Results 9,981-10,000 of 20,459 for speaker:Frances Fitzgerald

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: No. Three donor families. I will repeat what I said.The limit will be set out not in terms of the number of births but of the number of recipients who may receive donations from each donor. It is three.

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: Yes. I am using "family" in the broadest sense.

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: No.

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: I understand the Senator's intention is that the donor details will not be recorded on the donor register in this case. I should clarify that this is not the intention and that regulations for the operation of Parts 2 and 3 will help to clarify this. In regard to embryos already in existence, I assure the Senator that there is no question of lifting the veil of anonymity. However, it is...

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: In my view, going so far as to ban referrals at this stage is a step too far. That is aside from the fact that the prohibition in this amendment is so phrased that if intending parents are referred to a facility that provides anonymous gamete services - and we must remember that many of them provide anonymous and non-anonymous services, which is another factor - the operator will commit an...

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: This amendment would limit the information being provided to the Minister for Health for the performance of his functions in managing the national donor-conceived person register. Obviously, this function will become the function of the authority, when established. It is only in the interim that the Minister for Health would have responsibility in this regard. I understand the...

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: This amendment would create a specific offence of a DAHR operator’s failure to comply with its obligations under section 28 to keep and retain certain records. The Senators’ desire is to ensure that there are direct and serious consequences of such a failure, which is entirely understandable. However, section 28 provides remedies for failure to comply. These are to be found...

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: The consequences are that the clinic can be closed down if it is not effectively doing what it is meant to do under the various sections. That will have huge consequences.

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: No, I think I have made the point.

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: Amendment No. 41 is about the identity rights of the child, and I fully understand the principle behind the amendment. I had originally intended to establish a voluntary register on a statutory basis. I reconsidered this after extensive discussion with other Departments and having examined the effect of putting the register on a statutory basis. In reviewing the position, I took into...

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: Amendments Nos. 43, 44 and 46, are intended to ensure that a donor-conceived child can access information about a donor from the age of 16. This would reflect an evolving view of the ability of older minors to make important decisions in their own right. I can understand why the Senator has tabled this amendment because this is an evolving issue and there are different views about the...

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: We had some discussion on this issue earlier and I indicated that the retention of medical information relating to donors would be dealt with in a Department of Health Bill in due course. That Bill will also set out the rules under which the Minister for Health may be asked to contact a donor or a donor-conceived child or provide for the authority, when developed, to do that in the unlikely...

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: This provision must be seen against the other provisions in the Bill where there is a clear and strong presumption in favour of release. As I stated, I was advised by the Attorney General that I needed to include a provision here that would allow for exceptional circumstances. I included the well-being of the child, but I took that out because we had a discussion about that on Committee...

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: Will Senator Mullen elaborate?

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: One can assume that the Minister would need objective fact on the threat that would be there. When we were discussing the circumstances, as I said, I was legally advised that I needed to include the exception. The exception would be in very particular circumstances of safety. In response to Senator Healy Eames, it is for the child who is looking to access the information. As for examples,...

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: I have no further comment.

Seanad: An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhionannas Pósta) 2015: Céim an Choiste - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: I propose to respond to amendments Nos. 1, 2 and 7 together. Amendment No. 7, which is the substantive amendment in this group, seeks to insert an additional clause in the Constitution that would explicitly provide that article 41.4, if passed, could not be used " to prohibit, control, or interfere with the operation of Articles 42 or 44". This additional clause would have the effect of...

Seanad: An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhionannas Pósta) 2015: Céim an Choiste - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: Freedom of religion is already dealt with in Article 44 of Bunreacht na hÉireann. Article 42 addresses education and the rights of children. As the Senators are well aware, the courts, including the Supreme Court, interpret the provisions to the Constitution in a harmonious and coherent manner. The proposal before us is about extending access to marriage to persons of the same sex....

Seanad: An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhionannas Pósta) 2015: Céim an Choiste - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: I repeat what I have already said. The proposed constitutional amendment is not about children or education but rather about marriage. It is misleading to seek to add issues into the equation which are not relevant to the aim of the proposed amendment. Senators are speaking about assisted human reproduction legislation or the children and families legislation but we are now legislating for...

Seanad: An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhionannas Pósta) 2015: Céim an Choiste - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: It is the Supreme Court which makes decisions in respect of the provisions of the Constitution. The amendment is about marriage and access to marriage for same-sex couples, not parentage or children. The regulation of access to donor-assisted human reproduction will be a matter for the Department of Health and will be decided in the best interests of the children to be born. It will not be...