Results 1,621-1,640 of 2,017 for speaker:Paul Bradford

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Jul 2013)

Paul Bradford: In political and ideological terms, this issue lies at the core of the legislation we are proposing to pass. We are dealing with the suicide clause and the Minister, his colleagues in the Government and the proponents of the Bill put forth a strong response regarding our obligation to introduce it. The Lower House was informed that if such a clause were not introduced, we would basically be...

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Jul 2013)

Paul Bradford: Absolutely. Amendment No. 30 in the name of Senator Healy Eames would, if accepted, give rise to section 9 - as currently constituted - being removed from the Bill. The Minister of State and, as we have been informed, all first year law students are aware that the Supreme Court's judgment in the X case in respect of suicide was uncontested and, therefore, places no binding in law upon us. I...

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Jul 2013)

Paul Bradford: How does that stand up to scrutiny? We are in the process of seeking to enshrine in law abortion as an entitlement in circumstances where it is the only treatment. Senator Healy Eames has presented an alternative view. There were many interruptions earlier as Senators sought to jump ahead to discuss matters relating to section 9. Some appear to be inclined to the view that people on my...

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Jul 2013)

Paul Bradford: This matter was debated in the Lower House. It is fair to say that I know where this proposal first entered the public debate. Almost immediately, Ministers and people on the medical side reacted and claimed why it could not happen. I am sorry that the Minister is not present. Yesterday, he and I clashed - purely in a political way and no more - when I raised some of the interventions of...

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Jul 2013)

Paul Bradford: -----that will result in problems, not solve them. This is the issue on which we must reflect. I look forward to the Minister of State's comments on the constitutional side. It will be a lengthy, weighty and substantive debate and I respect his opinion, as he has expressed it strongly in the Lower House. There has been so much interest in this section because it is at the core of the...

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Jul 2013)

Paul Bradford: My head is a little swollen with all the words of praise I am receiving from my friends on the opposite side of the House. I am sure they are very well meant. Senator Leyden is suggesting a trip to the High Court. We will get free legal advice from Senator Coghlan. That would be much more appropriate. On a serious matter, I missed the commencement of the debate but I am familiar with the...

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Jul 2013)

Paul Bradford: It is a matter I would like to have discussed in the House next week. I am not sure of the legality of party allowances being retained for Members who are no longer in their parties. It is a serious matter. Half a million euro per annum is at stake based on current figures. We will need an adjudication on that. I would like to see the money returned to the taxpayer, if possible. If it...

Seanad: Membership of Committees: Motion (19 Jul 2013)

Paul Bradford: Be it a point of order or an observation, I want to put on the record of the House that it is historically unprecedented, not just in this House but perhaps in the entire Oireachtas, that we apparently are set to vote onto a committee a person who does not wish to be a part of that committee. I ask that in a moment of reflection and calmness, we do what is the only right thing to do and...

Seanad: Membership of Committees: Motion (19 Jul 2013)

Paul Bradford: I appeal to the Leader to do so.

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Report Stage (22 Jul 2013)

Paul Bradford: I suppose I am generally supportive of the amendment, but I appreciate that when one tries to provide for such a concept in law one's language has to be very precise. I note what Senator Bacik and my party colleague, Senator Colm Burke, have said. The Minister indicated earlier - perhaps it was last week - that the Holles Street people have spoken about the fact that terminations will not...

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Report Stage (22 Jul 2013)

Paul Bradford: We need to know what is happening in Ireland. My colleague, Senator Gilroy, has said these methods are not in use here. I recall one of the experts advising us at the hearings that medical personnel will have to be trained. It is on the record of the hearings. One of the medical personnel advised us that training will be required. If this is being practised in a very limited and...

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Jul 2013)

Paul Bradford: I second amendment No. 6.

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Jul 2013)

Paul Bradford: Senator John Gilroy said that anybody opposed to section 9 is ignoring what he termed the legal and medical grounds for its inclusion. In fact, we have very much taken into account all the scientific evidence that was presented to us. I support this group of amendments and particularly the comments by Senator Rónán Mullen. Regardless of who brings the challenge or commences the...

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Jul 2013)

Paul Bradford: I support the amendments, especially amendment No.9 which we are currently debating. Senators are asking why we are quoting American and British consultants and not Irish consultants. Part of the answer to that conundrum is the following. The Irish medical model, the two-patient model, has a very different idea of care from the one that will arise from the passing of this legislation. We...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Appointment of Ombudsman (23 Jul 2013)

Paul Bradford: My statement is more a question than a rambling discourse. I am interested in knowing what procedure will be used to fill the vacancy at the very important Office of the Ombudsman and Information Commissioner once the incumbent, Ms Emily O'Reilly, takes up her job in Europe. I want to put on record my admiration for the work she has done. It is an enormous tribute to her abilities and...

Seanad: SI 325 of 2012 - European Union (Quality and Safety of Human Organs Intended for Transplantation) Regulations 2012: Motion (20 Aug 2013)

Paul Bradford: I have found what my colleagues have said interesting and would like to add my few inadequate words. I welcome the Minister of State back to the House. It is only a few weeks since we were here debating a matter of life and death and the issue of organ donation is also very much a matter of life and death and we should reflect deeply on the opportunity to give life to hundreds of people...

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Sep 2013)

Paul Bradford: Will he be sacked?

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Sep 2013)

Paul Bradford: One of our most distinguished former Senators was the late William Butler Yeats. He wrote the famous poem "September 1913", a line or two from which is particularly relevant to the debate on the future or otherwise of this House. In that poem, William Butler Yeats asks: What need you, being come to sense, But fumble in a greasy till And add the halfpence to the pence.....In a sense, the...

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Oct 2013)

Paul Bradford: My apologies for missing the initial part of the debate. I trust most of it was a rerun of yesterday's budget debate. It is fair to say that during the course of the finance Bill and the social welfare Bill we will all have ample opportunity to go through the measures in more detail and make whatever suggestions we believe are appropriate. Perhaps in his reply the Leader might indicate to...

Seanad: The One Percent Difference National Giving Campaign: Statements (22 Oct 2013)

Paul Bradford: I welcome the report and the work of Mr. Flannery and his colleagues to bring us this far. Ronald Reagan described the following sentence as the most feared in the American political language: "I am from the Government and I am here to help." We are trying to encourage civic participation to a greater level. It would be a wonderful thing if the old Irish spirit of community help and...