Results 2,461-2,480 of 7,582 for speaker:Rónán Mullen

Seanad: Blasphemy (Abolition of Offences and Related Matters) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Rónán Mullen: I have a little more to say.

Seanad: Blasphemy (Abolition of Offences and Related Matters) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2019)

Rónán Mullen: I will be brief. The point I was making is that it will be open to us in the future to see if any mischief emerges from the new changed situation. I had no problem with the existing constitutional provision because it was so harmless but I have some sympathy with the idea that in its absence, one might have kept the legislation, since it was already there, and doing no harm but in some way...

Seanad: Blasphemy (Abolition of Offences and Related Matters) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2019)

Rónán Mullen: It can and does occur today. It is not nothing and it is no accident that the single most targeted people in the world today for religious persecution are Christians.

Seanad: Blasphemy (Abolition of Offences and Related Matters) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2019)

Rónán Mullen: Not only blasphemy laws.

Seanad: Blasphemy (Abolition of Offences and Related Matters) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2019)

Rónán Mullen: It needs to be said that there is a risk in this country, because of a certain allergy to religion within the cultural elite, that not enough would be said and done to call out persecution of Christians where it occurs. I have always said that when it comes to migration policy, we should have a structured but generous approach, and we should not distinguish between people of faith, per se,...

Seanad: Relationships and Sexuality Education: Statements (25 Sep 2019)

Rónán Mullen: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. I agree with 50% of what Senator Ruane just said. When she says that sexual education and relationships and sexual education should always be accurate and condemns inaccuracy I agree with her 100%. When, however, she speaks about education being delivered in a way that is moralistic, I ask myself if she is talking about values and whether by "moralistic"...

Seanad: Seanad Reform Implementation Group: Statements (24 Sep 2019)

Rónán Mullen: I do not believe those things.

Seanad: Seanad Reform Implementation Group: Statements (24 Sep 2019)

Rónán Mullen: Jacob Rees-Mogg has taught us all a lesson on that.

Seanad: Seanad Reform Implementation Group: Statements (24 Sep 2019)

Rónán Mullen: I welcome the Minister of State. I will take as my starting point Senator Paddy Burke's comment that the current Seanad, in a way that has never previously been the case, is not under the thumb of the Government. I suspect that depends on how one defines the "Government". I am not sure that historians will necessarily take the view that this Seanad showed itself to be completely...

Seanad: Seanad Reform Implementation Group: Statements (24 Sep 2019)

Rónán Mullen: In other areas the Government has said that it wants to change the law and change things significantly, has sought the permission of the public in a referendum, and at the time has modelled what it proposes to do. It does not seem to be unreasonable that the Government, however one defines it in the current reality, would get together its preferred choice of Seanad reform and would make the...

Seanad: Seanad Reform Implementation Group: Statements (24 Sep 2019)

Rónán Mullen: A man from my own neck of the woods, Michael Tierney, was a very eminent Senator. It, of course, made sense in terms of inclusion of the Protestant minority and their voice in the new State to represent Trinity College adequately and fairly, but we need to be honest and say that this is an anachronism. I would rather see a generous election of Senators by citizens with no reference to...

Seanad: Parole Bill 2016: Committee and Remaining Stages (11 Jul 2019)

Rónán Mullen: I commend Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell on bringing forward this important amendment. Just as I supported her Private Members' Bill last week, I am very happy to support the amendment. I support the principle that judges should be in a position to make a recommendation. As I pointed out last week, and it arises here again, the precise amendment we are looking at would provide that a...

Seanad: Parole Bill 2016: Committee and Remaining Stages (11 Jul 2019)

Rónán Mullen: -----it is reasonable for us to seek to intervene at this point in the matter. Senator Bacik did a slight injustice to Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell in not acknowledging what she herself said, namely, that she accepts the principle of the Bill in general. This is an important point. What I hear coming from Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell is that she accepts the principle of the Bill but...

Seanad: Parole Bill 2016: Committee and Remaining Stages (11 Jul 2019)

Rónán Mullen: -----subject to a certain maximum and, I dare say, a certain minimum period also. I will make one final point in passing. Sentencing is the time to deal with the attitude that underlies crime and the circumstances surrounding it. There is a lot of talk these days about the need to name and create penalties for specific hate crimes. While I understand the thinking and sentiment behind it,...

Seanad: Parole Bill 2016: Committee and Remaining Stages (11 Jul 2019)

Rónán Mullen: -----but it is something I have been meaning to get off my chest for some time. I will take the opportunity to expand on it at some future date.

Seanad: Parole Bill 2016: Committee and Remaining Stages (11 Jul 2019)

Rónán Mullen: I was not endorsing an eye for an eye.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (10 Jul 2019)

Rónán Mullen: The rat was hiding in plain sight.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (10 Jul 2019)

Rónán Mullen: "I think she would like to have the baby in the same way she would like to have a nice doll." Those were the chilling words used by Ms Justice Nathalie Lieven in a British court recently justifying her decision to force a mentally disabled woman to abort her late-term child of 22 weeks in the womb in violation of her wishes and indeed the wishes of her mother, her legal advisers and a social...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (10 Jul 2019)

Rónán Mullen: I am sorry about that. I raised the case of the Hyde family recently. They moved to Australia and their application for permanent residency was denied because their child had been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. That incredible decision was thankfully reversed as a result of a last minute intervention by the immigration Minister in Australia and the family will be allowed to remain after...

Seanad: Genetic Testing: Motion (10 Jul 2019)

Rónán Mullen: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Tréaslaím le mo chara, an Seanadóir Norris, as an rún seo a chur faoinár mbráid. I commend Senator Norris. He and I often disagree deeply on important and sensitive issues. This is an important area of human dignity on which we certainly agree. I have some questions but I would not like to be seen as being in the...