Results 3,761-3,780 of 7,412 for speaker:Neasa Hourigan
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services (Safe Access Zones)) Bill 2022: An Garda Síochána (9 Nov 2022)
Neasa Hourigan: In Ms McMahon's first contribution, did she say she did not have the statistics for attendance at the kinds of protests we are discussing today?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services (Safe Access Zones)) Bill 2022: An Garda Síochána (9 Nov 2022)
Neasa Hourigan: Why not?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services (Safe Access Zones)) Bill 2022: An Garda Síochána (9 Nov 2022)
Neasa Hourigan: It should not be an issue for the Garda. Ms McMahon was asked to appear before the Joint Committee on Health to discuss legislation relating to a very particular type of protest. I presume it is possible to know how many times the Garda has been called to a protest without necessarily giving a location. I actually do not see what the problem would be with giving a location. Does Ms...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services (Safe Access Zones)) Bill 2022: An Garda Síochána (9 Nov 2022)
Neasa Hourigan: Is Ms McMahon saying she does not have it today or that it has never been collated.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services (Safe Access Zones)) Bill 2022: An Garda Síochána (9 Nov 2022)
Neasa Hourigan: Is it on a system somewhere? Is the Garda collecting data specific to this type of protest?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services (Safe Access Zones)) Bill 2022: An Garda Síochána (9 Nov 2022)
Neasa Hourigan: Not under the Public Order Act. Is there a data set showing protests outside healthcare facilities?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services (Safe Access Zones)) Bill 2022: An Garda Síochána (9 Nov 2022)
Neasa Hourigan: We have just lived through the Covid pandemic. I take Ms McMahon's point and I do not think Covid is a very good analogy for the work we are doing today. I sat in the conference centre and witnessed protests with about 2,000 people. However, in Limerick and other places protests outside hospitals involve 15 to 25 people. I am not sure it is analogous. Is the Garda collecting and...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services (Safe Access Zones)) Bill 2022: An Garda Síochána (9 Nov 2022)
Neasa Hourigan: Is it recorded as a general protest or as a protest relating to healthcare?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services (Safe Access Zones)) Bill 2022: An Garda Síochána (9 Nov 2022)
Neasa Hourigan: Therefore, there is no way for me to look at that data set and differentiate it from a protest related to Covid, for example.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services (Safe Access Zones)) Bill 2022: An Garda Síochána (9 Nov 2022)
Neasa Hourigan: The witnesses have stated here today that they believe that this legislation is not required and we are well served by the current legislation. However, they have provided no data for that.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services (Safe Access Zones)) Bill 2022: An Garda Síochána (9 Nov 2022)
Neasa Hourigan: A short while ago, Mr. McNamara said that we are well served and that the current Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act is sufficient.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services (Safe Access Zones)) Bill 2022: An Garda Síochána (9 Nov 2022)
Neasa Hourigan: If Ms McMahon is making that thesis to us, I would expect to see some data supporting it. Would that be fair? I have attended many policing forums at which the first question residents ask is, "What's is our data? How many burglaries have there been? How many assaults have there been?" That is the first thing they ask the gardaí.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services (Safe Access Zones)) Bill 2022: An Garda Síochána (9 Nov 2022)
Neasa Hourigan: In the context of saying the rights of individuals-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services (Safe Access Zones)) Bill 2022: An Garda Síochána (9 Nov 2022)
Neasa Hourigan: Let us get back to the data. Is Ms McMahon saying the Garda has no data about its ability to police protests around healthcare facilities?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services (Safe Access Zones)) Bill 2022: An Garda Síochána (9 Nov 2022)
Neasa Hourigan: But not healthcare protests. For example, we are all here in Leinster House. There have been protests by all sorts of civil society groups on the cost of living, Covid and everything else. At the moment the data relate to general public order and not to healthcare protections. Is that correct?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services (Safe Access Zones)) Bill 2022: An Garda Síochána (9 Nov 2022)
Neasa Hourigan: We have talked today about the difficulty in an urban area. For example, around the corner from the Rotunda is the Hugh Lane Gallery which is a very popular place for people to gather for a protest. Identifying the location might not imply what the protest was about. It is quite likely, for example, that someone who is anti-choice might be protesting in the location of the Rotunda and not...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services (Safe Access Zones)) Bill 2022: An Garda Síochána (9 Nov 2022)
Neasa Hourigan: If, for example, there were white coffins outside a maternity hospital, PULSE would have that. That is a very long pause.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services (Safe Access Zones)) Bill 2022: An Garda Síochána (9 Nov 2022)
Neasa Hourigan: I turn to the issue of deciding the line. How do we do that with polling stations? They are a good analogy because they are in schools up and down the country and right at the heart of everybody's community. How are people told about the 50 m law with regard to polling stations?