Results 6,381-6,400 of 7,643 for speaker:Rónán Mullen

Seanad: Impact of Cost of Living Issues on Young People in Ireland: Motion (28 Sep 2022)

Rónán Mullen: Cé mhéad ama atá agam? Six minutes. As I was listening to Senator Buttimer, I thought "Oh my God, not another citizens' assembly." It seems to me that the Government reaches for a citizens' assembly every time it does not have the answer to a complex problem and every time it wants to hide behind people rather than take responsibility. The Oireachtas is the first and...

Seanad: Impact of Cost of Living Issues on Young People in Ireland: Motion (28 Sep 2022)

Rónán Mullen: The test is whether there is a human dignity-led approach to policy and legislation across the board and whether attention is being paid always to the most vulnerable in our society. There is a protest taking place on the quad in my alma mater, which has now been renamed the University of Galway, at 6 p.m. this evening. I commend those who are keeping the real issues on the agenda. It is...

Seanad: Impact of Cost of Living Issues on Young People in Ireland: Motion (28 Sep 2022)

Rónán Mullen: Drink from.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (5 Oct 2022)

Rónán Mullen: Not at all. There are two brief comments that I would like to make on rule of law issues but they touch on areas where we may need a debate. There is a man who continues to be in prison because he will not purge his contempt in relation to a civil matter. I am on the record as saying that the man in question, Mr. Enoch Burke, should purge his contempt. I am concerned nevertheless about...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (5 Oct 2022)

Rónán Mullen: It is a civil matter rather than a criminal one.

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Oct 2022)

Rónán Mullen: I thank the Minister for his response. I have not had sight of it. I would like to consider it carefully. It seems to me, however, that he is basing this entirely on a certain view of the demands of equality and autonomy and a certain interpretation of what they mean in this particular circumstance. What he is saying, basically, is that he wants a pregnant woman to be in exactly the same...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Oct 2022)

Rónán Mullen: The Minister misunderstands the basis for my argument. I am not saying that what he is bringing about would be considered under the law as a termination of pregnancy and I am not arguing, at this point, against the provisions of our abortion law generally. I am drawing the Minister's attention to what our abortion law currently provides and arguing that what he is proposing to do does not...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Oct 2022)

Rónán Mullen: That is agreed.

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Oct 2022)

Rónán Mullen: The Minister is forgetting something. I am not proposing to create anything; I am trying to keep what is already there. The Minister is the one who is proposing to step down a protection established in the law, which is a modest enough one, that is, the simple idea that the presumption is in favour of preserving life. That is all. Instead the Minister is potentially leaving a family with...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Oct 2022)

Rónán Mullen: Let us try to make clear what is being said here. Is the Minister saying that because the 2015 legislation has not been commenced? The 2015 legislation provides that there is a presumption in favour of continuing treatment where not to do so - let me make sure that I am not confusing the House and myself. What is being deleted, among other things, is the following provision in section...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Oct 2022)

Rónán Mullen: Would the Minister mind repeating that last point?

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Oct 2022)

Rónán Mullen: Would he mind repeating? Just wind it back, if he does not mind, because we all agree that this is important. I just did not quite grasp it.

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Oct 2022)

Rónán Mullen: What does that mean?

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Oct 2022)

Rónán Mullen: So he Minister is leaving it up to the judgment now, which in circumstances-----

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Oct 2022)

Rónán Mullen: I am sorry. I will wait until I get called on to speak. I apologise. I did not mean to. If I may-----

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Oct 2022)

Rónán Mullen: I think there is an element of confusion in what the Minister is saying. I can understand him when he says that when the eighth amendment was in place it was seen to be required that there would be this clear statement but what he is ignoring is just because it is maybe not as required now at the constitutional level, that does not mean that it is not desirable. As I said, the existing...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Oct 2022)

Rónán Mullen: Not only that, I fear that despite what the Minister has said about going away and thinking about it, it is clear from the last thing he said that he intends that, in future, there will not be a presumption in favour of protecting the life of the unborn. Am I correct in thinking that current clinical practice is guided by the 2015 legislation? Has that section of the 2015 legislation that...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Oct 2022)

Rónán Mullen: Basically, the section the Minister is proposing to remove, which is the protection that was inspired by the eighth amendment, as he put it, never came into force. Is that correct?

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Oct 2022)

Rónán Mullen: I am asking this because the Minister stated that he wants clinical practice to be able to evolve. He is proposing the removal of a presumption in favour of continuing the giving of care to protect the unborn in situations where a directive is silent as to what is to happen during pregnancy. He said that he wants to get rid of this and wants to allow clinical practice to evolve. The only...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Oct 2022)

Rónán Mullen: The last thing the Minister stated in his reply worried me.