Results 2,681-2,700 of 4,787 for speaker:Aodhán Ó Ríordáin

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Services for People with Disabilities (2 May 2018)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I thank the Minister of State for attending. I am raising the issue of access to St. Michael's House in Dublin 9 for day service users. These people are having difficulty accessing transport. The Department is well aware of this issue. In a presentation made to me last week, however, I was told that it had 788 adult service users who are transported to day services every day, of whom 200...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Services for People with Disabilities (2 May 2018)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: With the greatest respect, it does not really do much, particularly for the eight service users who are at home and cannot access the service because they have no transport or the 18 individuals who are transported by family members, something which St. Michael's House has indicated is not sustainable. I ask the Minister of State to reconsider the answer he has provided, particularly in the...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Services for People with Disabilities (2 May 2018)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I appreciate that.

Seanad: Order of Business (2 May 2018)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: The Senator can go ahead.

Seanad: Order of Business (2 May 2018)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I wish to raise two issues. What the women of Ireland need now is leadership from these Houses. I know that politics has a bad name, but politics can do much good in the coming days. I am delighted that Senator Norris mentioned the name of the woman at the heart of this scandal, Vicky Phelan. People have asked for this not to be made a political football and then have immediately engaged...

Seanad: Education (Welfare) (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (2 May 2018)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I concur with my colleague and I also welcome the Minister to the House. I appreciate the work that she and her officials have done in this regard. I completely agree with her. What she has outlined is not the intention of our Bill in any way. The intention is to bring parents under the compassionate arm of the State rather than having them end up in a courtroom. I appreciate the...

Seanad: Education (Welfare) (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (2 May 2018)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I appreciate the Acting Chairman's indulgence. I thank the Minister and I reiterate that I hope nobody thinks that the intention of this Bill is stick rather than carrot. There are principals like myself in my former occupation who had the situation where they could only deal with the agents of the State, the National Educational Welfare Board as it was then and Tusla now, if a child was...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: School Closures (19 Apr 2018)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I thank the Minister of State for taking this debate. The issue is about St. Thomas's special school in Clonshaugh. It is a small school, with a small enrolment, and a school that nobody really believes has a future, although that is not the issue at question here. It is a school where, through circumstance, all the pupils enrolled are Traveller boys. A decision was reached recently and...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: School Closures (19 Apr 2018)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I listened to the Minister of State's reply. I appreciate that the intention of the Department is to promote integration. I believe in that and look forward to the day when we have more Travellers in the teaching profession and as role models in the educational sphere. My fear is that in years to come, there will be three, four, five or six young men who will point to the closure of the...

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Apr 2018)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: Senator Norris should read his emails, a Chathaoirligh.

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Apr 2018)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: A couple of months ago I raised the issue of posters pertaining to this referendum. I made the comment that perhaps it would be best for all sides if neither "Yes" nor "No" posters were erected because of the sensitive nature of the issue at hand. I feel that even more strongly now. Walking past Leinster House today, I was greeted by an incredibly offensive and insensitive banner. Members...

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Apr 2018)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I join with others to extend the Labour Party's sympathy to the family of Big Tom. It is fair to say he was a music legend in that part of the world, but also nationally and internationally. I met him on a number of occasions at Monaghan GAA matches and I think that is where he got his nickname as he was a formidable midfielder in his club football days. I pass on the Labour Party's...

Seanad: Councillors' Conditions: Statements (29 Mar 2018)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: With studs up.

Seanad: Councillors' Conditions: Statements (29 Mar 2018)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I appreciate the opportunity to speak. The Minister of State may look at Senators speaking passionately on the matter of councillors' rights with a small bit of cynicism. I would not necessarily blame him as the vast majority of Senators are here because we got elected by councillors, in the main. We did the circuit and we went around to all the different meetings. To be frank, the vast...

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: Céim an Choiste agus na Céimeanna a bheidh Fágtha - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Mar 2018)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: Hear, hear.

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: Céim an Choiste agus na Céimeanna a bheidh Fágtha - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Mar 2018)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I had not intended to speak so my comments will be brief and I will not speak again. I understand that yesterday's debate was quite respectful. I was impressed in particular by the comments of Senator McDowell whose contribution should be read by every intending voter in the upcoming referendum. I find the question about who we trust strange. Some people will vote against the holding of...

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: Céim an Choiste agus na Céimeanna a bheidh Fágtha - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Mar 2018)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: It gives an indication of where his priorities on children lie. People are entitled to change their views. People talk about the journeys politicians have made. Again we have to return to the 12 journeys made today, the 12 journeys made yesterday and the 12 journeys that will be made tomorrow by very vulnerable upset women, who are being treated as criminals in their own country and who...

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: Céim an Choiste agus na Céimeanna a bheidh Fágtha - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Mar 2018)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: When someone like the Minister, in the articulate way that he does it and by showing the journey that he has gone through, is willing to take the flak and debate with those who disagree with him within his own party and across the Oireachtas, I have significant admiration for him as a politician and a man. We are coming to the close of this Oireachtas debate. I look forward to it going out...

Seanad: Order of Business (8 Mar 2018)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: On International Women's Day the Government is to be commended for publishing the text of the proposed referendum to repeal the eighth amendment. Every day I think of the children I taught in an all-girls' school on Sheriff Street. They inspire me. Knowing that - I hope soon - with the votes of the people, they will have full bodily autonomy in the future is something that should be...

Seanad: Technological Universities Bill 2015: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (8 Mar 2018)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: On a point of order, the ruling of the Chair is unbelievable. I drafted the amendment in three different ways on different Stages to try to secure representation by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions on the governing body of the technological universities and each time it has been rejected. It is unbelievable that when one tries, with the best of intentions, to work within the process by...