Results 6,321-6,340 of 11,407 for speaker:Ivana Bacik

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Ivana Bacik: Senator Power is discussing related ones as well.

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Ivana Bacik: I support the making of amendment No. 5 having had a small hand in it with Senator Zappone. It would be useful to include a specific reference to the employee's or prospective employee's right to privacy to strengthen the already strong test and high bar that I have already referred to as the "one plus five" test. A specific reference to privacy in subsection (1C)(c) would be helpful and...

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Ivana Bacik: I welcome very much the acceptance by the Minister of amendment No. 5, which is a very straightforward amendment which seeks to capture the spirit of all of our concerns. We must put to rest the concern that somebody's marital status might be a ground of discrimination following this. Even without the amendment on privacy, it is clear from the wording of subsection (1C) that the action of...

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Ivana Bacik: That is explicit.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Legal Highs: Discussion (9 Jul 2015)

Ivana Bacik: I am a member of the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality and "herbal highs" is the more correct term in the sense that these are not legal highs in this jurisdiction. Is that right? The report said there is a lack of clarity regarding the substances' legal status. I wanted to clarify that. Did the witnesses mean that people who are taking them are not necessarily clear as to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: National Drugs Strategy: Minister of State at the Department of Health (9 Jul 2015)

Ivana Bacik: I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for attending the committee today. I also welcome his appointment, which, as others have said, is hugely important. As a member of the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality, I welcome, in particular, the fact that the Minister of State is now in charge of developing a national drugs strategy which is to commence after 2016. I welcome...

Seanad: Order of Business (8 Jul 2015)

Ivana Bacik: I add my voice to those who have welcomed the announcement yesterday of the new allocation of special needs assistants by the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan. Up to 610 additional SNAs will be allocated from September 2015. When the Minister spoke on radio this morning, she made explicit the Government's commitment that every child with an assessed care need would...

Seanad: Report of Working Group on Seanad Reform 2015: Statements (8 Jul 2015)

Ivana Bacik: I welcome former Senators, Dr. Maurice Manning and Mr. Joe O'Toole, to the House again. I thank the Leader for organising the debate which follows the debate on Seanad reform that we had on 5 May, and in particular on the findings contained in the report of the working group on Seanad Reform. I commend both of them on producing the report. We all share in the hope and expectations...

Seanad: Report of Working Group on Seanad Reform 2015: Statements (8 Jul 2015)

Ivana Bacik: I am just coming to that point. That is a very particular instance. How many people would be eligible to vote on the university panel if it is extended to all higher education graduates? The estimate is between 500,000 and 700,000-----

Seanad: Report of Working Group on Seanad Reform 2015: Statements (8 Jul 2015)

Ivana Bacik: -----and that would be for six seats, while there might be just 100,000 electors on another panel, resulting in very skewed numbers on different panels. There is a further possible consequence from the proposal in section 8 and I am offering this point in a constructive spirit. It is likely or possible that people would organise registration campaigns on a particular panel to ensure they...

Seanad: Report of Working Group on Seanad Reform 2015: Statements (8 Jul 2015)

Ivana Bacik: It is a draft Bill.

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Jul 2015)

Ivana Bacik: I thank all colleagues who at 1 p.m. today in front of Leinster House joined members of the Bosnian community to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre during the genocide that occurred 20 years ago this July. Also today, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, following representations made to him, has issued a statement officially commemorating the genocide from an...

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Jul 2015)

Ivana Bacik: I thank the Leader for scheduling the resumed Committee Stage of the Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill for this afternoon. I advise colleagues that this Bill started life as a Private Members' Bill introduced by Senator Moran and myself on behalf of the Labour Party in March 2013. On Second Stage, 11 Members spoke and, as such, there is significant interest in the legislation,...

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2015)

Ivana Bacik: I will be brief. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Ó Ríordáin, to the House on this his first appearance before us on this Bill. I welcome members of the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network, GLEN, and other stakeholders in the Gallery. I very much welcome the resumption of Committee Stage. There has been a long gap, as colleagues will be aware, of more than a year since...

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2015)

Ivana Bacik: I am conscious that we have had two goes already on Committee Stage and we are debating this somewhat in a vacuum. I thank the Minister of State for outlining so clearly what will be in the Government's Report Stage amendments. I particularly welcome the much higher bar that will be set in terms of discrimination on the grounds of section 37(1)(b), which is the real concern for all of us....

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2015)

Ivana Bacik: In light of what Senator Zappone has pointed out in her question about amendment No. 4, I would point out that there is a facility for us on Report Stage, under Standing Order 126, to recommit specific Report Stage amendments if the House believes there has not been sufficient time to deal with them because they were not before us on Committee Stage. That might be the appropriate point for...

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2015)

Ivana Bacik: It is a greatly improved Bill.

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2015)

Ivana Bacik: I understand the Government amendments are already with the Bills Office so they can be published without delay and well before the deadline to enable colleagues to put in amendments to the amendments.

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2015)

Ivana Bacik: I support the Minister of State's claim that it is about the context. A number of us, including myself, made the same point on earlier Stages of the Bill. While many of us, myself included, would like to see a complete change of the education system so that we remove the religious basis, that is the reality of the context in which we are working. That does make section 37(1) particularly...

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2015)

Ivana Bacik: Next Tuesday.