Results 6,401-6,420 of 8,245 for speaker:Bríd Smith

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Business of Joint Committee (29 Nov 2017)

Bríd Smith: I have a separate question on the method of voting. Was it originally agreed that a vote would be taken at the end of each module? I am not challenging this, it is just that I want to understand the process.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Business of Joint Committee (29 Nov 2017)

Bríd Smith: If there are members who cannot be here to vote next week, would it not be better to vote on the substantive question, namely, whether to have a referendum to repeal the eighth amendment, before next week?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Business of Joint Committee (29 Nov 2017)

Bríd Smith: Yes. I am proposing that option.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Business of Joint Committee (29 Nov 2017)

Bríd Smith: I propose voting on just one issue, namely, whether to hold a referendum on repeal.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Business of Joint Committee (29 Nov 2017)

Bríd Smith: To clarify, and this is as much for people watching and those in the Gallery as it is for myself. What we are saying now is that we would not be voting until 13 December, then the report would be drafted and we would sign off on it on 20 December. Is that the case? That is pushing it right to the very limit. If we take the votes on 13 December, then we cannot complete the report until...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Business of Joint Committee (29 Nov 2017)

Bríd Smith: By 14 December possibly. Can I just be clear that I agree with a short succinct but comprehensive report that will include all of the recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly, and that there will be votes on all of that and nothing will be left out.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Business of Joint Committee (29 Nov 2017)

Bríd Smith: Okay, that is fine.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Business of Joint Committee (29 Nov 2017)

Bríd Smith: The report will be ready by 14 December then after we vote on 13 December? I know we are going to discuss that tomorrow

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Termination in Cases of Foetal Abnormality: Mr. Peter Thompson, Birmingham Women's and Children's Hospital (29 Nov 2017)

Bríd Smith: I thank Dr. Thompson and I found his contribution very interesting. Following up on his last point, I think he has touched on something very important with regard to how we define what is fatal. Dr. Thompson is absolutely correct - once we are born we are all fatal. To try to put legislative structures on words and definitions can, as Dr. Thompson has recounted from his own experience,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Termination in Cases of Foetal Abnormality: Mr. Peter Thompson, Birmingham Women's and Children's Hospital (29 Nov 2017)

Bríd Smith: I note that a post mortem on the foetus is often recommended for medical information for future pregnancies. Sometimes the information that might result from that post mortem can be difficult for a woman to accept and absorb if there are issues about her anatomy and the possibility of conceiving and bearing to full term in a normal way. Would Mr. Thompson comment on the sort of follow-up...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Termination in Cases of Foetal Abnormality: Mr. Peter Thompson, Birmingham Women's and Children's Hospital (29 Nov 2017)

Bríd Smith: On a point of order Chair, may I ask Senator Mullen to justify his line of questioning before he proceeds with it? Mr. Thompson was not brought here to have his own career scrutinised. He was brought here to give expert technical and medical evidence.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Ancillary Recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly Report: Discussion (29 Nov 2017)

Bríd Smith: I thank the witnesses for attending. As regards policy, when the witnesses from the curriculum unit are designing guidelines for education for young people, such as in respect of sex and reproductive health education - the areas of particular interest for the committee - do they consider models from other countries, particularly those in Europe? Can they comment on evidence presented last...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Ancillary Recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly Report: Discussion (29 Nov 2017)

Bríd Smith: There are ten modules in the RSE programme: belonging and integration; self-management - a sense of purpose; communications skills; physical health; friendship; relationships and sexual education; emotional health; influences and decisions; substance use and personal safety. Which of those could contain differences of ethos? Can there be a different ethos in respect of communications or...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Ancillary Recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly Report: Discussion (29 Nov 2017)

Bríd Smith: I have a final question. Would any or all of the witnesses say that there is good sex education at primary or post-primary level in this country?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Ancillary Recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly Report: Discussion (29 Nov 2017)

Bríd Smith: It is not specifically about sex education.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services Staff Remuneration (29 Nov 2017)

Bríd Smith: 301. To ask the Minister for Health if he will examine the situation of heath care workers that work for section 39 organisations and are not directly paid by the HSE and therefore will not be paid increases to be paid to workers in HSE employment; and if there is a provision for funding for section 39 organisations to be increased to allow for pro rata increases for staff. [50857/17]

Social Welfare Bill 2017: Second Stage (Resumed) (28 Nov 2017)

Bríd Smith: Have I?

Social Welfare Bill 2017: Second Stage (Resumed) (28 Nov 2017)

Bríd Smith: I intend to ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputy Regina Doherty, a lot of questions and while I do not wish to be insulting, I must leave the Chamber after asking them. I will listen back to the Minister's answers tomorrow. There are some small but good measures in the Bill, as mentioned by the previous speaker, such as the extension of social welfare...

Topical Issue Debate: Television Licence Fee Collection (28 Nov 2017)

Bríd Smith: I thank the Minister of State for clarifying the bit about what will happen in the mean time but the plan as clearly stated in the report is to give the job of collecting the TV licence fee to Revenue. I further point out that the report is also ambivalent about whether it will give RTÉ the right to collect re-transmission fees from the likes of Sky and Virgin, whose profits I have just...

Topical Issue Debate: Television Licence Fee Collection (28 Nov 2017)

Bríd Smith: In the middle of all the palaver we witnessed today in the resignation of the Tánaiste and Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the communications committee was told that it had to rush through a report on the future funding of public broadcasting. The way it was done was shameful. It was a draft report, on which a full discussion had yet to take place, but we rushed it...