Results 701-720 of 2,078 for speaker:Mary Seery Kearney

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Monuments and Archaeological Heritage Bill: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (27 Jan 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: There is not an objective checklist that ensures hitting a threshold or is there? If so, who is the arbiter? Who makes the decision that a site meets the relevant criteria? There appears to be a gap.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Monuments and Archaeological Heritage Bill: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (27 Jan 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I suggest that the committee invite submissions from bodies that have been affected like the Cork survivors because it would be interesting to have any gaps pointed out or where the legislation can be enhanced to ensure that there are no gaps.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Monuments and Archaeological Heritage Bill: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (27 Jan 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: That is great. I look back to the summer of 2019 because Covid-19 has bled us all of everything since then. With the really good weather, all sorts of potential monuments became apparent, including some of the ÉIRE signs that are sometimes visible as one flies in over Ireland. They date back to the Second World War. They became apparent even though they had not been previously...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Rights of the Child in respect of Domestic and International Surrogacy: Discussion (1 Feb 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank everyone for attending today. They are very powerful, real, lived experiences of people who passionately love and advocate for their children. It would be prudent of me to commence my section by acknowledging my personal experience of surrogacy. No one in the surrogacy space, either domestic or international, wants to see anyone's human rights violated. That is a commonality among...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Rights of the Child in respect of Domestic and International Surrogacy: Discussion (1 Feb 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I must make it clear that no one wants to deny identity. As a member of this committee, I have come through the birth, information and tracing legislation and sat with very many groups and individuals over the last year. There is no desire to deny identity and to have that full transparency. However, we have a difficulty when it comes to retrospectively dealing with children who are...

Seanad: Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Bill 2022: Second Stage (1 Feb 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank the Tánaiste for bringing this Bill forward. When I saw it I was delighted. I am married to someone who was a representative in the hotel branch of the ITGWU some years ago. When we were dating, there were establishments he would not go to because they used tips to pay wages. The reputational damage that is attached to some establishments in this city is well warranted, and...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (2 Feb 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: For different reasons to Senator Gavan, I too call for us to have a debate on the recent Pensions Commission report. There has been a process and we now have a report. I look forward to reading and dissecting the report from the joint committee so that we can have a debate that involves both reports, which would be beneficial. The concerns I am hearing in my office relate to a proposal in...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (3 Feb 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I wish to begin by endorsing Senator Ruane's call for a debate. I would like to note that I previously did so as well. Our data is being collected, our privacy and the entirety of our lives is being collated for marketing and sinister purposes, unbeknownst to us. It is Thursday, so I am here to talk about this morning's meeting of the Joint Committee on Disability Matters. We heard two...

Seanad: Garda Síochána (Functions and Operational Areas) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (3 Feb 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: This is a great Bill, with great reorganising and modernising terminology, but I echo the concerns. While my colleagues who spoke earlier referred to more rural concerns, we end up with potential problems even within Dublin, where the likes of Ballyfermot has resources concentrated in Clondalkin. There were recent incidents in Cherry Orchard, Ballyfermot, that show the effects of such a...

Seanad: Child Trafficking and Child Sexual Exploitation Material (Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage (3 Feb 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I begin by congratulating Senator Flynn on her ongoing major impact as a Member of this House and on our nation. This is very fine legislation to bring forward. The information we got brought me to looking at the Luxembourg guidelines and into an area of beginning to perhaps have the words needed to articulate many things around this that are very wise. The opening of the press release...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Equality and Non-Discrimination: Discussion (3 Feb 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank the witnesses, as it is a very difficult thing to speak in public about their lives and life experiences. I lament that it is necessary. I appreciate how courageous they are today and the nerves of being in a forum that can be seen on television. I thank them most sincerely for that. We have two very distinct groups here today. However, we have a commonality of experience, in...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (10 Feb 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I want to share with the Senators an extraordinary witness contribution at the Joint Committee on Disability Matters, Mr. Craig Kelly, who is president of Ability@Work, which is aligned to the Cope Foundation in Cork. He wants to work with employers and prepare them to employ people with disabilities. He has an intellectual disability but, to use his own words, that does not define him. He...

Seanad: Safe Access to Termination of Pregnancy Services Bill 2021: Committee Stage (10 Feb 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I welcome and support the Bill. How could I not do so? We last debated this issue in October and it is now February. What progress has been made? I hope the Government is not minded to leave this matter inextricably linked with the review of the operation of the primary legislation for termination services because too much harm is being done daily in the meantime. I am concerned that too...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Childcare Services (15 Feb 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank the Minister of State for taking this Commencement matter and the Cathaoirleach for choosing it. In the Programme for Government: Our Shared Future, we stated we would support the establishment of a joint labour committee, JLC, in the childcare sector and the drawing up of an employment regulation order, ERO, which would determine minimum rates of pay for childcare workers, as well...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Childcare Services (15 Feb 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I appreciate that we are still in February and there is still much time. My request is that the Minister of State is poised and ready to respond as soon as he receives that report, so that it can be implemented urgently. Many contracts in this area run on a fixed-term basis. It would be lovely to issue long-term contracts from September this year and for them to be at the new rates, which...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 Feb 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: Today is a happy day. Two children were born in Kyiv. Their Irish parents travelled there in recent days for the birth of their much-longed for babies. Other babies will be born later this week. They have been born into a context where our Government has advised people not to travel due to the impending possibilities that could occur in Kyiv. Often in this House we get up and give out...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (16 Feb 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I will begin by addressing the remarks regarding the Leader and her interview this morning. I utterly reject the suggestion that any veiled threat was made and any suggestion that the Leader was doing anything of that kind. The fact is that the NWCI is a national body to represent the views, and advance the cause, of women throughout our country. It is not a partisan body or political...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Aligning Education with the UNCRPD: Discussion (10 Feb 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank all the witnesses for their contributions. Ms Walsh said the aspiration is for ordinary lives in ordinary places with ordinary people. My experience is with people going into employment on a community employment scheme. They are afraid to ask about security of tenure and whether they will be employed afterwards because they are afraid to rock the boat. In some instances, informal...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (17 Feb 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: It is regrettable that Senator Ardagh could not find within her the graciousness to acknowledge the work of the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, because it is she who negotiated with the patron body for the opening of the school yesterday. No doubt the Minister, Deputy Foley, played her part, but the bulk of the work was carried out by the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, and not to...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (17 Feb 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: In the past 48 hours there have been a number of muggings and an armed robbery within Dublin South-Central and its perimeters. There was one this morning. Fortunately, the cash box that was taken was empty and, more importantly, nobody was harmed. I am aware of the increasing levels of gardaí and the money that is being put into the justice area and observance, but at the same time...