Results 681-700 of 915 for speaker:Tom Clonan

Seanad: Sex Offenders (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (8 Mar 2023)

Tom Clonan: The Secretary General of the Department of Defence, Ms Jacqui McCrum, is a person of considerable ability and of the upmost integrity who has come to the Department and the role from a background in international finance and banking. I know that she would not mind my saying that she cut her teeth in international finance and banking in the city in London during the 1990s. I imagine, from a...

Seanad: Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Bill 2019: Second Stage (7 Mar 2023)

Tom Clonan: I thank the Minister for coming to the House. I came here to listen to the contributions because it is an historic moment. On the day before International Women's Day, I, like my colleagues, remember Vicky Phelan and the contribution she made. As an observer of this process, it is great to see the collaboration between different parties in our Parliament - those in opposition and those in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Disability Proofing and Data: Discussion (16 Feb 2023)

Tom Clonan: I thank our fellow public servants from the CSO for attending. The CSO is independent and impartial and the data it gathers are crucial to how we evolve policy and move forward in this republic. I echo Ms Gibney's call, which was reiterated by Nem, Ms Hassett and others, for the full ratification of the UNCRPD and to empower IHREC further to hold the Government to account and to report on...

Seanad: Domestic Violence (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage (15 Feb 2023)

Tom Clonan: I commend this amendment Bill. In my experience of dealing with gender-based violence over the last 23 years, I have learned that one of the significant features of it is the chilling effect the offence has on its reporting. Further to that, it is also my experience that prior to the advent of the terms "cancellation" and "cancel culture", in many cases where a person reports domestic or...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Disability Services (14 Feb 2023)

Tom Clonan: I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, for attending. Given the date that is in it, I hope it will not be a case of there being no love lost between us at the end of the proceedings. I hope to enter this interaction with a solutions-based focus. The reason I am raising this Commencement matter is the problem in recruiting and retaining personal assistants, which I am sure has been...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Disability Services (14 Feb 2023)

Tom Clonan: I thank the Minister of State for that. What she said about the permits is interesting because when my son's service collapsed in 2021 I tried to get a sense from the different care providers about what the issue was. Initially they thought it might have been Covid-related, which might have had a chilling effect. However that is definitely a positive development. That will help. To...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 Feb 2023)

Tom Clonan: I echo Senator O'Loughlin's expression of sympathies to the family of Declan O'Connell. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis. It is another loss for all the Defence Forces' community. I was so sorry to hear about this. I propose an amendment to the Order of Business that No. 130(9) be taken before No. 1 without debate. This is Senator Keogan's motion on Iran and the repressive...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 Feb 2023)

Tom Clonan: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Islamic Republic of Iran: Motion (14 Feb 2023)

Tom Clonan: I move: That Seanad Éireann calls on the Islamic Republic of Iran to stop its violent crackdown on protests, human rights defenders and journalists, and calls on the Irish Government to postpone the reopening of the Irish Embassy in Tehran until Iran stops its grave violation of human rights.

Seanad: Moving Towards Zero Tolerance of Violence against Women: Statements (9 Feb 2023)

Tom Clonan: I will speak on an aspect of violence against women in Ireland. We have a profound and persistent problem in Ireland with violence against women and children. The area of sexual violence, the darkest area of violence against women, is one in which I have a special interest. In 2000, 23 years ago, as a serving Army officer, I published a doctoral thesis in which I set out, in very great...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Raising Awareness of the Lived Experience of Congregated Settings: Discussion (9 Feb 2023)

Tom Clonan: I thank our guests or coming in here today. At the outset, I wish to say I have only recently arrived here but I am also coming from a lived experience that is quite narrow. My understanding of our community and of our shared experience is predicated on just our own family experience. I have learned a great deal since I have come in here and through the committee. I very much appreciate...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Raising Awareness of the Lived Experience of Congregated Settings: Discussion (9 Feb 2023)

Tom Clonan: Where they live.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Raising Awareness of the Lived Experience of Congregated Settings: Discussion (9 Feb 2023)

Tom Clonan: My daughter is 18 years old. She is a fun-loving criminal. There is so much anxiety, and I am just speaking from our experience. There is a constant failure of the home care package and my son has very few supports, so he has now internalised the fact he cannot expect independence. In his own expectations, he has internalised the idea he will always have to depend on a family member and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Raising Awareness of the Lived Experience of Congregated Settings: Discussion (9 Feb 2023)

Tom Clonan: I thank the witnesses.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (8 Feb 2023)

Tom Clonan: Teachers in school used to call me "Cloonan", as did certain senior officers with whom I was in trouble, but my name is actually "Clonan".

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (8 Feb 2023)

Tom Clonan: Gabhaim buíochas leis an Chathaoirleach.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (8 Feb 2023)

Tom Clonan: I refer to the Attorney General's report on the withholding of the disabled persons maintenance allowance from people in State-funded residential settings. I cannot begin to explain how offensive I find the language used in the report. The Irish Times described it as a kind of no-nonsense report. In fact, it is nonsense because what is lawful is not always appropriate or ethical. There is...

Seanad: National Forestry Fund: Motion (8 Feb 2023)

Tom Clonan: The Minister of State and I have had a very brief conversation about trees in general but the principle of afforestation is very close to my heart. Ireland is one of the most biospherically depleted countries in the European Union. It always strikes me when travelling through the country how empty it is of woodlands and trees, particularly native species and the deciduous mix we should...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (2 Feb 2023)

Tom Clonan: There is no need to apologise.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (2 Feb 2023)

Tom Clonan: I will address the recent nursing home fees scandal and the withdrawal of disability payments to 12,000 people. I have the experience, as a parent and carer, of the day-to-day struggle to accessing citizenship in this Republic. It is very difficult. We are an outlier in European terms. This country is one of the worst places in the EU in which to have a disability or to be elderly, frail...