Results 641-660 of 873 for speaker:Averil Power

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Averil Power: I move amendment No. 8: In page 8, line 20, to delete “person.” and substitute the following:“person, including, but not limited to, the date of birth, occupation and address of each natural parent where these details are listed in the register of births, but not including the Personal Public Service number of a natural parent.”.This is designed to clarify that...

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Averil Power: As we outlined on Second Stage, we appreciate there are two rights at play here, namely, the adoptees' right to their identity and the natural parent's right to privacy. The courts have made it clear that neither of those rights are absolute. That point was made in the IO'T v. B case, and has been consistently made in constitutional cases with respect to all the rights in the Constitution....

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Averil Power: I will be brief, as we want to get through all of the amendments today. I will pick up the Minister's point on the I. O'T v. B case. According to him, the court had acknowledged that the current legislative position as opposed to constitutional position was that, on the making of an adoption order, the link between the birth mother and child was severed. While that is true, that is the...

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Averil Power: I move amendment No. 10: In page 9, between lines 6 and 7, to insert the following:"Duty to notify the Adoption Authority of certain matters5. (1) In this section-- "a person to whom this section applies” means any natural person who has information, whether in writing, stored electronically or otherwise (including information known to the person but not recorded in any durable...

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Averil Power: I thank Senator Cullinane for moving this amendment and welcome the motivation behind it. The amendment proposes that the Adoption Authority of Ireland would be obliged to take reasonable steps to "protect, as a right, access for adopted persons to their birth family’s relevant medical history". It is not clear from the amendment whether the Senator intends simply to place...

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Averil Power: I move amendment No. 12: In page 11, between lines 19 and 20, to insert the following:“(11) Where an adopted person wishes to communicate in writing with his or her natural parent or where a natural parent wishes to communicate in writing with the adopted person, the Authority shall make arrangements for the exchange of such communications, provided that in making such arrangements...

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Averil Power: If the Minister intends to bring forward Report Stage amendments and would like the time to do so, we would be supportive of Report Stage being scheduled for another day. There are no Government amendments tabled today and if the Minister does not propose to bring forward any on Report Stage then we should take it today. The issue raised by Sinn Féin in respect of medical information...

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Averil Power: I move amendment No. 20: In page 16, line 24, to delete "data" and substitute "data held in respect of the adopted person".The purpose of this amendment is to correct a typographical error.

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Averil Power: I move amendment No. 25: In page 17, line 5, to delete "identity." and substitute the following: "identity, but otherwise shall not include personal data that would allow the natural parent to identify the adopted person without making contact with him or her unless the adopted person has indicated in accordance with this Act that he or she does not wish to be identified to the natural...

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Averil Power: I move amendment No. 26: In page 17, between lines 5 and 6, to insert the following: "(5) In this section "contact details" do not include any such particulars as are contained in an entry in the register of adoptions in respect of an adopted person, unless the adopted person has indicated in accordance with this Act that he or she does not wish to be identified to the natural parent, in...

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Averil Power: Unless the Minister proposes to bring forward amendments on Report Stage, we should take it now as scheduled.

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Averil Power: I thank Senators on all sides of the House who have worked with us on bringing this legislation forward. I sincerely appreciate it, both politically and personally. It is an issue that matters immensely to me. I am an adoptee myself and have been fortunate enough to find my natural mother, my half siblings and family. The Bill will not make any difference to me for that reason but it is...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Student Assistance Fund (19 Feb 2015)

Averil Power: I welcome the Minister to the House. I have tabled this debate to highlight the need for the Department to provide extra funding for the student assistance fund in light of the fact many colleges have already exhausted their entire allocation for the 2014-15 academic year. As the Minister is aware, the purpose of the student assistance fund is to give the colleges discretionary funding to...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Student Assistance Fund (19 Feb 2015)

Averil Power: I am very disappointed that the overall budget for this year has been fully committed. I accept that the Minister budgeted on the basis of a smaller amount of money for this year but there is a desperate need for her to find funding from somewhere. She should go back to the Department of Finance and seek further funds. If a student drops out of college and signs on for social welfare, then...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Student Assistance Fund (19 Feb 2015)

Averil Power: Of course, we should of course provide to students with disabilities the support they need. However, this should not be done at the expense of those who are experiencing serious financial hardship of a kind that could, as the Minister acknowledged, lead to their dropping out of college. There is a need to ring-fence moneys for the student assistance fund and to ensure that said fund is not...

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Feb 2015)

Averil Power: I also welcome the improvement in the literacy statistics. It is great that the additional investment in education by the previous Government, particularly in disadvantaged areas under the DEIS scheme, is paying off. It is important to acknowledge that and for the Government to keep its hands off DEIS and reinstate the money it has taken from the school completion programme and other...

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Feb 2015)

Averil Power: E-cigarettes do need to be regulated and our Bill proposes a sensible way of doing that. We look forward to bringing it before the House and will be seeking an amendment today to introduce it and debate it in the House.

Seanad: Public Health (Regulation of Electronic Cigarettes and the Protection of Children) Bill 2015: First Stage (24 Feb 2015)

Averil Power: I move: That leave be given to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to provide for the prohibition of the consumption of electronic cigarettes in public service vehicles and places of work, to provide for the registration of persons engaged in the business of selling electronic cigarettes by retail, to provide for the prohibition on the advertising of electronic cigarettes, a prohibition on...

Seanad: Public Health (Regulation of Electronic Cigarettes and the Protection of Children) Bill 2015: First Stage (24 Feb 2015)

Averil Power: It is proposed to take Second Stage on Tuesday, 3 March 2015.

Seanad: Redress for Women Resident in Certain Institutions Bill 2014: Second Stage (24 Feb 2015)

Averil Power: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. On 27 February 2013 I stood up in this House and warmly welcomed the Taoiseach's apology the previous week to the Magdalen survivors. I also said that I was proud of him for the genuine, warm and sincere manner in which he had delivered that apology. Unfortunately, as Maeve O'Rourke of the Justice for Magdalenes group has pointed out, while the...