Results 1,681-1,700 of 3,697 for speaker:Lynn Ruane

Seanad: Companies (Corporate Enforcement Authority) Bill: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Dec 2021)

Lynn Ruane: We have created legislation that gives an authority administrative powers. I find it confusing then, and this aspect will not be within the remit of the Minister of State, that when we seek to advance other policies where administrative decisions could be made, such as, for example, in drug decriminalisation, we are told we live in a country that operates under common law and not civil law...

Seanad: Companies (Corporate Enforcement Authority) Bill: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Dec 2021)

Lynn Ruane: I will see if the Minister of State responds first.

Seanad: Companies (Corporate Enforcement Authority) Bill: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Dec 2021)

Lynn Ruane: Without this information being asked for explicitly, there is also no reason for it to be included, if the Minister of State understands what I mean. There is no reason for the new authority not to include this information, but if there is no requirement to do so, then there is also no reason for the new authority to include these details in the report. Perhaps between now and Report Stage,...

Seanad: Companies (Corporate Enforcement Authority) Bill: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Dec 2021)

Lynn Ruane: I withdraw the amendment.

Seanad: TRIPS Waiver: Motion (15 Dec 2021)

Lynn Ruane: I second the motion. I thank the Minister of State. I also thank Senator Higgins, who has shown great leadership and come from a place of being a global citizen and of caring deeply about everybody around the world, not just ourselves. It will be hard for anybody in this House to match her knowledge, experience and passion. We should all listen carefully to what she is saying about this....

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Child Poverty: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Nov 2021)

Lynn Ruane: I thank the witnesses for their presentations. I am sorry that missed the first two or three minutes of the meeting. There was a vote in the Seanad. My questions will be directed to Ms Bayliss from SPARK, Ms Smith and the Children’s Rights Alliance. First, I would like to pick up on the point relating to child maintenance. My office has been drafting child maintenance...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Child Poverty: Discussion (14 Dec 2021)

Lynn Ruane: I thank the witnesses for their contributions. I did not anticipate how anxious this conversation would make me today, but it has. It is clear we know all the solutions and we know what helps and what does not. We know about increased child benefit, social housing, the resourcing of services and multi-annual funding, but there is something lacking in how we engage with the systems. It is...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Jan 2022)

Lynn Ruane: I echo what Senator Hoey said about the health committee meeting. I had to turn off the camera at one stage as I thought I was going to have a panic attack. I thought I had been hurled through time, given everything I have stood for in this Chamber over the last six years and hoped that people were listening to me. I felt very disheartened and sad. I thought: "What is the point in me...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Drugs Strategy: Minister of State at the Department of Health (19 Jan 2022)

Lynn Ruane: With all due respect, the past 45 minutes, in particular, of this meeting have been among the most excruciating I have ever had to listen to when speaking about drug use in Ireland. I cannot believe I am hearing it in 2022. A lot more that was wrong has been said in the past 45 minutes than the naming of a building in the city centre, but nobody picked up on that and intervened, such as...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Drugs Strategy: Minister of State at the Department of Health (19 Jan 2022)

Lynn Ruane: If it is appropriate, Chair, that is not why the national drugs strategy was brought in. The strategy has been around for a long time.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Drugs Strategy: Minister of State at the Department of Health (19 Jan 2022)

Lynn Ruane: It is the version in my hand I am talking about. The war on drugs is criminalisation. Does the Minister of State understand that that is what that means? It is a reference to criminalisation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Drugs Strategy: Minister of State at the Department of Health (19 Jan 2022)

Lynn Ruane: As a politician that stands over policy, does the Minister of State understand that the war on drugs is about the criminalisation of people who use drugs? Does he believe drug users are criminals?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Drugs Strategy: Minister of State at the Department of Health (19 Jan 2022)

Lynn Ruane: It is not about stigmatisation. I am going to have to outline the basics. The war on drugs is an American system that came through the UN treaty. If the Minister of State goes back right to the 1970s, to his party, Fine Gael, and to the Fianna Fáil Party, he will see the conversation on what the war on drugs means and where the drugs legislation came from. It originates from the UN...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Drugs Strategy: Minister of State at the Department of Health (19 Jan 2022)

Lynn Ruane: I want to make the point that criminalisation cannot be uncoupled from a health-led approach and they cannot be offered up as two separate themes. They are intrinsically linked. We do not reduce harm or increase happiness unless we stop labelling and criminalising people for their drug use.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Drugs Strategy: Minister of State at the Department of Health (19 Jan 2022)

Lynn Ruane: I did not interrupt Deputy Durkan.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Drugs Strategy: Minister of State at the Department of Health (19 Jan 2022)

Lynn Ruane: The working group received 22,000 submissions on decriminalisation. The evidence to the working group on decriminalisation was overwhelming, but the committee ignored it on the basis that we are not Portugal. Was the main conversation at that meeting that the Garda did not want to give up its powers to stop and search?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Drugs Strategy: Minister of State at the Department of Health (19 Jan 2022)

Lynn Ruane: Exactly, and we are politicians, and we make legislation. As a legislator, does the Minister of State realise what the situation is in respect of stop and search powers?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Drugs Strategy: Minister of State at the Department of Health (19 Jan 2022)

Lynn Ruane: It is not about normalising drugs; it is about people and what they do in their lives, their agency, their supports and their networks. It is about not excluding them from society because of their choice to take drugs. It is about fixing the poverty and inequality in communities where we have chaotic drug use. The Minister of State's statement was very strong, so much so that I texted him...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Drugs Strategy: Minister of State at the Department of Health (19 Jan 2022)

Lynn Ruane: It is a very important sentence.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Drugs Strategy: Minister of State at the Department of Health (19 Jan 2022)

Lynn Ruane: The Department of Health does not favour decriminalisation. Is the Minister of State saying that the Department supports and stands over the criminalisation of people for their drug use?