Results 3,341-3,360 of 7,582 for speaker:Rónán Mullen

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Dec 2017)

Rónán Mullen: On the issue of carers, thousands of people are in need of care and thousands of people are giving care that sometimes is the subject of a carer's allowance but many more are giving unpaid care. Very often, they are the hidden heroes in our country. We have heard the figure of 195,000 people giving care but at a recent health committee meeting, I asked our health officials, recognising that...

Seanad: Death of Former Member: Expressions of Sympathy (6 Dec 2017)

Rónán Mullen: Des Hanafin was a colourful, talented and sophisticated man. It was an honour and pleasure for me and many other people to know and encounter him. He had a major influence on Irish politics, particularly, but not exclusively, in the 1980s and 1990s through his support of the pro-life movement and his defence of marriage for its importance to family life and social cohesion. What Des...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Ancillary Recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly Report: Department of Health and the HSE (30 Nov 2017)

Rónán Mullen: I welcome the delegates and thank them for attending. One of them mentioned that in his work in the Department he was preparing for various scenarios, depending on what the Government and the Oireachtas eventually proposed. I ask him to direct his mind to another scenario when a referendum is held and the people decide to uphold the status quoto protect both babies and their mothers during...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Ancillary Recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly Report: Department of Health and the HSE (30 Nov 2017)

Rónán Mullen: Have we not received some already? I was relying on it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Ancillary Recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly Report: Department of Health and the HSE (30 Nov 2017)

Rónán Mullen: Thank you.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Ancillary Recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly Report: Department of Health and the HSE (30 Nov 2017)

Rónán Mullen: I meant to say in passing that after our previous exchange, I sought information, as it did not appear to be defined in law.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Ancillary Recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly Report: Department of Health and the HSE (30 Nov 2017)

Rónán Mullen: My first difficulty concerns who it is who defines what good counselling practice is. Second, the term "non-directive" is not defined in legislation and yet it seems to be thoroughly relied upon. Third, from what Ms Donlon has said, she does not seem to have regard to the particular constitutional context, which is that there are two lives to be protected. I am not promoting coercive...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Ancillary Recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly Report: Department of Health and the HSE (30 Nov 2017)

Rónán Mullen: Where there is a life to be protected then, how can there be this reliance on a vague notion on good counselling practice? Who says?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Ancillary Recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly Report: Department of Health and the HSE (30 Nov 2017)

Rónán Mullen: Does Dr. Holohan accept what I am positing about the exception being suicidality? A professional would hardly be non-directive there, would they?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Ancillary Recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly Report: Department of Health and the HSE (30 Nov 2017)

Rónán Mullen: I am talking here about what might happen if a person with suicidal tendencies sought counselling. This is a very delicate area and I acknowledge that I am a layman. I might be wrong but I also think it is the case that the HSE, or officially-approved websites at least, encourage people not to look at videos, for example, and that seems to me to be quite directive advice.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Ancillary Recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly Report: Department of Health and the HSE (30 Nov 2017)

Rónán Mullen: I made it very clear that we are not talking about coercion or prevention.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Ancillary Recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly Report: Department of Health and the HSE (30 Nov 2017)

Rónán Mullen: I think that people who are suicidal do go for counselling.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Ancillary Recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly Report: Department of Health and the HSE (30 Nov 2017)

Rónán Mullen: I am talking about people going for counselling and the context in which the non-directional approach does not seem to be the only show in town. Let us go back to my first question, which concerned the apparent disparity in abortion rates between Ireland and abortion jurisdictions. I would like the witnesses to comment on whether there is evidence to show what they think might be causing...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Ancillary Recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly Report: Department of Health and the HSE (30 Nov 2017)

Rónán Mullen: Have there been any studies?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Ancillary Recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly Report: Department of Health and the HSE (30 Nov 2017)

Rónán Mullen: Have there been studies on what makes the difference?

Seanad: Order of Business (30 Nov 2017)

Rónán Mullen: What can one say about David as he marks 30 years and seven months? First, I say ad multos annos. I am not sure that David and I are that much closer to a meeting of minds on many admittedly significant issues. He has certainly grown on me in the ten years that I have known him since being elected to the Seanad and I would like to think that I have grown on David as well. I have thought...

Seanad: Order of Business (30 Nov 2017)

Rónán Mullen: It was Pope John XXIII who thanked the Lord that he was not a liberal in his youth so that he was not a conservative in his old age.

Seanad: Order of Business (30 Nov 2017)

Rónán Mullen: I thought the Senator might like my example. Congratulations, David. I thank the Senator for all of the good that he does and I hope he will continue his good work. I do not know whether David would agree with me on the following. I know that he has been a critic of the abuses perpetrated by the media from time to time. I do not know what he thinks of the report produced by the Oireachtas...

Seanad: Order of Business (30 Nov 2017)

Rónán Mullen: It would be a miracle.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Termination in Cases of Foetal Abnormality: Mr. Peter Thompson, Birmingham Women's and Children's Hospital (29 Nov 2017)

Rónán Mullen: Approximately how many abortions did Mr. Thompson carry out under clauses C and D in the days when he practiced gynaecology, as he put it?