Results 5,361-5,380 of 26,843 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Jul 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Yes. The Minister responded to members' points and I am responding to his point. He is completely wrong. If the Supreme Court thought it sufficiently important to put in that qualification to explain what was meant by a real and substantial risk to the life of the woman, namely, that it did not have to be inevitable or immediate, why in this legislation is the Minister second-guessing what...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Jul 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is clarifying the meaning of it.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Jul 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We are narrowing the scope.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Jul 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I thank the Chairman for his indulgence because I have to attend a finance committee meeting shortly but I want to make a number of points to the Minister of State. I will begin where he concluded. I agree with the Minister when he says that delay is tantamount to not vindicating people's rights in this case and for that reason I agree wholeheartedly with what he said about Deputy...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Jul 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Exactly, but if what we are trying to do is vindicate the woman's right to life and ensure there is no threat to her life, if we were certifying or assessing suicidal ideation in this case than would be the case normally where there was not a pregnancy means that woman's rights are being diluted. She is getting second class rights because there is a pregnancy. I am not a doctor but...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Jul 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: If I could be allowed finish-----

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Jul 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Finally, I want to underline the point about the obstetrician because there is no medical reason for an obstetrician to be involved in certifying whether somebody is suicidal or not and whether the threat to a woman's life in that instance is real or substantial.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Jul 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: There are other interpretations.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Jul 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Some of those who have opposed this element of the Bill have used something of a red herring argument, namely, that termination can never be a cure for suicidal ideation. Nobody has ever claimed that. It is off the pitch in terms of being a relevant argument to what we are talking about. The Supreme Court made the correct decision; in the case of X, a 14-year-old girl who was raped and...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Jul 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I support this amendment. It is a very reasonable one that underlines the need for the State to make a commitment to the care and protection of women. The Minister has pointed out that maternity services in the State have a good record but there have been significant concerns expressed by individuals in the aftermath of cases such as that of Ms Savita Halappanavar. Owing to traditional...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Jul 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It was mentioned in the context of amendment No. 47. The Minister should consider tabling an amendment on Report Stage with the same effect as amendment No. 76.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Jul 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The amendment provides that a person who has indicated publicly his or her opposition to abortion or terminations in the circumstances outlined in the Bill should be excluded from any panel charged with making decisions in that regard. There is at least a danger that such a person might bring his or her personal views or biases to bear in making a judgment as to whether a woman has an...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Jul 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I anticipated that the Minister might present that argument. I would argue strongly, however, that there is a fundamental distinction at issue here. In one case, we are talking about somebody who has expressed the belief that there are no circumstances in which it is justified to carry out a termination to save a woman's life. Quite a number of medical practitioners have expressed that...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Jul 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am sure the arguments on this section have been gone through in great detail consequent to Deputy Healy's and Deputy Ó Caoláin's amendments but I would like to signal the possibility of further amendments on Report Stage. Section 22 is ill-thought out and problematic. There is a possibility people could challenge whether doctors had made the right decision and whether they were...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Jul 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I hope people have read the amendment.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Jul 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I will consider bringing forward amendments on Report Stage to change the Title to refer to a Bill to protect maternal life which I think is its real purpose. There has been no dispute about the fact that there have been legal protections for unborn life, but what the Bill seeks to address is the issue of protections for maternal life. I am concerned about the tenor of the Title in this...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Jul 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I commend the Chairman and staff on their good work in facilitating and assisting in this debate. While there are strongly held views on this important issue across the spectrum, people have conducted themselves in this debate with honesty and in the manner appropriate to the seriousness of the matter. This is welcome. For those of us who were around in the 1980s and early 1990s, it is...

Other Questions: Youth Services Funding (4 Jul 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 6. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will provide a cumulative figure for cuts to City of Dublin Youth Services Board since 2008; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32604/13]

Other Questions: Youth Services Funding (4 Jul 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: When we listened on the Anglo tapes to bankers laughing as their grubby and greedy activities propelled an entire country towards bankruptcy, it is worth reminding ourselves of the other side of that coin, the human impact. Nowhere provides a more stark indication of the appalling and unacceptable impact of that than cuts to youth services, which as the Minister acknowledged, have suffered...

Other Questions: Youth Services Funding (4 Jul 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I welcome the response and the aspiration expressed. There can be no doubt that if we do not provide the resources and supports for teenagers and young people then all the talk about youth employment guarantees will mean little because huge numbers of people will just drop out of the system and get into trouble and difficulty. If the youth guarantee is to mean anything then it must apply in...