Results 2,441-2,460 of 4,465 for speaker:Jim Walsh

Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Jul 2010)

Jim Walsh: I agree with Senator Norris that studies were conducted in the United States and Britain which were not as objective and that the correct methodology may not have been used. However, we should not just consider the position in Sweden, rather it should be part of a process. There should be an independent body with no axe to grind and whose sole interest would be to come up with propositions...

Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Jul 2010)

Jim Walsh: While I had not intended to contribute further on this amendment, the Minister stated that the complexity of these issues - all sides acknowledge that they are complex - could be addressed by the Executive making proposals and the Oireachtas making decisions on the disposal of these complex matters. If it is suggested that this will be done under the Whip system, the necessary checks and...

Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Jul 2010)

Jim Walsh: I move amendment No. 9 a : In page 16, to delete lines 37 to 40. These amendments go to the core of the motivation that has prompted us to relinquish the Whip of our own party, which has been a difficult decision for all three of us. It goes back to comments we have made on the record over a long period about upholding the constitutional position of marriage, specifically for the reason that...

Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Jul 2010)

Jim Walsh: These amendments go to the heart of a very important issue and also challenge us in many ways. They are a test for the depth of our Christianity and our republican ethos. That is my firm belief. I gave my views with regard to guardianship which may have surprised Senator Norris. These issues need to be looked at and teased out thoroughly and objectively because they are complicated....

Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Jul 2010)

Jim Walsh: The converse is true. Why should we discriminate between civil partnership and marriage if marriage was not the institution into which children are born in the natural order? Without that issue surely there would be no need to have any such discrimination and there would be very little need to give any sort of unique financial assistance.

Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Jul 2010)

Jim Walsh: I do not. I mean that the natural order where children emerge focuses my mind. In the overwhelming majority of cases that will be through the institution of heterosexual relationships, specifically marriage. I was very taken by and wish to acknowledge that I was reassured by the Minister's response to us on the last amendment, tabled by Senator Norris. We touched on this issue and on...

Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Jul 2010)

Jim Walsh: Given that this is an extremely important matter I ask the Minister to consider appointing an objective committee, commission or group - I exclude the Law Reform Commission because its views are already on the record - to look at international surveys which have been done, especially in the United States and Great Britain, with regard to the impact on children of the various kinds of...

Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Jul 2010)

Jim Walsh: That is not true.

Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Jul 2010)

Jim Walsh: On a point of order, that comparator was not made. That is a distortion. I ask the Senator to correct that.

Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Jul 2010)

Jim Walsh: I am taken by one of the points made by Senator Mullen on testamentary guardians. Perhaps there is some scope within it for a resolution of this issue. Issues surrounding children need to be addressed in their best interests; there should be no other agenda attached. In that regard, to underline the complexity of the matter to which the Minister referred, some time ago I chaired a meeting...

Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2010)

Jim Walsh: I move amendment No. 1: In page 13, subsection (1), lines 16 and 17, to delete all words from and including "Civil" in line 16 down to and including "2010" in line 17 and substitute the following: "Partnership and Cohabitants (Non marital Relationships) Act 2010". As stated on Second Stage, we have a number of concerns with regard to this Bill. One aspect in this regard is the fact that the...

Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2010)

Jim Walsh: On Second Stage, I referred to aggressive secularists, as I have done before in the House. I believe we have seen examples of this in the past few moments.

Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2010)

Jim Walsh: The fact that in many ways-----

Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2010)

Jim Walsh: It is not my intention to engage in that type of intolerance.

Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2010)

Jim Walsh: I shall refer to this when we come to much more fundamental amendments in regard to what we will allow take place, whereby people of reasonable and tolerant views will find themselves in jail as a consequence of those views. It has been suggested we are mean-spirited. That would not be my intention in any way. Senator Bacik may have had a point, which I had not noticed until now, with...

Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2010)

Jim Walsh: In regard to the last point about equality-----

Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2010)

Jim Walsh: I believe I am in order to speak on issues that arise on Committee Stage. I am not trying to delay this. It is not our intention to delay. However, I wish to deal with that because the Minister made the same point in his summing up on Second Stage. I clearly put on record on Second Stage my interpretation of republican equality which differs from the interpretation of left-wing liberals....

Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2010)

Jim Walsh: I will withdraw the amendment.

Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2010)

Jim Walsh: I agree the amendments are important. They go to the core of the reservations people have about aspects of the Bill, including those who have children in loving and caring same-sex relationships. There is a temptation in dealing with such sensitive issues to sidestep them, but, while that is wise in some instances, it is also dishonest. I concur with the view of the previous speaker that...

Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2010)

Jim Walsh: No, I am dealing precisely with issues related to children, which are to the core of all the amendments. My concern is that those in pivotal, influential positions should be objective, irrespective of what role they occupy. I was amazed to receive a report from the Ombudsman for Children dated July 2010 given that the heads of this Bill were published in summer 2008. It is astonishing that...