Results 561-580 of 1,088 for speaker:Tom Clonan

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Hospital Services (27 Feb 2024)

Tom Clonan: I thank the Minister of State for coming here today. I was informed last night that it was she who would be here. I was very pleased to hear that, not only because she is my local representative, of course, but also because I know her to be a person of absolute intellectual and ethical integrity. I know that the Minister of State will understand the import of the matter I am going to raise...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Hospital Services (27 Feb 2024)

Tom Clonan: I appreciate the sincerity of the Minister of State’s response. I know she and I are on the same page when it comes to our concern with children and citizens with additional needs.I have deep concerns about the surgical qualifications of these people carrying out urological procedures. Many are general paediatric surgeons with no specialisation in urology which is not consistent with...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: An Inclusive Education for an Inclusive Society: Discussion (28 Feb 2024)

Tom Clonan: I apologise. I was in the Seanad for votes. I am sorry that I missed the presentations and have come late. I want to say that Dr. Banks that 40 years ago this year, that young man over there, Dr. Travers, and I entered the school of education in Trinity College Dublin and are proud graduates of it. He has done very well for himself. He was not very promising at the start of that. It is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: An Inclusive Education for an Inclusive Society: Discussion (28 Feb 2024)

Tom Clonan: In Ireland we celebrate difference in other categories of people. We celebrate it, support it and promote it. With our community it seems to be a singular exceptional case where it is seen almost exclusively as a deficit. The word burden has been used to me. Even in the wording of the care amendment, the bonds that exist between people, I do not know if that is an international phenomenon...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: An Inclusive Education for an Inclusive Society: Discussion (28 Feb 2024)

Tom Clonan: Is the Department amenable to research-informed and research-led expertise in informing policy or does it see the alliance as an outlying silo that it does not really consult with?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: An Inclusive Education for an Inclusive Society: Discussion (28 Feb 2024)

Tom Clonan: Did Dr. Banks say, "in the past"?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: An Inclusive Education for an Inclusive Society: Discussion (28 Feb 2024)

Tom Clonan: I will talk to her again because I know we are under pressure for time.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: An Inclusive Education for an Inclusive Society: Discussion (28 Feb 2024)

Tom Clonan: The witnesses are very welcome, and I thank them for coming in. I will just disclose that I was a primary school teacher in a previous life. I am a recovering primary school teacher. It was a long time ago. I have a question for the witnesses about something that intrigues me. The NCSE announced last year that it was entering into a special partnership with the charity AsIAm to provide...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: An Inclusive Education for an Inclusive Society: Discussion (28 Feb 2024)

Tom Clonan: Did other organisations compete for that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: An Inclusive Education for an Inclusive Society: Discussion (28 Feb 2024)

Tom Clonan: Afterwards, could the witnesses supply me with all the information in writing about all that? I am very curious about how this came about. Would that be possible?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: An Inclusive Education for an Inclusive Society: Discussion (28 Feb 2024)

Tom Clonan: Just to be clear, though, do Down Syndrome Ireland, the Cerebral Palsy Foundation and Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Ireland come into schools and provide services for monetary gain?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: An Inclusive Education for an Inclusive Society: Discussion (28 Feb 2024)

Tom Clonan: Well, the NCSE has not announced any special partnerships with them-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: An Inclusive Education for an Inclusive Society: Discussion (28 Feb 2024)

Tom Clonan: What AsIAm is doing is completely different from feeding in information, let us say, on policy formation, but it is the NCSE's special partner in providing a service to schools.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: An Inclusive Education for an Inclusive Society: Discussion (28 Feb 2024)

Tom Clonan: I thank Ms Walsh.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: An Inclusive Education for an Inclusive Society: Discussion (28 Feb 2024)

Tom Clonan: In terms of the ambition for what we need to support inclusive education, is the vision for this to be provided by the State on a statutory basis? That should be the case, rather than it being subcontracted out ad hoc to charities and section 39 organisations. We have seen the dysfunction of the latter approach in other elements of supports for disabled citizens.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: An Inclusive Education for an Inclusive Society: Discussion (28 Feb 2024)

Tom Clonan: I thank Ms Walsh. There is no implied criticism of AsIAm or the NCSE; I am just curious about the mechanism. As a public representative with a special interest in this area and in the attempt to influence the formation of policy, ideologically I am located in a space where the State should provide.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (6 Mar 2024)

Tom Clonan: The guests are all very welcome here this morning. I will raise a couple of issues this morning. First of all, my dad was a carpenter before he joined the Garda. As a consequence, when I was the age of our guests, I spent every weekend and every summer working with my dad. I learned a great deal about carpentry, joinery and all sorts of other stuff, so I am pretty handy. Today, I went-----

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (6 Mar 2024)

Tom Clonan: I am watching the clock.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (6 Mar 2024)

Tom Clonan: Do not worry, I will make the drop very generous. I have actually measured the step out in the Speaker's Corridor. There is a requirement there for a ramp. This is the corridor the guests came up. I saw them out there with the usher. I have, on more than one occasion, encountered wheelchair users who are stuck in the Speaker's Corridor while the rest of the group go out and look at the...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (6 Mar 2024)

Tom Clonan: Hear, hear.