Results 1-20 of 177 for garda speaker:Rónán Mullen

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (9 May 2024)

Rónán Mullen: ...see the evidence and I am asking when the consultation report will be published. I note finally a small increase in the numbers of hate crimes and hate-related non-crime incidents reported by An Garda Síochána. I think the hate-related non-crime incidents have gone up from 72 in 2022 to 103. Hate speech and hate-related incidents are always to be deplored. We must use our...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2024)

Rónán Mullen: ...be to provide for a GP with a conscientious objection to the provision of the service in question who does not want to be in any way, shape or form to be used in the context of any threat by the Garda of prosecution or any attempt to move people on - people who are engaging in legitimate and respectful freedom of expression - in order that there would not be anomalous situation whereby a...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2024)

Rónán Mullen: ...freedom of expression on the grounds that certain other people may profess to be offended, hurt or wounded by it. It is entirely possible to make clear, and this has been said on many occasions by Garda authorities, that in respect of any wrongdoing that arises in the context of these protests, and we are living in an era of protest and an era where there is a lot of debate about the...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2024)

Rónán Mullen: .... The Minister has a document from the HSE and he has not quoted a single medical practitioner here today. On Committee Stage I quoted to the Minister - and will quote again now - that the Garda Commissioner made it clear some years ago there was no need for extra law. If I recall correctly, the Commissioner said the law was there in the Statute Book to deal with anything that would...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2024)

Rónán Mullen: ...point of view. The idea that the Government can do anything to restrict behaviour that was previously legitimate or restrict freedoms, including freedom of expression, has many people worried. This legislation is not supported by the Garda and cannot be said to be required in any way by the Garda. There is no basis for it in the context of the Government producing evidence of instances...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2024)

Rónán Mullen: ...peaceful dissent and not democrats. He is not being a democrat with this legislation. He was warned about this and people pleaded with him. We tabled modest compromise amendments. We pointed out the flaws, the lack of evidence, the fact that the Garda said the legislation was not necessary, and the fact that hospitals in Limerick and Cork stated there was no problem here. We pointed...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2024)

Rónán Mullen: ...it were rare, have a problem with the legislation because they are at least democrats. They would say that they are not on board with peaceful people, even if they are men, being targeted by the Garda. That is not just because gardaí are busy trying to deal with real challenges in our society but because this should not be the business of the Garda when it has told the Minister we...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Apr 2024)

Rónán Mullen: ...freedoms we always thought people had, freedoms that have not been abused. I have heard allegations and, as I pointed out previously, the law is there to deal with them and let it deal with them. The Garda Commissioner said the law was there and, as I pointed out previously, there have been no complaints from hospitals. We do not have a problem with people praying silently intimidating...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Mar 2024)

Rónán Mullen: ...good. For that reason, their attitude to abortion advocates is that when they say “Jump”, this Government asks, “How high?” This is even to the extent of bringing in legislation that the Garda Commissioner has effectively said is not necessary, because we have laws to deal with any problems that could arise. No medical institution of which I am aware has...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Mar 2024)

Rónán Mullen: ...a person is harassed or intimidated, I would be completely shoulder to shoulder with him in making sure that such intimidation or harassment would be against the law, but I remind him that the Garda Commissioner said the Garda had the laws to deal with any problems that could arise in this area. I hope the amendment put forward by Senator Keogan and myself will be accepted. If so, it...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Mar 2024)

Rónán Mullen: ...to be a good and exceptional reason for it and a considerable body of visible evidence making a case for a problem that cannot otherwise be solved. I brought to the Minister's attention what the Garda Commissioner had to say a couple of years ago. He has not contradicted it, nor has he dared to refer to it. To paraphrase the Garda Commissioner, he said that we had laws adequate to deal...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Mar 2024)

Rónán Mullen: ...anybody’s face here. Let those who do want to be in somebody’s face be targeted by the public order legislation. Let us have no more of this dishonesty from the Government. There is law on the Statute Book, as the Garda Commissioner said. Regarding those who want to witness to human dignity in a way that has not caused a problem in the eyes of the Limerick or Cork...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Mar 2024)

Rónán Mullen: ...not be that heart lurch. However, most of us try to be solid citizens. It is anathema to most decent people to think they would ever do something that might bring about a situation where they are approached by a garda and told to move on, that they are doing something that is not really considered socially acceptable, that they could be on the threshold of breaching public order or that...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Mar 2024)

Rónán Mullen: I am trying to address the issue of what matters in our society in terms of respecting people's freedoms. The irony in this case was that the garda was completely polite but in the wrong on the law and not acting in the best interests of a free and open democracy. Billboard Chris, a Canadian guy, was completely in the right in terms of asserting his right to say something that was truthful...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2024)

Rónán Mullen: ...on that, but it better be something more than the mere claims of a lobby group. As far as I am aware, and the Minister might correct me if I am if I am wrong, we have not yet to my knowledge heard the Garda Commissioner resile from his earlier statement. I see the officials are consulting carefully on this because I suspect this is one of those bits of legislation that is more driven by...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2024)

Rónán Mullen: ...another issue involving reports of coercion and people being obstructed - I do not know if the Minister used the word "intimidated" today - we would have chapter and verse. We would be told the Garda expressed a worry, as did the HSE and the Medical Council. The big claim would be backed up by evidence from credible sources. I look forward to hearing what the Minister has to say,...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2024)

Rónán Mullen: That is not true when it comes to giving evidence for a point of view that you hold. Say, for example, the Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris, said that there is a lacuna in our law and that we need to legislate because there is a real danger of people being intimidated when they access abortion facilities. The opposite was the message we got. If Mr. Harris had said it, it would be remiss of...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2024)

Rónán Mullen: ...idea of the university is clearly a long way from the Minister's ideas about what should be permissible in a university. I will accept one point he made which is that there is a possibility that a garda who believes with reasonable cause that a person is engaging in particular conduct can warn them. I accept that as a legitimate response to the question but I note the following. We have...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2024)

Rónán Mullen: ...us chapter and verse. He would be showing us the Government's own studies as to whether this was in fact a problem. He would be bringing forward evidence of his careful consultation with the Garda and civil and healthcare authorities, but he has done none of this. He is the one who is being brazen, coming in here today without even giving us the courtesy of a direct quotation from any...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2024)

Rónán Mullen: ...expression of ideas by people in good faith who are not out to be in anybody's face. The only point that I accept from the Minister so far this afternoon is that there is the possibility of the Garda warning. I accept that point but I would point out to him that this is precisely where the process can become the punishment so easily and I gave that example. I will not reiterate what I...