Results 1,301-1,320 of 2,078 for speaker:Mary Seery Kearney

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Integration and Refugee Issues: Discussion (21 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: Yes, I am in Leinster House. I was going to move down to the committee room but I was so riveted by what I was listening to that I was afraid I would miss something. I thank all the witnesses for their contributions and their views and for sharing them so frankly with us. I am part of a community initiative in Drimnagh similar to that of Ballymun for All, namely, Drimnagh for All....

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Integration and Refugee Issues: Discussion (21 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: Yes.

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Integration and Refugee Issues: Discussion (21 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: Prior to my nomination to the Seanad, I have been a lawyer in digital privacy and employment law. I have read all the books on Cambridge Analytica, Brexit and the 2016 American election. It is alleged in the findings of the US Congress that $150,000 was all the Russians needed to spend to influence the use of social media, such is the manner of their dissemination and repetition. I view the...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: I extend my support to the gardaí who were under siege by a gang of youths in Ballyfermot. I am very grateful to the Minister for Justice, Deputy Harris, for having an immediate meeting with me yesterday in response to that and to discuss what is going on in the community, as he continues the work the Minister, Deputy McEntee, began. I am grateful we are bringing in higher penalties...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: I apologise, a Chathaoirligh, but I need to finish this. St. John's Ambulance is reliant on donations. It does not get anything from the State, which is more the pity because we could possibly stop it if that were the case. It gets money from the IRFU, the FAI, the GAA and the St. Patrick's Festival for providing volunteers. Those organisations now need to suspend that funding until such...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: How can they use the services of an organisation that is failing to publish a report and show immediate, urgent action on historical child sexual abuse? The delay speaks volumes. I thank the Cathaoirleach for his indulgence.

Seanad: Accommodation for International Protection Applicants: Statements (22 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: I welcome the Minister and thank him for taking the statements today. I have thought long and hard about this debate. We need to broaden it out by addressing the various reasons that people come to Ireland. I would like to mention something that struck me before today’s debate. Last week, we had the announcement of where the Ministers and Ministers of State will travel to promote...

Seanad: Historic and Archaeological Heritage Bill 2023: Second Stage (22 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: I did not need to wear a hat to get my surname said correctly. I thank the Chair. I thank the Minister of State for this legislation and for all the work he has done. I will come back to that in a moment but first, I particularly welcome the guests in the Gallery today. I begin by welcoming Lord Iveagh, Ned, and also the friends of the Iveagh Markets: David Delaney; Noel Fleming of Noel's...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Primary Care Centres (23 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: The Minister of State is very welcome. It is very pleasant to see a Minister of State from the Department of Health responding to a health matter. I am very grateful for that. We have been here since June 2020. In December 2019, the then Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, and the then Fine Gael Deputy for Dublin South Central and former Minister of State, Catherine Byrne, announced the...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Primary Care Centres (23 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank the Minister of State. She paints a fabulous picture of what the Drimnagh primary care centre will look like and it will have incredibly valuable services. My problem is that there are no dates in respect of it and the day when a resident of Drimnagh walks through the doors of that primary care centre could be ten years away for all I know. She mentioned preliminary reports and...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (23 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: I will begin by echoing Senator Ward’s call for a debate on the report published by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Disability Matters this morning on aligning disability services with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD. It is a really in-depth report and an awful lot of work went into it. I am proud to be a member of the committee that produced...

Seanad: Citizens Assembly on Drugs Use: Motion (23 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: I pay great tribute to Senator Ruane and all the work she has done. She and I are both chairs of drugs task forces. I asked her for a reading list of things she thought I should be educated on to make me a better chair of a drugs task force. She led me down a route that has been fascinating and very educational. I read In the Realm of Hungry Ghostsby Gabor Maté. I also read The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank our guests for their contributions. They have been fascinating. Do our guests see any correlation or concerns in regard to the declaration process in respect of what is or is not exempted, on the one hand, and the judicial review process, on the other?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: That question was triggered by the lack of publication of a declaration and seems to me to be a lack of transparency where there should be transparency, and what that would give rise to in that context. I appreciate Mr. Lawlor’s other point in respect of “character” and it is more a question of defining that. My next question goes to that point. Where an area is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: Is there enough notification along the way for those surprises to be avoided?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: I hear what M.r Lawlor is saying in that we cannot be so prescriptive in legislation that it does not allow for nuance, where nuance is needed. Coming back to that planning practice piece, is there then a danger, if we do not have the tests publicised or the thresholds in practice explored or transparent, that there will be differences of interpretation between local authorities and between...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: Is there merit to those differences, for example, if we take that residential development in Dublin versus Galway? Would there be meritorious reasoning behind that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: One could imagine that a universality of application means an expedited planning process.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: Yes, brilliant. I thank Mr. Lawlor very much.