Results 1,841-1,860 of 3,644 for speaker:Mark Ward

Joint Committee On Health: Addiction Services: Discussion (14 Jun 2022)

Mark Ward: The only time you hear of these great successes is when people share their own lived experience of wherever they are coming from.

Autism Bill 2022: Second Stage [Private Members] (29 Jun 2022)

Mark Ward: I too thank the Labour Party for bringing forward the Bill and allowing me the opportunity to speak to the challenges people with autism face. Some challenges they have are pronounced, such as those relating to social interaction and communication, repetitive and restrictive patterns of behaviour and sensory processing. These challenges are bad enough, but the greatest challenge they face...

Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 Jun 2022)

Mark Ward: I want to speak about the speed at which the Bill has progressed through the House. It has been quite difficult for people to engage in the process. On Committee Stage we heard people felt they were excluded from the process, particularly people with disabilities who felt the speed of the process excluded them. Nobody wants the Bill delayed but we want to get it right. The 90-minute...

Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 Jun 2022)

Mark Ward: I welcome that the Minister will seek a resolution in the Seanad and I will watch that intently. I am happy the Minister did not use the language he used on Committee Stage in saying people detained under the Mental Health Act 2001 could be a risk to themselves and others. That language caused upset and it was a generalisation that stigmatised people detained under the Mental Health Act....

Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 Jun 2022)

Mark Ward: I want to speak to amendment No. 65. The Disability Act 2005 takes an overly medical model approach to the definition of disability as compared with the conceptualisation of disability under Article 1 of the UNCRPD. The UN's understanding of disability is broader than that covered under the Disability Act and is more inclusive of and reflective of different experiences, including for people...

Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 Jun 2022)

Mark Ward: It is my understanding that, since Committee Stage, IHREC has changed its position in its recent recruitment campaign for new members of its disability advisory group by using the UNCRPD's understanding of disability rather than that in the Disability Act 2005. As I said, this is more inclusive and facilitates the participation of more people, including people with experience of mental...

Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 Jun 2022)

Mark Ward: We will be opposing this amendment as it gives a legislative basis to inherent jurisdiction. Inherent jurisdiction creates a loophole which allows the court to deny a person's legal capacity and makes decisions for them without following the rules of any specific legislation providing a specific basis for appeals or ensuring regular review. It allows the court to determine and forcibly...

Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 Jun 2022)

Mark Ward: There are always alternatives to forced psychiatric treatment which are more compliant with an individual's human rights if the Minister was minded to fund and resource peer-led human rights compliant initiatives. However, this amendment brings the law further from compliance with the UNCRPD.

Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 Jun 2022)

Mark Ward: There has been a shift in focus from deeming a person does not have capacity to an equal recognition of legal capacity. As per Article 12 of the UNCRPD, legal capacity is an inherent right owed to everyone. This is about moving to a recognition that everyone has legal capacity but still holds the understanding that where you may not be able to understand, will and preference decision-making...

Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 Jun 2022)

Mark Ward: I will not repeat everything Deputy Cairns just said but the UN committee has made clear the functional test of mental capacity has no place in a true system of supported decision-making. I understand accepting this amendment would require further amendments to the Bill and the principal Act. However, it is preferable these amendments take place now to ensure this State is as close as...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Mental Health Services (28 Jun 2022)

Mark Ward: 783. To ask the Minister for Health when external support services are to resume at the Central Mental Hospital given the fact that vulnerable adults are in need of support and external volunteer services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33782/22]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Mental Health Services (28 Jun 2022)

Mark Ward: 784. To ask the Minister for Health the reason external support services have not resumed at the Central Mental Hospital, given that hospice services and other drop-in services around the country have resumed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33783/22]

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Disability Services (29 Jun 2022)

Mark Ward: 115. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost of funding a national advocacy service for people with disabilities in 2023; the cost of a youth and adult advocacy programme, with the inclusion of psychosocial disabilities, in the advocacy service; the cost of the national advocacy service in 2022; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34687/22]

Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Second Stage (1 Jul 2022)

Mark Ward: I will focus the little time I have on the part of this Bill that attempts to deal with the Stardust tragedy. I was only six years old in 1981 and I do not remember the tragedy happening. What I remember is the lingering conversations over the years about how 48 young people went to a St. Valentine's eve disco and never came home. I remember how the adults in my life were upset not just by...

Education (Provision in Respect of Children with Special Educational Needs) Bill 2022: Second Stage (1 Jul 2022)

Mark Ward: I welcome this emergency legislation to shorten the notice period for schools being instructed to accommodate pupils with special educational needs. As my colleague Deputy Ó Laoghaire said, Sinn Féin has been calling for this for many weeks. While it will not solve every issue, it will be an important step forward. I commend the campaign by parents of children with special...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services Staff (30 Jun 2022)

Mark Ward: 279. To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide a report on the number of public health nurses in Dublin mid-west in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35040/22]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services Staff (30 Jun 2022)

Mark Ward: 280. To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide a report on the number of public health nurses per CHO area in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35041/22]

Cost of Disability: Motion [Private Members] (6 Jul 2022)

Mark Ward: I commend and thank Deputy Cairns and the Social Democrats for bringing forward this important motion. The Opposition is united on this issue. However, here we are again having a debate on another motion. What the people in the Gallery demand and need today is to see the urgent action that is required to help people with disabilities to have a better quality of life. As was said...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions (6 Jul 2022)

Mark Ward: 50. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he has plans to review current pension abatement arrangements for ex-Defence Forces personnel who on completion of service take up employment in another area of the public service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36570/22]