Results 701-720 of 4,178 for speaker:Paul Gavan

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (16 May 2023)

Paul Gavan: I thank the Minister for the explanation but it is not an explanation. He has set out when a series of decisions were made. I am asking him to justify them. What is the rationale for excluding the 24,000 people who spent less than six months in an institution? It is a simple question. The people watching proceedings today want to hear an answer. I ask him to please give me that answer.

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (16 May 2023)

Paul Gavan: Well said.

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (16 May 2023)

Paul Gavan: The Minister has not answered.

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (16 May 2023)

Paul Gavan: At no point in his answer did he give an explanation for the justification for excluding people who spent less than six months in the institutions. He has not answered that question. I plead with him to do so. It is not for me but for the people watching proceedings. It is for the survivors, who have written to us in their thousands to tell us there is something fundamentally unjust about...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (16 May 2023)

Paul Gavan: Oh my God.

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (16 May 2023)

Paul Gavan: Could the Minister please show us some collective respect? We are not asking rude questions. We are not being unpleasant to him. We are asking legitimate questions on behalf of the thousands of people who have contacted us. It is not acceptable to sit there in silence. It is a huge insult to the very people that this Bill purportedly sets out to protect but, as I pointed out already, in...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (16 May 2023)

Paul Gavan: We are very disappointed that amendments Nos. 16 and 17 are ruled out of order. We hoped at least amendment No. 17 would be allowed. However, we must accept the decision of the Chair. The purpose of the amendments was to ensure the chief deciding officer is sufficiently impartial and independent. This is an important point that survivors would want us to defend. The office of the chief...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (16 May 2023)

Paul Gavan: One of the key points we are concerned about is that the office of the chief deciding officer should be independent, particularly in the recruitment of staff. That is dealt with it in one of the amendments that was not allowed. The intention was to ensure the chief deciding officer would have control in regard to the recruitment of staff. Can the Minister offer any reassurance in that regard?

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (16 May 2023)

Paul Gavan: One of the concerns we would have - I am sure the Minister can understand why we have it - is that the office may not be sufficiently resourced. It strikes me that we need the chief deciding officer to have the power to actually indicate that he or she needs additional resources and the power to appoint those resources. We know what happens generally otherwise. I am not hearing any...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (16 May 2023)

Paul Gavan: As we have just heard, several of our amendments have been ruled out of order in this particularly important section. I want to speak again about an issue on which, regrettably, the Minister decided to take a vow of silence around 25 minutes ago. It comes up again in this section and, of course, I have every right to raise it. It is the issue of the arbitrary, inappropriate and unfair...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (16 May 2023)

Paul Gavan: The Minister referred to the rationale behind the ruling on six months. Could he explain it to us?

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (16 May 2023)

Paul Gavan: I have listened carefully to what the Minister has just said, and I heard that the Minister is now saying that those who spent more than six months in an institution are more likely to have suffered. I think that is effectively what he said. I also know, and I referred to it earlier, that the Minister is a man of law. I know he is familiar with the eggshell skull rule, which means that...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (16 May 2023)

Paul Gavan: In that case, I want to come back in, because someone has to call this out. There is a horrific and unacceptable silence from the Minister here. It is completely unacceptable. I also want to speak to our colleagues in Government. I commend what Senator Seery Kearney said earlier today. She spoke out very clearly against the six-month rule. We have heard nothing from Fianna Fáil at...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Renewable Energy and Port Capacity: Discussion (16 May 2023)

Paul Gavan: I thank all our guests this morning. It is great to hear such positive plans and see ambition. However, I want to put some of the concerns raised by Wind Energy Ireland and at least give the witnesses an opportunity to respond. Wind Energy Ireland stated that, right now, those behind offshore wind projects still have no idea which Irish ports, if any, will be available to construct the wind...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (10 May 2023)

Paul Gavan: I want to raise two issues today, the first of which is that of family resource centres. Along with my colleague, Deputy Quinlivan, I stepped across to Buswells yesterday to meet a number of people from the family resource centres national forum, including the local one in Limerick, the Northside Family Resource Centre. We had a very good engagement on the crucial work they do. I think we...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (10 May 2023)

Paul Gavan: Well said.

Seanad: Courts Bill 2023: Second Stage (10 May 2023)

Paul Gavan: The Minister of State is welcome to the House. Sinn Féin fully supports this Bill. We think it is important to see it pass quickly. I commend the Minister of State on his work. The Government established the judicial planning working group to report on the number of judges required and their skillsets. This Bill, as we know, arises out of recommendations of that working group. The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Engagement with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (10 May 2023)

Paul Gavan: It is good to see the Minister. I refer to the issue of European works councils. I have consistently raised it whenever a Minister has appeared before the committee. Infringement proceedings 4021 of 2022 from the Commission to Ireland state: The Commission has identified a number of shortcomings in Irish legislation, which fails to guarantee the right of workers' representatives, the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Engagement with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (10 May 2023)

Paul Gavan: Having had 12 months to deal with this issue, can the Minister, at least, give me a timeline for when we will get a definitive response on this?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Engagement with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (10 May 2023)

Paul Gavan: That is exactly what I was told six months ago. It indicates a lack of priority from the Department or an ideological objection to granting rights to workers that workers across Europe have, which is extremely disappointing. I will move on.