Results 21-40 of 149 for speaker:Patricia Stephenson

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 Jun 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: Senator Clonan took some of the words - not all of words - out of my mouth in his contribution regarding the overreach of the US Administration in the context of US visas. It is deeply concerning. I am sure most of us will know students who have gone on the J1 visa and have gone to travel, or indeed we may hope to travel ourselves, to the United States and now are fearful that they and we...

Seanad: Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Bill 2024: Report Stage (25 Jun 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: Can I confirm that, in procedural terms, I should just speak about the amendment we are dealing with?

Seanad: Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Bill 2024: Report Stage (25 Jun 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: I thank the Cathaoirleach. I acknowledge Mary, Mary and Mary - I was going to call them the three Marys - in the Gallery. I hear what the Minister is saying about it just being a procedural aspect. We hear all the time from survivors that the schemes are inaccessible, difficult to understand, difficult to access and bureaucratic. I have a challenge with the idea that if no one has...

Seanad: Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Bill 2024: Report Stage (25 Jun 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: I speak in support of both of the amendments Senator Boyhan has tabled, especially about the report on the role of Sage Advocacy. I tabled an amendment that has been ruled out of order, which relates to this amendment. It called for the establishment of a survivor support and advisory office within the Department. I suspect it has been ruled out of order because of the cost implication,...

Seanad: Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Bill 2024: Report Stage (25 Jun 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: I fully support Senator Ruane's comments, particularly on the use of waivers. Last week, Senator Ruane and Senator Higgins spoke quite clearly when they discussed the human rights aspect of waivers. When we ask people to sign waivers for redress, we are basically saying they have no other recourse for justice within that and that is not the way we should be doing justice in Ireland. When...

Seanad: Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Bill 2024: Report Stage (25 Jun 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: May I comment, a Leas-Chathaoirligh?

Seanad: Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Bill 2024: Report Stage (25 Jun 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: Amendment No. 8, which is in my name, is grouped with amendment No. 6. I was not sure how the discussion was being taken.

Seanad: Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Bill 2024: Report Stage (25 Jun 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: We did hear last week that the Health (Amendment) Act card was originally designed for hepatitis survivors and that, in the instance of survivors of institutional abuse, they might not have the same medical needs. We have heard reports and I went back and had a discussion with people and that is simply is not the case. Many survivors have both physical and long-term mental health conditions...

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: IBEC Report on Infrastructure Ambition for a Competitive, Productive and Resilient Economy: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: I apologise; I was in the Chamber discussing the Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Bill 2024. I have not been following along with what the witnesses have said, but I will go back to it. This might be a bit duplicative, for which I apologise if it is the case. The witnesses have been talking about tax challenges. I think in May last year, IBEC warned the...

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: IBEC Report on Infrastructure Ambition for a Competitive, Productive and Resilient Economy: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: I suspect in the case of data centres it would be, given where the priorities lie in terms of infrastructure developments. It is often quite geographically based. It sometimes depends on what business is in that geographical area, leading to other communities missing out.

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: IBEC Report on Infrastructure Ambition for a Competitive, Productive and Resilient Economy: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: They have the right to make an input but some voices are heard more readily. Perhaps that is not in IBEC's remit.

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: IBEC Report on Infrastructure Ambition for a Competitive, Productive and Resilient Economy: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: Who is the individual?

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: IBEC Report on Infrastructure Ambition for a Competitive, Productive and Resilient Economy: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: On the planning Bill, which IBEC probably followed at the end of last year into October, how does the outcome of the Bill relate to IBEC's analysis around the public good and the changes that Bill introduced to the planning system?

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: IBEC Report on Infrastructure Ambition for a Competitive, Productive and Resilient Economy: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: Forgive me if this is not the right question, as it relates to the planning legislation. I would be interested to hear Mr. Sweeney's perspective on that when he is talking about the good of the local community. With the planning legislation, many local communities felt that decision making was being taken away from them and brought upwards to higher levels rather than sitting with the...

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: IBEC Report on Infrastructure Ambition for a Competitive, Productive and Resilient Economy: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: Many environmental activists think that it does not provide enough safeguards in this area. Mr. Sweeney talked about constitutional change regarding the concept of the public good. Does Mr. Sweeney have ideas about how to define the term "public good", at any given time, if he were to seek constitutional change? I say this because what the "public good" was ten or 20 years' ago compared...

Seanad: Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 and Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009: Motions (24 Jun 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: I am a bit out of breath as I was running all over the place trying to get from committees. I am very concerned about the continued renewal of this Act without any reforms. I understand the historical debates we have had, as I looked through the records. The question of reform is something that is discussed annually. The provisions introduced in the wake of the Omagh bombing were always...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: EU Directives (19 Jun 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: I welcome the Minister of State. I think this is the second time he has come in for a Commencement matter for me and I really appreciate his continued engagement on international development. I have asked him to come to the Chamber today to address the deeply concerning developments regarding the EU corporate sustainability due diligence directive, which I will refer to as CSDDD. It is a...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: EU Directives (19 Jun 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: I am grateful to the Minister of State for his commitment to those four areas and putting it on the record. I recognise what he says about simplification not being a race to the bottom and it is not about deregulation. We met Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment officials yesterday at the enterprise committee and had a good engagement with them there. I was concerned with...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage (19 Jun 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: I will borrow some time from Senator Cosgrove, as she is not in the Chamber. She had a previous engagement.