Results 401-420 of 7,648 for speaker:Rónán Mullen

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (20 Jun 2024)

Rónán Mullen: That is fine. I will try and squawk in future, for all the good it might do.

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (20 Jun 2024)

Rónán Mullen: Thank you for that, a Chathaoirligh. I have already spoken to amendment No. 9. There are real concerns in relation to human trafficking in connection with surrogacy. It is bad enough that certainty will exist on the passing of this legislation, but practices that we would all regard as slavery are something we should avoid entirely. I note that the Minister says that he is striking a...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (20 Jun 2024)

Rónán Mullen: It was obvious last year that the Minister is entirely in facilitatory mode. It does not matter what human rights abuses are entailed here. The adults shall have what they want. Amendment No. 27 is obviously the international surrogacy version of the amendments to which I already spoke. I propose the deletion in page 77 of lines 4 to 6, which refer to a surrogate mother who is an EU...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (20 Jun 2024)

Rónán Mullen: I have just put it to the Minister that there is a risk of the development of a surrogacy industry. We know the international context here. We heard what the Ukrainian situation is. Senator Seery Kearney does not like the language but the question is if what is said is true. That is more important than courtesy. There are human rights at stake here. There are people being violated and...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (20 Jun 2024)

Rónán Mullen: That is what is at work here.

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (20 Jun 2024)

Rónán Mullen: We are not in the Stella Cinema in Rathmines where people get to react to what they see on the screen. We are talking about human rights abuses.

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (20 Jun 2024)

Rónán Mullen: Yes, and we have to be sensitive to the poor women of this world who are being completely forgotten by this legislation, who are exploited for their bodies, and the trafficking that is going on, the trading in children, the commodification of children, the denial upfront, in advance and forever of a child's right to be loved and nurtured by their birth mother, who has cared for them for nine...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (20 Jun 2024)

Rónán Mullen: Any advance? This is criminal, except it is being made lawful.

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (20 Jun 2024)

Rónán Mullen: It is precisely on this point. I ask the Minister to give me something better than his glib response that he sees no reason to confine this to EU citizens. It is the least he can do if he wants to pretend, however weakly, that he is not smiling on and counting on the exploitation of poor women by those who are in a financially advantageous position over them. That is the reason for this...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (20 Jun 2024)

Rónán Mullen: I apologise to the people in the Gallery for their being so badly served by such a weak and verbally inadequate Minister, who has no principles and whose only mission in life is to give the loudest and most influential lobbyists whatever they want to please the media but who is in no way animated by principles of justice or a reflective approach to inclusivity when it comes to legislation and...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (20 Jun 2024)

Rónán Mullen: I would be delighted to; however, Senator Seery Kearney was allowed to expatiate at length, not just once but twice, as I pointed out before the Chair came in. I am not going to stand for being the one who is constantly interrupted and asked to stick to the amendment. I am very clearly replying to what the Minister said, and I will do so. Okay? The first and obvious error the Minister...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (20 Jun 2024)

Rónán Mullen: I would also like to say “Up the Rossies” considering that I live only about five miles from the Roscommon border. I am as frequently in Roscommon as I am in County Galway. Fáilte romhaibh agus go n-éirí go geal libh. They are listening to the robust expression of our democracy, or what is our noisy democracy at times, but it is better to have a noisy democracy...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (20 Jun 2024)

Rónán Mullen: I will give way to the Senator if she wishes to tell me who said it.

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (20 Jun 2024)

Rónán Mullen: Does Senator Seery Kearney wish to be more specific? I do not know whether I have a friend who would say such a thing.

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (20 Jun 2024)

Rónán Mullen: I am willing to give way to Senator Seery Kearney if she wishes to name and shame. I will criticise such a point of view on the floor of this House. Does Senator Seery Kearney wish to name those people?

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (20 Jun 2024)

Rónán Mullen: Okay. Let me say clearly, when I saw the operation of the surrogacy committee, and the way in which Senator Keogan, in particular, was treated, I was tempted to wonder whether the normal, mature, careful, respectful, deliberate process we expect in Parliament and in its committees was being undermined by the fact that personal feelings were so strong around the issue. At one point, I was...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (20 Jun 2024)

Rónán Mullen: Any of us who have anything which looks like a vested interest should always declare it and she cannot be faulted on that score. Senator Seery Kearney is crystal clear about where she comes from. I have nothing but compliments for the Senator on this occasion. However, when one has such strong personal feelings on a matter, it behoves us all, as it behoves me when I talk about issues that...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (20 Jun 2024)

Rónán Mullen: There are a lot of people who do not have Senator Seery Kearney's advocacy skills and who are not elected representatives or powerful people. Those people wish to express their concern and some of them have been personally hurt by all of this. If there are people on the Internet who say ugly things then shame on them. If there are people on the Internet who say Senator Seery Kearney should...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (20 Jun 2024)

Rónán Mullen: I will speak through the Chair but I will not speak just to the amendment; I will speak to the charges which have been made. I hope we understand each other. I wish to reiterate that I oppose the stigmatising of anyone. An argument which has been used against people who oppose surrogacy is that they are somehow out to stigmatise the families and children involved. No, they are not. I...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (20 Jun 2024)

Rónán Mullen: Do you want me to give way, Minister?