Results 581-600 of 2,078 for speaker:Mary Seery Kearney

Joint Oireachtas Committee On Key Issues Affecting The Traveller Community: Expert Group Review of Traveller Accommodation: Discussion (12 Oct 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: I am happy to yield my time to give Mr. Joyce the opportunity to respond. I was merely going to speak about the No End In Sight report. I am fairly confident Mr. Joyce is more than capable of addressing that. I addressed my question to the Minister. I am happy to yield my time to allow Mr. Joyce the opportunity to speak.

Joint Oireachtas Committee On Key Issues Affecting The Traveller Community: Expert Group Review of Traveller Accommodation: Discussion (12 Oct 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: I would add to that and say there is a settled privilege going on that requires that members of the Traveller community speak out about their lived experiences. We see this across other groups. Last week, at the Joint Committee on Disability Matters, we heard of an ability privilege. We need to hear the lived experiences of people. This report is horrific, as are the statistics in regard...

Joint Oireachtas Committee On Key Issues Affecting The Traveller Community: Expert Group Review of Traveller Accommodation: Discussion (12 Oct 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: Having represented Travellers under the equal status claims, several of which they have been denied participation in, I can attest that there is no question that there is widespread discrimination. There is no doubting that.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Departmental Funding (19 Oct 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank the Minister of State, as always. I really appreciate his great commitment to us in the Seanad. I really welcomed the announcement in the budget of an additional €6 million for the Minister of State’s Department. I have submitted this matter because we really need to understand how much of the funding is being apportioned to the drugs and alcohol tasks forces under the...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Departmental Funding (19 Oct 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: I acknowledge the Minister of State’s personal commitment from the moment he took on this responsibility. He has shown an extraordinary commitment and openness in the context of listening to the sector. I welcome the breakdown of the funding allocated. I will be delighted to share that information with the chairs and co-ordinators of the drug and alcohol task forces when I go back...

Seanad: Sláintecare Implementation: Statements (19 Oct 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: I will try.

Seanad: Sláintecare Implementation: Statements (19 Oct 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: I am particularly delighted for reasons that will become apparent that it is the Minister of State who is here, although I would have also welcomed the Minister. I will skip all the plaudits for Sláintecare. We are all behind it. There is not any lack of political will in respect of it. There never has been. That is not an issue. The issue is not a lack of money because successive...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (20 Oct 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: I stand in solidarity with the Leader's remarks and support her in them. Last Sunday, Daniel Murray published an article in the Business Post with the headline "Government to defer legislating for international surrogacy services". I appreciate that there is momentum and that hard work is going on behind the scenes. I probably know more than most about just how much is going on and how...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: From Accessibility to Universal Design: Discussion (14 Oct 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank everyone who has contributed. Yet again, it has been a powerful engagement. As part of this theme, there is nothing like the lived experience to bring home the gaps in equality across all aspects of our society. Last week a witness used the term "ableist privilege". I cannot help but sit and think that this is another example of ableist privilege. It would appear, at a very...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: From Accessibility to Universal Design: Discussion (14 Oct 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: I am equally sorry. I will do the same. I meant to do that as well.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: From Accessibility to Universal Design: Discussion (14 Oct 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: That is a very important point. Any home that is wheelchair accessible is also future-proofed for intergenerational living. I have that in my home. It is not wasted. It just means we are future-proofing because at any point in our life cycle we may have accessibility challenges. I totally take the point about needing statistics. We need metrics and they should be there at a very basic...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: From Accessibility to Universal Design: Discussion (14 Oct 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: A good question is whether that information is in the new housing needs and demands analysis process that was introduced in local authorities just prior to Housing for All. Maybe I can begin by ascertaining how much of that ensures we have assessment of needs regarding disabilities and accessibility.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: From Accessibility to Universal Design: Discussion (14 Oct 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank the witness. It is a very important point.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: I welcome this Bill and commend the Labour Party, particularly Senator Moynihan who has been passionate on this subject. There is no question but that there has been a tremendous shortage of student accommodation. None of us has been untouched by parents contacting us. As there are Members of the Seanad from all over the country, we get a good flavour of the demands and the needs in the...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: Tomorrow morning at 10.30 a.m.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 Oct 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: I echo Senator Byrne's remarks with regard to the Quinn family and their need for justice. I want to read into the record a small part of an email that I received this morning. It is similar to many emails I get all of the time. I will read just a couple of lines: My son has low vision and is registered with the NCBI. I have fought so hard over the last eight weeks and yesterday got the...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: General Scheme of the Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Oct 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: What Ms Mac Manus said shows that it is a lifelong need that has to be fulfilled. I will leave this meeting impacted by that. When this Bill was presented and as we have gone through it, we have seen it and hoped to report on it as being the right of adults and children to know who they are and to be able to trace who they are. To be honest, I was very pleased with where we were going with...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: General Scheme of the Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Oct 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: They are not to anybody. It is me taking notes from everybody, to be honest. I apologise as it is not even a question. It is more that I am summing up for myself and for the purposes of our pre-legislative scrutiny report to make sure we capture what is being said here because it appears that there is a missing step.

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: General Scheme of the Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Oct 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: I will have to go, Chair, when the bells are going in the background.

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: General Scheme of the Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Oct 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: I believe Ms Mac Manus is being generous.