Results 41-60 of 720 for speaker:Tom Clonan

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 May 2024)

Tom Clonan: I raise an issue on which I have been contacted by survivors of the St John Ambulance Ireland of an appalling scenario where young people, who were handed over in loco parentis and in good faith to participate in the activities and learnings associated with St John Ambulance Ireland and that public service, were sexually assaulted and raped. I know myself from the work I have done in this...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 May 2024)

Tom Clonan: I again want to raise the issue of conflict. I have been involved in the conflict space for 35 years. I have never seen Europe so destabilised as it is now. We have an attack by approximately 35,000 Russian troops in the area of Kharkiv. I fear for a break out on the eastern front. These are effects that will be felt from Kharkiv right across to Lysychansk to the banks of the Grand...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Parental Bereavement Leave (Amendment) Bill 2021: Pre-Committee Stage Scrutiny (14 May 2024)

Tom Clonan: I thank Deputy Cronin for proposing this amendment Bill, which is absolutely essential. I had the experience of losing a daughter back in 2003. She went full term, but there was a cord accident at birth. It is very unusual but it does happen. She would have been 21 this year. Her mother and I were both working parents, which, as a result of economic necessity, is the case for everybody in...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Parental Bereavement Leave (Amendment) Bill 2021: Pre-Committee Stage Scrutiny (14 May 2024)

Tom Clonan: I thank the Deputy. Is the Government supportive of the Bill?

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Parental Bereavement Leave (Amendment) Bill 2021: Pre-Committee Stage Scrutiny (14 May 2024)

Tom Clonan: My fingers are crossed. I hope we can. I again congratulate the Deputy and thank her for putting in the work.

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Parental Bereavement Leave (Amendment) Bill 2021: Pre-Committee Stage Scrutiny (14 May 2024)

Tom Clonan: I was present at the birth of all five of my children. With Liadain, which was my little girl's name, what really marked it apart from the others was that it was a moment of complete silence. Childbirth is a noisy affair. A man in a delivery suite is a definition of the most useless thing on earth as you are there among midwives and all these amazing women, and it is usually women who do...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Parental Bereavement Leave (Amendment) Bill 2021: Pre-Committee Stage Scrutiny (14 May 2024)

Tom Clonan: I thank Martin and Caroline very much for coming here today. I thank them for sharing their story of their beautiful boy Stephen. I thank Nina for her contribution and a couple of things that were said really struck me. In the earlier session, I spoke about our loss. We had five children, one of whom had a cord accident at birth and passed away. As I said this morning, she would have been...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Parental Bereavement Leave (Amendment) Bill 2021: Pre-Committee Stage Scrutiny (14 May 2024)

Tom Clonan: Coming here and speaking in the way we have is painful. Sometimes, after a conversation like this, you can find yourself back in a place or be stuck in a moment that you cannot get out of for a day or two or an hour or two, but the work the witnesses do at Féileacáin is such a huge public service. A lot of people are just afraid to talk about it and they do not know what to say....

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Parental Bereavement Leave (Amendment) Bill 2021: Pre-Committee Stage Scrutiny (14 May 2024)

Tom Clonan: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Tom Clonan: I thank the Minister of State for coming along this afternoon for this Bill. I welcome my guests from all over Ireland - proud disabled citizens, parents and carers, all of us advocates for the fundamental human rights of disabled citizens. On section 1 of the Bill, before I start, I wish to say this is a deceptively short Bill. It may appear to be a small step but it is not. This...

Seanad: Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Tom Clonan: I want to speak to sections 2 and 3.

Seanad: Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Tom Clonan: I do not.

Seanad: Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Tom Clonan: I will explain when I address sections 2 and 3.

Seanad: Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Tom Clonan: I will also speak to section 3. I will have no more to say; I want to be brief. Section 2(1) to 2(6), inclusive, place disability rights on a legislative basis, therefore, making them fundamental human rights. That is consistent with the Government's campaign from last autumn and into the winter. Disability rights are human rights. I am mandated, under the UNCRPD, as a parent and...

Seanad: Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Tom Clonan: I think this goes back to a childhood fear I may have had.

Seanad: Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Tom Clonan: I thank the Cathaoirleach for his flexibility in allowing me to speak again. I think this is a great moment. It brings us into line with the rest of the European Union and other states. We spend so much of our lives fighting. Apart from the fear, trauma and upset, so much time is spent fighting. In my case, I am dealing with my child's disease. In other people's cases, there is a huge...

Seanad: Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Tom Clonan: The Minister of State mentioned the cultural change that is required. We are at a moment of cultural change. The narrative and our public discourse around disability is changing. Irish people now see it as a fundamental human rights issue. Everybody here in this Chamber - our guests, the Minister of State and her officials - has played a role in facilitating and accelerating the change....

Seanad: Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Tom Clonan: Next Tuesday.

Seanad: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 May 2024)

Tom Clonan: I move amendment No. 77: In page 30, between lines 21 and 22, to insert the following: “(2) Research and Innovation Ireland, shall, in so far as it is consistent with the proper performance of its functions under Head 9, and only to extent that these collaborations further support and fund competitive research and innovation, endeavour to secure administrative...