Results 7,281-7,300 of 7,359 for speaker:Katherine Zappone

Seanad: Finance Bill 2012 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2012)

Katherine Zappone: I thank the Minister for his comments and his declaration of intent. I will be delighted to do as he suggests. I appreciate his comment that this is already in the law. Perhaps I misunderstood. What is already in law is that it is applied at the time of dissolution. My understanding was that the amendments the Minister accepted that are currently in the Bill provide that the civil...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2012: Second Stage (21 Mar 2012)

Katherine Zappone: I welcome the Minister of State and I especially welcome his opening comments on the expectation that the economy will return to full year growth. I also acknowledge Senator Darragh O'Brien's comment on the ESRI's troubling analysis. Is growth dependent on increasing the inequality gap? The Government needs to pay attention to that. This afternoon I will focus my analysis of the Bill on...

Seanad: Early Intervention and Family Support Services: Statements (7 Mar 2012)

Katherine Zappone: I welcome the Minister and I offer one compliment and two questions. Like everyone else, I compliment the Minister on the national early years strategy. It signals that she is championing a cultural shift from later to earlier intervention and many of us working in the sector have called for this for some time. The Minister is setting Irish public policy to view the zero to six years of...

Seanad: Action Plan for Jobs 2012: Statements, Questions and Answers (6 Mar 2012)

Katherine Zappone: I welcome the Minister to the House and thank him for attending. I also thank the Leader for holding a debate on our ideas for job creation in January so our views could feed into such an important public policy document as the action plan. I also thank the Minister for incorporating a section on social enterprise and social entrepreneurship in the action plan and I will speak a little on...

Seanad: Standing Order 18: Motion (23 Feb 2012)

Katherine Zappone: On a point of order, did the Acting Chairman indicate that the Committee on Procedure and Privileges voted unanimously for this proposal? I understand our group leader abstained from the vote.

Seanad: Standing Order 18: Motion (23 Feb 2012)

Katherine Zappone: I misunderstood the Acting Chairman's remark.

Seanad: Standing Order 18: Motion (23 Feb 2012)

Katherine Zappone: There was no vote.

Seanad: Standing Order 18: Motion (23 Feb 2012)

Katherine Zappone: I thank the Leader for allowing time for the House to participate in debate on this critical issue of the most appropriate and acceptable way to begin our work together each day as we sit as Senators. I see this as yet another way in which the Leader and members of the 24th Seanad are committed to ensuring reform of the practices in order that we are more effective, relevant, representative...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Feb 2012)

Katherine Zappone: I ask the Leader to clarify if the debate on the Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Bill will take more than an hour. I focus my substantive question for the Leader on the new relationship Ireland is developing with China and echo the remarks of Senators O'Brien and Bacik. There is no doubt that Ireland's strengthening relationship with China will bring about important opportunities...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Feb 2012)

Katherine Zappone: Yes, and I will get to it in a moment. Human rights is a critical issue. Ireland seeks election to the United Nations Human Rights Council. As we put ourselves forward for that election UN member states will examine our dialogue with other countries. The further development of our relationship with China is a prime opportunity to demonstrate our deftness as an honest broker and objective...

Seanad: Human Trafficking (9 Feb 2012)

Katherine Zappone: I thank the Minister of State for coming into the House and Senator Power for raising the issue as an Adjournment matter and sharing her time. As Senator Power has identified, and as the Minister of State is aware, the Independent group tabled a motion on this issue in October 2011 to criminalise the purchase of sex in order to curb prostitution and trafficking for sexual exploitation. The...

Seanad: Human Trafficking (9 Feb 2012)

Katherine Zappone: I echo most of what Senator Power said. I thank the Minister of State for being here on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality. I find it difficult to welcome the fact that the consultation paper will be ready in the matter of a couple of weeks, as I got that same statement on 20 December from the Minister. So we wait and so the enslaved women wait. I would like the Minister of...

Seanad: Order of Business (8 Feb 2012)

Katherine Zappone: I wish to offer my sympathies to the family in Brookfield, west Tallaght, an area I know well. I also echo and affirm what Senator Bacik has said in respect of the fiscal compact treaty and the suggestion of Senator O'Brien is perfectly sensible. Obviously, this is one of the prime issues that we should be discussing here. Last night, RTE screened an investigative report, "Prime Time:...

Seanad: EU Fiscal Compact Treaty: Statements, Questions and Answers (7 Feb 2012)

Katherine Zappone: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Creighton, to the House and thank her for coming to hear our views prior to the publication of the fiscal responsibility Bill. I note her comments at the beginning of her speech about the Government's commitment and the importance of engaging with the Houses of the Oireachtas. Shall we take it this is another sign of the relevance of Seanad Éireann?...

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Feb 2012)

Katherine Zappone: I wish to ask about the heads of the Bill on personal insolvency released recently by the Minister for Justice and Equality. I heartily welcome the publication of the heads of the Bill as there is great promise in them and they contain many of the elements that a modern system should contain. They also form part of the Government's response to implementing the recommendations of the Keane...

Seanad: Priorities in Foreign Affairs: Statements (2 Feb 2012)

Katherine Zappone: I welcome the Minister and the secretary general of the OSCE. My comments bring a human rights lens to this exchange. This week I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Anne Anderson, Ireland's ambassador to the United Nations. She is working closely with the Minister in Ireland's efforts to be elected to the Human Rights Council, as the Minister outlined. Should we succeed, it would be a prime...

Seanad: Services for People with Disabilities: Motion (25 Jan 2012)

Katherine Zappone: I welcome the Minister of State to the House again. I thank and acknowledge the leadership of Senator Mary Ann O'Brien in our group in terms of this issue and her passion for it and thank Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell for supporting her. In fact, all of us in the group are involved in putting the motion forward as we all believe it is extremely important. I agree with Senator Quinn on the...

Seanad: Services for People with Disabilities: Motion (25 Jan 2012)

Katherine Zappone: As Senator Barrett concluded, if we make this an agreed Seanad motion, we can keep it on the agenda in a different way rather than voting down the motion. It is clear that while both the motion and amendment share common ground and are largely in agreement, the focus of our motion has more to do with inclusion and participation, as sense of urgency and a rights-based approach.

Seanad: Suicide Prevention: Statements (12 Jan 2012)

Katherine Zappone: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I commence my contribution with the words of a gentleman in his late 20s, reflecting on his youth. These words appear on a research study commissioned by the Health Service Executive in 2009, entitled, Supporting LBGT- lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender lives. It reads: It was not the being gay that made me feel suicidal, it was all the...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Jan 2012)

Katherine Zappone: Reports in the media this week indicate that women only shelters for those who are homeless in Dublin have been redesignated as mixed gender. This is a cause of great concern to groups such as Sonas Housing which is working with vulnerable women who are now being accommodated in a chaotic, mixed gender dormitory situation. I have a question for the Leader arising from that which also...