Results 141-160 of 2,078 for speaker:Mary Seery Kearney

Seanad: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Second Stage (18 Dec 2020)

Mary Seery Kearney: I will begin by paying tribute to Jackie Fox and the memory of her daughter. It is fitting that this Bill will be known as Coco's Law. I thank the Minister for bringing it forward and the Minister of State for all the work done on it. I read Deputy Howlin's contribution in the Dáil very carefully. It was an extraordinary piece of parliamentarianism, if that is a word.

Seanad: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Second Stage (18 Dec 2020)

Mary Seery Kearney: Yes, it is now. It was, and I am proud to participate in the passing of this Bill by the House. It is extraordinary that we live in an age in which the threat of the publication of an image and the harassment of individuals can happen online in the manner in which it does. It is appalling, and I am delighted that it will quickly become a criminal offence. It is long overdue. I have great...

Seanad: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Dec 2020)

Mary Seery Kearney: I agree with Senator Doherty that three years is too long to wait for a review. We need to find ourselves in uncomfortable place as legislators. Once we are dealing with a legislative topic that is online and involves evolving technology then we will have to have an inbuilt review within a much shorter timeframe. I believe we should have annual review in order to anticipate and get ahead...

Seanad: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Dec 2020)

Mary Seery Kearney: While I accept the Minister’s position, there is something in the "or" element of the amendment. I ask that it be borne in mind for future legislation. Perhaps a lesser offence needs to be created in future legislation. If we say it always must be inextricably linked with intent we are providing almost a defence of, for example, a person claiming they were not in control of their...

Seanad: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Dec 2020)

Mary Seery Kearney: Yes, exactly. Given that these offences occur on mobile devices and the person claims their device was hacked or someone knew their password, if a person is in an intimate relationship with someone and has their image on their mobile phone, the person has a responsibility to protect that image or to delete it if the person is no longer in that relationship or whatever may be the reason the...

Seanad: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Dec 2020)

Mary Seery Kearney: Regarding the Minister of State's reply, I believe that the word "and" between section 3(1)(a) and section 3(1)(b) neutralises the strict liability potential that could have had. Inextricably linking the "recording, distributing or publishing" of an intimate image with the serious interference with another's person's peace, again, still gives a reason for no responsibility. Concerning a...

Seanad: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Dec 2020)

Mary Seery Kearney: I completely accept that. However, while the intention of the perpetrator is irrelevant to the offence, the experience of the victim is a necessary element. That is where it becomes too complicated. It should not be about that. I appreciate that I have not tabled an amendment, which I probably should have. The very recording of an intimate image, even before distributing or publishing...

Seanad: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Dec 2020)

Mary Seery Kearney: We might explore this in the context of general data protection regulation, GDPR, and data protection legislation. We probably have another piece of work to do about putting it into a criminal justice context. My home address is on the public record because it went on a ballot paper at one point. Things like that are known and the big poster in the front garden was the giveaway. There are...

Seanad: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Dec 2020)

Mary Seery Kearney: I read this section and took great comfort from it. Every now and again, I get letters that challenge me for daring to have a double-barrelled surname. I am confident that the Deputies Healy-Rae never get similar letters. The challenge is designed on the fact of my gender and the letters are grossly offensive and make all sorts of assumptions because my husband and I decided to take each...

Seanad: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Dec 2020)

Mary Seery Kearney: I echo the comments of other Senators regarding the need to tighten up the law on harassment. The threshold for harassment needs to be significantly lower than it is currently because when the offence of harassment was put in place, there was not the same access to digital and other technology that there is now. There was not the same means of getting into someone's space that there is now....

Seanad: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Dec 2020)

Mary Seery Kearney: I want to raise a point that Senator Murphy's contribution brought to mind. My husband has had the experience of being discussed on Facebook in the context of him carrying out his job in employment law, and prosecuting through the Workplace Relations Commission, which, in the grand scale of all that is possible, one would imagine to be most innocuous. However, that context resulted in a...

Seanad: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Dec 2020)

Mary Seery Kearney: I believe amendment No. 21 should be considered for the future and should be put in. Otherwise we are creating a situation where there is an obligation on me to constantly google myself and search to ensure that I am in control of any images that are or may be posted about me. I believe that puts an obligation on everyone to be vigilant of their own concern and it creates a duty of care...

Seanad: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Dec 2020)

Mary Seery Kearney: On that, my difficulty would be that the more resilient one is, the more one is liable to have to tolerate interference and harassment. Therefore, we have this sliding scale that if one is resilient then it has not had a serious effect. That is a little arbitrary and unfair.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Jan 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: I wish everybody a happy new year. I wish to raise the disturbing report last night on homelessness, rough sleepers and the general treatment of those involved. The report showed these people being refused beds despite there being capacity in the city. That ran contrary to a ministerial order and decision. I ask that we invite the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to...

Seanad: Report of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation: Statements (19 Jan 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank the Minister for his attendance today. Responsibility for that harsh treatment remains mainly with the fathers of their children and their own immediate families. It was supported by, contributed to, and condoned by, the institutions of the State and the Churches. That, in essence, is the conclusion of the report. It was an investigation confined to the black-and-white language...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Water Treatment (Abstractions) Bill 2020 and Electoral Reform Bill 2020: Discussion (22 Jan 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: I will build on the points made by Deputy Higgins. I am coming from a privacy rights perspective. Fundamentally, I come from the position that digital identity is the property of a data subject and that the subject should own and have control over it. While GDPR technically gives that control, it allows that once the subject is within a contract with terms and conditions, as needed on a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Homelessness: Discussion (29 Jan 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank our guests for their contributions and statements, and most of all for the extraordinary work they carry out all of the time. It is really quite remarkable. People are cared for in the State due to the extraordinary work that is ongoing. Early this morning the Irish Community Action on Alcohol Network ran a forum on sexual abuse and trauma. One of the contributors there spoke...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Homelessness: Discussion (29 Jan 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: Mr. Kenny and perhaps Dr. Burns are probably best placed to answer them, and also Ms Leahy. Mr. Kenny is probably best placed to answer.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Homelessness: Discussion (29 Jan 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: Do we give these people packs? If somebody is being sent back home, do we pay his or her train fare?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Homelessness: Discussion (29 Jan 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: What about Airbnb? Are there statistics on that? I had to leave briefly for another meeting so I missed part of this discussion. I apologise for any duplication.