same gifts.

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

Fidelma Healy Eames: From that perspective and to be fair to Senator Power, in this amendment she states this was a donation that created a child and asks whether it would not be nice to have the fullest possible picture for that little child as he or she grows up. I do not suggest this is a life-or-death issue, as are other parts of this Bill, but I have a lot of sympathy with the amendment. In my own case,...

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

Fidelma Healy Eames: The debate is going downhill fast now that pejorative language has entered it. I am not happy with prejudice rather than child welfare.

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

Fidelma Healy Eames: I accept Senator Power's point but language is important.

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

Fidelma Healy Eames: I have said my piece on the amendments. Senators must stop insulting other speakers and allow the debate proceed in a healthy manner.

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

Fidelma Healy Eames: The Minister mentioned a couple of times that there is a culture of secrecy and stigma around assisted human reproduction. That has not been my experience within married relationships. In cases involving use of the couple's sperm and eggs, that is definitely not the case. I do not have any data in that regard. If the Minister has those data, perhaps she would read it into the record. I...

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

Fidelma Healy Eames: I missed the point. Was that in one year?

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

Fidelma Healy Eames: I think "if" makes it worse and "any" is fine because any legal or counselling costs are both essential. It is good that it is broad because it is good that the donor considers the ramifications of his decision to donate sperm. It is good that adequate counselling costs be included. I recommend going with "any".

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

Fidelma Healy Eames: I tend to agree with the thrust of this amendment because we are a very small country. From talking to people who have been donor conceived, I know they sometimes have a fear of sleeping with half-siblings. Let us face it, a donation can provide for more than one pregnancy. When I was in Fine Gael, I recall that a clinic - it may have been the Beacon Clinic - came to address the Joint...

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

Fidelma Healy Eames: How many?

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

Fidelma Healy Eames: I notice that the Minister is saying all the time that future legislation is coming with regard to assisted human reproduction. We are dealing in this legislation with donor-assisted human reproduction. I am truly amused because the issue of assisted human reproduction is generally less contentious than the issue of donor-assisted human reproduction. It really puzzles me that assisted...

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

Fidelma Healy Eames: Is the Minister not putting the cart before the horse?

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

Fidelma Healy Eames: I accept what the Minister has said. Both the Minister for Justice and Equality and the Minister for Health have shown a lot of initiative in this area. She is right to say there have been gaps and that there has been a need for a lot of regulation and safeguards for a long time. Again, I go back to the fundamental point that assisted human reproduction is the broad umbrella of which...

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

Fidelma Healy Eames: Let me tease this out with the Minister. I note that there will be a series of inspections to decide whether a donor-assisted facility is compliant. What will the expertise of those inspectors be? Will HIQA have a role in this? I have considerable respect for HIQA. To be fair, the Minister has laid out very sound first principles around consent, disclosure and record keeping, and against...

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

Fidelma Healy Eames: But let us hear it from the Minister. Senator Norris said this is a question of interpersonal relations and asked why we were regulating there. However, this is about the State-----

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

Fidelma Healy Eames: The State's role here is regulation. The State now wants to go in and regulate this situation.

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

Fidelma Healy Eames: Therefore, it has a responsibility here. I ask the Minister to outline the steps from the inspection forward and when the State would intervene. How will she ensure that her first principles are implemented?

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

Fidelma Healy Eames: What are the consequences?