Results 5,541-5,560 of 11,754 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (28 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: My response is similar to the points I made in response to Senator Warfield. When the 2015 Act was being reviewed there was a real concern, particularly on the part of the HSE, about who would have the power to make the final healthcare decisions in the event of a conflict arising. Notwithstanding the Senator's effort to address that through having a solicitor certify something, the real...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (28 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I understand where Senator Mullen is coming from but we are trying not to have an "either-or" scenario. We are trying to ensure there is no question that where medical practitioners face critical situations and have put before them an EPA and an advance healthcare directive, they will know the legislation is moving away from that situation and only one document will guide medical...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (28 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: Senator Mullen is correct that the EPA gives much wider latitude in terms of those decisions. The concern at play here is that, for the healthcare practitioner, that degree of specificity is really important and that is provided for through the mechanism of the advance healthcare directive. The preference is that the advance healthcare directive is used because, rather than, as the Senator...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (28 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: The reason behind the change being made here was to give the relevant person more autonomy. The new role for registration with the DSS rather than with the court will be less costly and should be easier to process than is the case under the current system. The two-stage nature means that for as long as the relevant person has capacity, he or she is in a position to influence or change the...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (28 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: Amendment No. 39, along with some technical amendments, provides for additional provisions in respect of the maintaining of a register of AHDs by the decision support service. My colleague, the Minister for Health, will have a regulation-making power to establish and maintain a register of AHDs which will be subject to new provisions provided by this amendment. The provisions specify what...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (28 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: The central issue is that the law is not clear in terms of the ability of 16- and 17-year-olds to overrule their legal guardians. That is an unclear part of our law in regard to a wide range of areas. The issue is wider than what we are considering in this Chamber. Senator Ruane alluded to the many complex situations in which this arises. I have my own view about where the balance should...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (28 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: From my officials' engagement with the Department of Justice, I think there are ad hocsituations in which individual types of healthcare, dental practice and so on allow for the consent to treatment but there is no clear legal right for a 16- or 17-year-old to refuse treatment in a situation where that is contrary to the view of a parent or guardian. That is the central issue here.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Equality Issues (29 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Senator for raising this important matter and welcome the opportunity to update the House on progress to ban the practice of so-called conversion therapy. As we know, Ireland has become a proud, progressive and modern State that cherishes all people equally. We have made great strides in recent decades to promote equality and respond to the needs of a diverse population. We...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Equality Issues (29 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: So-called conversion therapy is a deeply secretive practice. From what I have heard conversion therapy solely works on the notion of shame and shaming the person who is gay, trans or whatever and builds on that shame. The reason people do not know about conversion therapy is because it is done in secret. I feel that it is important when drafting legislation that we have a clear basis to...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Further and Higher Education (29 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Senator. I appreciate his raising this important issue. I am happy to provide an update on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Harris, on Funding the Future and the implementation of a sustainable model for the future funding of higher education. The Minister, Deputy Harris, launched the Funding the Future framework, along with the Minister of State, Deputy Collins, on 4 May. The...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Further and Higher Education (29 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Senator. The Government has also committed to continuing to address the cost of participation in third level education so that every person in our country can fulfil his or her potential and no person is denied access to education because cost is a barrier. In budget 2023, in recognition of the cost-of-living challenges faced by students paying the full student contribution fee,...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Charitable and Voluntary Organisations (29 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I hear what Senator Conway is saying about the importance of this scheme and I am pleased to have the opportunity to update the House on this matter on behalf of the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. Bookshare Ireland is the National Council for the Blind in Ireland's accessible digital library for people who are blind or vision impaired. The...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Charitable and Voluntary Organisations (29 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: As someone who is a big reader and loves to read, the image created by the Senator of a library with 90% of the shelves vacant is one that resonates very strongly with me. It recognises the hugely valuable service provided by Bookshare. It is a new service that opens up access to literature, fiction and education for those with a print impairment. There is a proposal with the Minister for...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Family Resource Centres (28 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, administers the Family Resource Centre (FRC) Programme which provides funding support to 121 Family Resource Centres across the country. My Department allocates core funding for the Family Resource Centre Programme and since 2018 has provided an additional €4.5m bringing Tusla's core budget to €18.0m for Family Resource Centres. Tusla had also...