Results 821-840 of 1,088 for speaker:Tom Clonan

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Commission for Future Generations Bill 2023: Discussion (8 Oct 2024)

Tom Clonan: I first wish to apologise because I had to leave to make up a quorum on the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence. People there were presenting on some of the issues that the witnesses were referring to regarding how volatile things are at the moment and how febrile the world is. Even though I missed some of the presentations, I felt it informed some of what I caught from Professor...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Commission for Future Generations Bill 2023: Discussion (8 Oct 2024)

Tom Clonan: I apologise in advance because I have to go to another meeting but I thank the witnesses for all of the presentations and for the initiative.

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Commission for Future Generations Bill 2023: Discussion (8 Oct 2024)

Tom Clonan: This is good.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (8 Oct 2024)

Tom Clonan: I echo the sentiments concerning Mary O'Rourke. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam dílis. I want to raise again in the House the case of Caitlin Ada Joanne Hassan. I give her full name, as I did on a Commencement matter, because she is a human being. She is a young woman who was sexually and physically assaulted while in the care of the State in a section 39 care provider, Avista....

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (9 Oct 2024)

Tom Clonan: I am looking for a little clarity. I am delighted to see that the Government has resolved to fully endorse the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, including the optional protocol. While I understand that the Cabinet has agreed to do this, when will this happen and on what date? I have heard some mixed messages that it might be December and, given the circumstances of...

Seanad: Final Report of the Joint Committee on Autism: Motion [Private Members] (9 Oct 2024)

Tom Clonan: We will take six minutes each if that is okay.

Seanad: Final Report of the Joint Committee on Autism: Motion [Private Members] (9 Oct 2024)

Tom Clonan: In that case, I had better be quick. I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. I welcome the publication of the report and thank Senator Carrigy for all the work he has done on this and all my colleagues who have worked with him on it. His group was established prior to my election. I am delighted that all after that work, it has come to fruition today. I also thank the...

Seanad: Final Report of the Joint Committee on Autism: Motion [Private Members] (9 Oct 2024)

Tom Clonan: That is when my advocacy as a parent began because in Ireland, as a parent and carer and as a family who experience disability, you become de facto an advocate. I approached the line Minister at the time. I never got to speak to the Minister for Health. I would characterise the response then, in 2011, as one of hostility and quite confrontational. The attitude was one of “So, you...

Seanad: Final Report of the Joint Committee on Autism: Motion [Private Members] (9 Oct 2024)

Tom Clonan: I just wanted to acknowledge the work that has been done. I feel a sea change in relation to our community. All of us need to come together. Whether it is neurodivergence, intellectual or physical disability, we have the most powerful lobby in the country. If disabled persons' organisations and parents like me who are mandated under the UNCRPD to advocate for parents come together and...

Seanad: Final Report of the Joint Committee on Autism: Motion [Private Members] (9 Oct 2024)

Tom Clonan: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Final Report of the Joint Committee on Autism: Motion [Private Members] (9 Oct 2024)

Tom Clonan: Well said.

Seanad: Seanad Electoral (University Members) (Amendment) Bill 2024: Second Stage (10 Oct 2024)

Tom Clonan: I thank Senator Mullen for letting me lead off. The Minister is very welcome to the House. I am that rare commodity in that I am a Trinity Senator, even though I am from Finglas. I am very proud to be a representative of that august institution here and very grateful to have been elected. I voted for Seanad reform in the last referendum. Sad to say, I was a teenager in 1979, believe it...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Commission for Future Generations Bill 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Oct 2024)

Tom Clonan: As the Deputy says, we are so immersed in the neoliberal imperative. However, I can remember Ireland in the seventies. I got my first job in the eighties. I can remember it, dark and all as it was. There were certain things in respect of which there were received values, such as housing and health. I remember watching a documentary programme involving Alan Whicker in America. I...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 Oct 2024)

Tom Clonan: I propose an amendment to the Order of Business, that No. 17 be taken before No. 1. This concerns the Disability (Personalised Budgets) Bill 2024, which will revolutionise the situation for disabled citizens in the State who cannot get the services, supports, therapies and surgeries they need. It would take control away from the HSE and put it into the hands of disabled citizens and carers....

Seanad: Disability (Personalised Budgets) Bill 2024: First Stage (15 Oct 2024)

Tom Clonan: I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend and extend the Disability Act 2005 and to provide for related matters.

Seanad: Disability (Personalised Budgets) Bill 2024: First Stage (15 Oct 2024)

Tom Clonan: Next Tuesday.

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Commission for Future Generations Bill 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Oct 2024)

Tom Clonan: I thank Deputy Ó Cathasaigh again for bringing forward this useful legislation. I have very little to add to the questions I put last week. One of the questions I put was about the categories of citizens that might be deemed suitable for inclusion, so I endorse what Ms Ní Bhuachalla says about all categories of citizens as set out in the Equal Status Act. As regards thinking...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (16 Oct 2024)

Tom Clonan: Hear, hear. Well said.

Seanad: Seanad Electoral (University Members) (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Oct 2024)

Tom Clonan: I welcome the Minister. I note that all the amendments have been ruled out of order. I also note that we are at a particular point where nobody knows what is going to happen in the next couple of weeks. I know the Minister's time is limited in terms of getting this through. Members, including Senator Malcolm Byrne, spoke at length about the graduates and the institutions that would be...

Seanad: Seanad Electoral (University Members) (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Oct 2024)

Tom Clonan: Hear, hear.