Results 1,961-1,980 of 2,078 for speaker:Mary Seery Kearney

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Disability Services (2 Jul 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: Good.

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Omudsman for Children Annual Report 2023: Ombudsman for Children (2 Jul 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: First, I sincerely thank the ombudsman's office for being an extraordinary voice for children all of the time. I had cause in recent weeks to defend its honour in the context of the AHR Bill, but I noted that it is well able to speak up for itself. There needs to be a context. Of course, the ombudsman's office sees the worst of everything. There are many children who live very happy lives...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Omudsman for Children Annual Report 2023: Ombudsman for Children (2 Jul 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: If the ombudsman's office has a complaint and it is dealing with it through a CHO or something like that, is it so siloed? If we are looking at systemic learning, is it reliant on a venue like this or the publication of a report? How does the ombudsman's office influence that?

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Omudsman for Children Annual Report 2023: Ombudsman for Children (2 Jul 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: Very good.

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2024: Second Stage (2 Jul 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: How dare the Acting Chair cast aspersions on us what we have to say?

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2024: Second Stage (2 Jul 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: We are wasting time talking about rubbish instead of getting on with what we should be doing.

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2024: Second Stage (2 Jul 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: This is important legislation to children who need care and parents who want to access the workplace and other places and need their children cared for. I welcome this legislation. It is important we extend our funding model for childcare to the extent that we ensure childminding is recognised for the professional service it is. Childminding has come an awfully long way in the past 30...

Seanad: Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Second Stage (3 Jul 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: The debate will follow the normal pattern with ten minutes for the Minister, ten minutes each for the groups spokespersons and five minutes for all other Senators. The Minister will then be called to reply not later than 2.05 p.m and will be given no less than ten minutes to reply to the debate. The Minister is welcome.

Seanad: Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Second Stage (3 Jul 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I am loath to interrupt the Minister but I need to greet our visitors. I apologise to the Minister, but he will get whatever time he needs. I welcome the members of the Ballyduff Lower bridge club, who are guests of the Minister of State, Deputy Butler. We also have two private guests who are here as guests of Deputy McDonald. I thank the Minister. He has the floor.

Seanad: Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Second Stage (3 Jul 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I know from tabling Commencement Matters on this issue that the Minister has been working on the legislation for a very long time. Well done to him on delivering it.

Seanad: Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Second Stage (3 Jul 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I welcome the Enniscorthy active retirement group, whose members are here as guests of the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne.

Seanad: Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Second Stage (3 Jul 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: Before we move on to the next speaker, I welcome the guests of the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, and Deputy Martin Browne to the Seanad. As naloxone has been mentioned, I note that the members of both the Joint Committee on Drugs Use and the Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth will all undertake training here in the coming weeks on the administration of...

Seanad: Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Second Stage (3 Jul 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: When is it proposed to take Committee Stage?

Seanad: Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Second Stage (3 Jul 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: Is that agreed? Agreed.

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Jul 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank both witnesses for their thought-provoking and frank contributions. If I could start with Deputy Chief Constable Wilson, when I read her opening statement and listened to her, the experience was that the cart was put before the horse. I heard a report from our Minister for Health recently that in Vancouver during Covid, there was a higher number of deaths related to overdoses than...

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Jul 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: Is there anything else that Ms Wilson would add?

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Jul 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: Very good. I will come to services and resources in a moment. Was there any notable change in the patterns of organised crime around drug distribution and drug sales?

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Jul 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: It sounds like Vancouver had already reached the disposition of being health led and the legal arena was brought in to support a position that was already adopted.

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Jul 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I turn to Mr. Russoniello. I apologise for my brutal pronunciation of his name. What I hear him saying is that there was an abject failure of multi-agency resourcing to support decriminalisation. What he is describing sounds pretty dramatic anyway. We currently have services such as drugs task forces, although there are not enough of them. Is there a threshold we should be looking for...

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Jul 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank Mr. Russoniello. It would be reasonable to say that Ireland's experience during Covid was that we had fewer numbers of people accessing supports and we saw a drop in people, so it is unfair for the experience of Covid to be used to roll back on decriminalisation. I can feel Mr. Russoniello's annoyance at that and I completely agree with him.