Results 1,061-1,080 of 2,078 for speaker:Mary Seery Kearney

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Education and the UNCRPD: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Jul 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: Is the Minister's own Department at those interdepartmental meetings held by the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Education and the UNCRPD: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Jul 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: Is that where the operational thinking happens?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Education and the UNCRPD: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Jul 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I wish to raise one thing. When we come to looking at the old Further Education and Training Awards Council, FETAC, levels – I apologise as the old name for it is still in my head – and what is a level 5, 6 and 7, that involves a certain element of measurement of contact hours. When it comes to the part-time, we need to have verifiable contact hours, not merely that we are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Education and the UNCRPD: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Jul 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: It is and it is fantastic, albeit slow.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Community Care (14 Sep 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I appreciate the Minister of State taking this matter at short notice. CityWide Drugs Crisis Campaign has highlighted in advance of budget 2023 that drug and alcohol task force community projects are places where lives are changed and lives are saved. These organisations do extraordinary work. During the past year, in one drug task force area in which I have experience, alcohol and cocaine...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Community Care (14 Sep 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank the Minister of State but what we really need to know is that, when it comes to budget 2023, the cost-of-living hike and crisis that are facing these organisations is going to be met with increased core funding. While I appreciate the initiatives that have been taken - the community enhancement has certainly been valuable - it is the core funding that actually needs to be increased....

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Building Regulations (15 Sep 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, for taking this Commencement matter at very short notice this morning. I appreciate that. He is well aware of the issues arising for homeowners in particular due to apartment defects. I applaud the work of the report of the working group examining defects in purpose-built apartments and duplexes between 1991 and 2013, which was published on 28...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Building Regulations (15 Sep 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank the Minister of State. With respect, what I have heard is a description of the working group and its work and report. I have not heard an answer. From the Minister of State's reply, I note that the Government is planning to respond and accepts that this issue is not the fault of the homeowners. However, there are homeowners today who are living in apartments with bills sitting on...

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

Mary Seery Kearney: Yesterday there was a protest by those affected by cystic fibrosis. I have no doubt that other Members mentioned it yesterday. A number of people's lives and health outcomes are impacted by the failure of the HSE and the pharmaceutical company to find a resolution in the row on the Kaftrio medication. That is one instance. In another instance, a product called Ozempic is used for people...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage (15 Sep 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I welcome the fact that the Bill is finally before this House and we, in Fine Gael, support the Bill. We need to get movement on the areas of the original Act that have not been commenced. Significant hardship has been caused to individuals, and families, in the time that we have waited for this legislation and the statutory framework that it facilitates. I am delighted that the Bill is...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage (15 Sep 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: Next Tuesday.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (20 Sep 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: Last night, we saw frightening lawlessness in evidence in Cherry Orchard, including the ramming of a Garda car. Just before lunch today, the Garda Commissioner, Mr. Drew Harris, condemned the ramming and called it disgraceful and concerning. He stated that the Garda had stood up the public order unit, as it had done over the weekend, and that a full investigation is now under way. I would...

Seanad: Address to Seanad Éireann by Members of the European Parliament (20 Sep 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: We have seen some horrific changes in this area in the past couple of months, in particular. The fears following the war or as a consequence of the weaponising of energy from the war of Ukraine, and the effect of that on families, communities and disadvantaged communities, in particular, is something that I would like to hear about from the MEPs in the course of this session together. I am...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on International Surrogacy: Prevention of the Exploitation or Coercion of Surrogates and Intending Parents: Discussion (2 Jun 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank Deputy Funchion and I thank the Chair for allowing us to comment. I was in the Seanad yesterday for statements on women's health and the women's health action plan. A number of Senators referenced our committee, the AHR Bill and the need for that Bill to include international surrogacy and a retrospective provision for children already born via surrogacy. The Minister began his...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Assisted Human Reproduction (21 Sep 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: There is no doubting the Minister of State's strong work ethic and I thank her for taking this matter. In early July, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on International Surrogacy published a report that was very well received by the three Ministers to whom it was relevant, namely, the Minister for Health, who is the lead Minister on the issue, and the Ministers for Justice and Children,...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Assisted Human Reproduction (21 Sep 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: To say I am not impressed by that response is mild, to be perfectly honest, and with due respect to the Minister of State, who is merely the messenger. That the Departments have a view to developing a policy paper is a wholly inadequate and absolutely unacceptable response. There are children in this State who have the right to the two parents, that is, the mother they have only ever known...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Assisted Human Reproduction (21 Sep 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: It is total obfuscation by the Department of Health in actual fact. The fact is that every common law jurisdiction that influences our jurisdiction in courts has already legislated for surrogacy. The position that is being put forward by the Department of Health is absolutely untrue.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 Sep 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I will begin by associating myself with the remarks of Senators Ruane and Flynn. In terms of certain videos broadcast online, people are to be condemned for their behaviour and condemned for ramming a Garda car and my thoughts go out to the gardaí who were in that car. At the same time, stigmatising a whole area and community as a consequence, and labelling the people of that community...

Seanad: Institutional Burials Act 2022 (Director of Authorised Intervention, Tuam) Order 2022: Motion (21 Sep 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I support the motion. The sooner we get through this motion and get on with the excavations in Tuam the closer we will be to families having some sort of closure, which is long overdue. I am mindful and grateful that this is the honouring of a commitment made in July. It is now September and according to the briefing note, it will be 2023 before there are excavations on the site. In the...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Antisocial Behaviour (22 Sep 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank the Minister. I appreciate her coming here in person. It shows her commitment, the response that she has made all week and the commitment that is there for the community in Cherry Orchard. We have seen the videos online of what happened and they are horrific. I want to begin by condemning the actions against the two gardaí who went in there. They were treated in the most...