Results 2,021-2,040 of 7,582 for speaker:Rónán Mullen

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Following on from what Senators Buttimer and O'Loughlin have said, it is important that people dial down the rhetoric and get down to negotiation. I wonder whether the common good is being served by the kind of debate that we are having about the leaving certificate, calculated grades and-or a combination of both. What strikes me listening to the media discussion of this issue is that it is...

Seanad: Mental Health and Covid-19: Statements (12 Feb 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Gabh mo leithscéal nach raibh mé ann ag an tús.I welcome the Minister of State. In five, ten or 20 years' time when we look back at the last 11 months, or the first 11 months of the Covid pandemic experience, three enormous failures will be recalled. The first obviously was that towards elderly people in nursing homes. We will have to continue to reflect on that and the death...

Seanad: Mental Health and Covid-19: Statements (12 Feb 2021)

Rónán Mullen: I give credit for the good programmes and the public service information. I get that RTÉ has a public service obligation and a duty to inform the public. I get that they cannot afford to ignore the gravity of the pandemic. Even so-called light entertainment is engulfed by the issue with large sections of "The Late Late Show" now devoted to discussing Covid each week. There was even...

Seanad: Mental Health and Covid-19: Statements (12 Feb 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Can we get back to encouraging people to be resilient? To invite people to count their blessings, as we all should, is not to ignore the problems that we face because there are resources and there is support. Yes, there are things that are lacking and, yes, there are problems and we must be ceaselessly energetic about addressing them but there has to be a national consensus about the need...

Seanad: Mental Health and Covid-19: Statements (12 Feb 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Yes.

Seanad: Mental Health and Covid-19: Statements (12 Feb 2021)

Rónán Mullen: I take that on board. Finally, gambling is an issue that was raised by Senators Cassells and Joe O'Reilly on the Order of Business today. We must take on board the evidence we are hearing through our work of people who have relapsed into problem gambling due to anxiety, unemployment or sheer want of something to fill their time. One man spoke bravely on the radio last year about how he had...

Seanad: Response to Covid-19 (Social Protection): Statements (1 Feb 2021)

Rónán Mullen: I would also like to be associated with the congratulations offered to the Minister on this happy event in the lives of her family, the arrival of her grandson Arthur. It is hard to think of a politician becoming a grandmother without recalling Margaret Thatcher's famous announcement when she said, "We have become a grandmother", and used the pluralis majestatis. The Minister would never do...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (26 Jan 2021)

Rónán Mullen: I was also very sorry to learn of the death of former Senator Brian Hillery. I met him many times in these Houses and outside. In addition to being an accomplished person, he was also a very pleasant man to meet. Ar dheis Dé go raibh sé. Before Christmas, the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, published a report on her Department's review of the Prohibition of Incitement to...

Seanad: Covid-19 Vaccination Programme: Statements (26 Jan 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. The Minister of State has heard many important contributions. I will start with some words of appreciation to all the front-line workers who are working so hard in our healthcare services and, in particular, all the people who are working hard to get people vaccinated as soon as possible. We very much appreciate their efforts. I wish to draw...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Jan 2021)

Rónán Mullen: I wish everybody well. I also wish those who will be involved in the roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccine well. We depend so much on their efforts and we all know people who are in the particularly vulnerable categories who depend on their efforts. On the subject of the Covid-19 vaccinations, I would like to raise the situation that applies to residential care settings that are not regulated...

Seanad: Report of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation: Statements (19 Jan 2021)

Rónán Mullen: I welcome the Minister and I welcome this report. I understand why criticisms have been made and I sympathise with the people making those criticisms. Yet, I believe, looking at the commission, that it did try to be fair. I think a word of thanks to Judge Murphy and her commission is not out of place. It is a report that paints a sad and sobering picture of how women and children were...

Seanad: Report of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation: Statements (19 Jan 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Some of us were following it with great care from our offices as well.

Seanad: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Second Stage (18 Dec 2020)

Rónán Mullen: I am taken by the various speeches I am hearing in the Chamber today. Some of us are very much looking forward to the season of goodwill - the celebration of a time when the entry into the world of an innocent child brought so much hope to humanity - and yet what we are hearing today is about a real loss of innocence in our society and a lost of decent childhood for many children who should...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (17 Dec 2020)

Rónán Mullen: Touching somewhat on what was said about the rule of law a few moments ago, the Minister for Justice is proposing that there would be a judicial appointments commission comprising nine members, one of whom would come from the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, IHREC. He or she would be one of the lay members. That might seem like a good idea but I am afraid it only seems so....

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (16 Dec 2020)

Rónán Mullen: Writing in The Irish Timestoday about the Canada-Europe trade agreement, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA, Senator McDowell is rightly critical of what he regards as the cavalier approach of the Government to Oireachtas scrutiny. As we know, CETA would involve giving foreign corporations the power to sue sovereign states outside our legal system through the investor court...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (16 Dec 2020)

Rónán Mullen: Will the Leader take a point?

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (16 Dec 2020)

Rónán Mullen: I thank her for her comprehensive answer. I want to make it clear I am not having a go at her. I do not wish to do that. She is constrained, as the Leader of the Seanad always is, by the logic of power around here. I also support that legislation. I am talking about the Government, rather than the Leader. She has to do what she has to do. I do not care if everybody at the leaders'...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (16 Dec 2020)

Rónán Mullen: When will the legislation commence?

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (16 Dec 2020)

Rónán Mullen: When will it commence when enacted?

Seanad: Finance Bill 2020: Report and Final Stages (16 Dec 2020)

Rónán Mullen: I move recommendation No. 3: In page 10, between lines 10 and 11, to insert the following:“5.Within six months of the enactment of this Act, the Minister shall lay before both Houses of the Oireachtas a report on the operation of section 195 of the Principal Act, which shall include an analysis of the amount of revenue foregone as a result of the authorisation of exemptions under...