Results 1,661-1,680 of 2,078 for speaker:Mary Seery Kearney

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 Nov 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: I will raise two matters. First of all, I ask for a debate on health. At this moment in time, there is industrial action within the HSE but it is not getting an awful lot of publicity. It is not being talked about but there are real-life consequences. While I would not, for one moment, condemn industrial action, the reasons for it need to be discussed.The reasons for it need to be...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Legislative Process (15 Nov 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: The Minister of State is very welcome and I thank him for taking this matter. I got an email of apology from the Department of Health regarding this, as it is a very important matter. I have no doubt the Minister of State will deal with it very properly. Last year in March the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022 commenced in the Dáil. It passed Second Stage and moved on to...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Legislative Process (15 Nov 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: I will hold on to the words "in the coming weeks". I am aware from my own sources - and to be fair, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, is in regular touch with me as well - that that is actually faithful. I want to puncture one misleading piece in all this. We are not putting in a piece of legislation that has extrajudicial impact. We are saying if an Irish couple is going to pursue surrogacy...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 Nov 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: We have all had emails this morning about protests this afternoon and there is an unprecedented number of emails regarding Gaza, There is no question that the savagery on all sides there has been horrific since 7 October. I want to raise the point that, throughout this, when I go through the newspapers, I notice every day where Ukraine appears in the newspapers. It is falling further and...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 Nov 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: All of us would agree the Covid vaccination programme was an extraordinary success. It has been fantastic. All of us queued up, got our vaccinations, stayed safe and were kept safe in the main. So it is worrying that today Professor Éamonn O’Moore, director of national health protection in the HSE, has said there has been a low uptake of vaccinations and that we need an urgent...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Road Projects (22 Nov 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank the Minister of State. That is very important. I welcome Elle Lennox and Lucy Reeves to the Seanad. They are here doing work experience with me this week.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Disabilities Assessments (22 Nov 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: I say well done to the Minister of State, and thank her for all of her work in this area. I welcome Minister of State, Deputy Jennifer Carroll McNeill. I congratulate her on her recent lobbying and hard work on our behalf to try to secure a new EU agency for white collar crime. We are proud of her out there in Brussels. I call Minister, apologies, Senator Conway.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Disabilities Assessments (22 Nov 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: Indeed, he has already.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Disability Services (22 Nov 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: I congratulate the Senator and the Minister of State, particularly the Senator, for their consistent advocacy and for their modelling of what can be exemplary public service.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: School Enrolments (22 Nov 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: Before we take the next Commencement matter - this is of particular relevance to the Minister of State - I welcome the students from Our Lady's School in Ballinteer to the Gallery today. I thank them for coming into the Seanad to see us all. They are here as guests of the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond. Their other Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, is here so they are getting a double...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: School Accommodation (22 Nov 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: Before we take our concluding Commencement matter - this is also of relevance to the Minister of State – we welcome the second group from Our Lady’s school in Ballinteer, who are guests of the Minister of State, Deputy Neale Richmond. They also get the great opportunity of being here to see one of their other TDs, the Minister of State, Deputy Josepha Madigan, in action.

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

Mary Seery Kearney: I am here to ask that we have the Minister for Transport come before the House for a discussion on the transport and bus network in Dublin city. When I have submitted proposals for Commencement matters on this issue previously, I have been told it is not the Minister's issue, but the NTA reports to him and this organisation is bringing in major changes in this regard. From next Sunday,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Access to Palliative Care and Social Supports: Discussion (21 Nov 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank the witnesses for their statements, and also for the decades of incredibly hard work that has gone into the care of people. There is not one person in this room or listening to us who has not been touched in some way by a family member receiving beautiful and person-centred palliative care in a hospice. I commend the witnesses on that. What struck me in reading the opening...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Access to Palliative Care and Social Supports: Discussion (21 Nov 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: Kathryn Mannix is very strong on that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Access to Palliative Care and Social Supports: Discussion (21 Nov 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: I have mentioned Ms O'Reilly's movement.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Access to Palliative Care and Social Supports: Discussion (21 Nov 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: In principle, I am one of the people who, had I been asked, would have said I broadly support the choice of assisted dying. I do not want to give a misconception about myself. I differ from Deputy Higgins in that I think over these three sessions on coercion we have looked at mental health and discussed that. We have looked at palliative care supports and I hear the witnesses loud and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Access to Palliative Care and Social Supports: Discussion (21 Nov 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: I appreciate that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Access to Palliative Care and Social Supports: Discussion (21 Nov 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: I have two things. First, is it not reasonable that an individual, in anticipating their death and knowing they will have palliative care, would decide or want the option to decide that they would die while aware and that there would be a sense of being part of the saying goodbye? That is where I would see, perhaps, an option or choice of assisted dying appearing within palliative care,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Access to Palliative Care and Social Supports: Discussion (21 Nov 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: Somehow, that myth needs to be broken. The discussion needs to happen so that people know what death looks like rather than this preconception of how it will be painful, because that is not necessarily the case.