Results 1,681-1,700 of 1,827 for speaker:Jillian van Turnhout

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: I thank Dr. Shannon. It is always a pleasure to listen to him. He has given us another masterclass and has made points I am sure will be repeated in both Houses as we debate this legislation. It is very welcome to hear the right to identity being highlighted in the way Dr. Shannon has highlighted it. All too often we hear about the right to privacy as if it were a right that trumped all...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: I thank Mr. McBride for his presentation and appearing before the committee. I would like to address a wider issue in his presentation that has been raised in the committee before, which is in the area of adoption and the number of prospective adoptive parents who are coming to Tusla. At what point does one actually tell prospective parents the reality of children who are available for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: I want to come back to two points the witnesses raised, in respect of the compelling reasons or understanding. While we have not been able to tie it down, we are talking about an absolute exception, a life or death situation. There is no other compelling reason. We will try to ring-fence that to make absolutely clear what a compelling reason is. Ms Mugan said that many women the agency...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: We can hear one of the TV monitors showing live feed from the Dáil.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: I welcome the Minister and thank him and his officials for the work they have done on this Bill. As the Minister said, we are anxious that people can access as much information as possible and that this can be done in a sensitive manner. Dr. Geoffrey Shannon appeared before the committee this morning and he said something quite striking, that we cannot rewrite the past but, equally, we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: The Child and Family Agency raised this issue with us.

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second Stage (4 Nov 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: I welcome the Minister to the House. This Bill is very welcome and I will work with the Minister to ensure we can get it through the House. We all know an election is coming up and the Bill needs to be passed, but I have certain concerns similar to what Senator Mooney outlined. I would have liked the Bill to go further. For example, it is not a wholesale revision of the now outdated Child...

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second Stage (4 Nov 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: It is often up to 16 years of age.

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second Stage (4 Nov 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: Hear, hear.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: To pick up on Deputy McLellan's last point, it has been great to get the representatives' presentations and they show us the complexity and importance of the issues with which we are dealing in this Bill. I thank each of the representatives for their presentations. We will not cover each of the points raised but that does not mean the committee is not considering them. We will not cover...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: That has changed since 2010. The adoption certificate-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: They already had it, but anybody now going for a certificate-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: Exactly and I agree with Ms Gilmartin on that, it is just that it has changed since then.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: I thank the Chairman and I thank all who presented to the committee today. I thought I knew quite a lot about the matter but it is always good to hear different perspectives and to probe how we feel on the different issues. In regard to the legal inputs, it is very welcome to have it on the record of the House and - while it is at variance with the Department's legal people - I think it is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: While we could contact people, we would need to be sensitive in doing so, given that some people may have put their names on the contact preference register discreetly. We would not send a big pack through people's doors, but I agree that it should be feasible.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: Will it be published?

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Bill 2013: Second Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: The good thing about speaking at this point in the debate is that many Members have raised the issues I wished to raise. I will, therefore, try to keep my contribution succinct. The Minister of State is very welcome. I commend her and her officials for all the work they have done on the Bill which is so important to so many people for whom we care in our lives and which has the potential...

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: I move amendment No. 2:In page 5, between lines 26 and 27, to insert the following:“Amendment of section 29 of Principal Act5. Section 29 of the Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following new subsection after subsection (4):“(4A) In subsection (5), ‘relevant court documents’, in relation to any proceedings referred to in that subsection-- (a)...

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: I appreciate this amendment is not necessarily in the Bill’s scope. Accordingly, I will not press it today but will withdraw it to re-examine its formulation for Report Stage. I am cognisant of the right to privacy. Equally, however, I am also cognisant of the importance of public transparency, scrutiny and reporting of what is happening in these cases. Part of that is we actually...

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: On section 5, although I appreciate that the amendments I tabled were ruled out of order, they actually get to the very heart of the issues and they also support what Senator Mooney is saying. I wished for the word "may" to be changed to "shall". The whole purpose behind the Bill - the heart of the Bill - is to ensure that the safety net is there every day for children who are aging out by...