Results 7,301-7,320 of 21,514 for speaker:Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: I move amendment No. 32: In page 35, subsection (1), line 23, after “to” where it firstly occurs to insert “the Board of”.We accepted the Minister's amendment to section 46 to substitute "chairperson" in favour of "chief executive officer". I hope that the same spirit will apply now. With regard to the board and chairperson, section 47(1) is unclear on the power...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: First, to the Minister's credit, nobody questioned her bone fides in this regard, but let me also remind her that we are all only here for the time being - FTB. We may be TDs but we are all FTB. It is not that I am forecasting the Government's demise any time soon, although I would welcome it-----

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: It is relevant. There will be a signalled shuffle at some point in time.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: There is no guarantee that the Minister, whose bona fides we do not question, will remain the Minister. The amendment states, "The Board shall always include three individuals with experience...". A little bit of fair dues to Deputy Troy for his opening remarks at the outset of this particular amendment's discussion. That is the spirit we need in terms of guaranteeing for the future that...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: Is the Minister arguing what she believes herself? I find there is a tedium here. The Minister is the elected person. I wonder are they her views throughout from the very start to where we are at this particular point. Is the exercise of any value whatsoever or was Deputy Troy correct at the start? With respect-----

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: It may be, but it is also-----

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: I move amendment No. 26: In page 18, between lines 16 and 17, to insert the following subsection: “(5) The Board shall always include three individuals with experience or knowledge of the legal environment as it pertains to children and families; the disciplines of child protection, psychology, family support and therapeutic services.”.We seek to include a new subsection to...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: I will press the amendment. I appeal to the Minister to reconsider it on Report Stage.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: I sought to, as I see it, strengthen subsections 9(1), 9(2), 9(3) and 9(4), but without any success. It is very demoralising because a lot of work has been done. I am most unhappy with the situation.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: I move amendment No. 24: In page 15, subsection (2)(f), lines 31 and 32, to delete all words from and including “the” where it secondly occurs in line 31 down to and including “Skills” in line 32 and substitute “any Minister”.This amendment seeks to ensure this subsection 13(2) is not limited. The subsection states that the annual report shall...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: The Minister talks about her role as Minister at the helm of a Department. This Bill is about establishing a new agency; it is neither about the Minister nor the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. It deals with the board of the agency preparing its annual report. I presume it will do that independently of the Minister's office. It is important that this is clear to all concerned,...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: In response to my arguments, the Minister used the phrase "listen to the child". The dictionary definition in regard to "expressing" a view relates to communication. Expressing an opinion is a physical performance, whether using a keyboard or any other means by which a child can offer a view. There are different ways of expressing a view, but expressing is a physical act that requires...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: At the outset I apologise to you, the members and the Minister and her colleagues because of the time taken for Topical Issues. The amendment seeks to substitute what appears in the legislation at section 9(4) with a new formulation of wording. The critical focus of this is removing the reference to "expressing". The wording as presented in the draft legislation states "(4) The Agency...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: I did not expect to have to make the remarks I made at the outset of this debate which I will not revisit. I am deeply offended with regard to what I recounted to the Minister and the committee last Tuesday afternoon about remarks external to all of us but made in the context of the agency and its future. The evidence of the past 48 hours suggests very little has changed in terms of the...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: I move amendment No. 21: In page 13, lines 37 to 42, to delete subsection (4) and substitute the following:“(4) The Agency shall, in performing its functions in respect of an individual child under section 8 ensure that the views of that individual child, where that child is capable of forming his or her own views, be ascertained and given due weight with regard to the age and maturity...

Topical Issue Debate: Child Protection Issues (24 Oct 2013)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: I fail to understand why we would hold back or defer the involvement of the Ombudsman for Children, or any other independent office that would take on the responsibility of investigating these instances. The Ombudsman for Children is an appropriate office whose expertise and focus could be directed on this matter with immediate effect. Let us not cod ourselves. The Garda Síochána...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: I do not intend to argue against the Minister's position, but I could offer her a sustained argument against it. It is open to interpretation. Who will determine the views of the child? If there is no consultation, where will the views of the child be taken into account? How will they be accessed? Where will its genesis be? If the Minister takes away the consultation, and she was not...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: This is not something that of itself would hamper the new agency in carrying out its functions. It would not unduly burden it. It is not about dealing with the individual cases that will present in the daily work of the agency; it is, of course, proposed in the context of planning the performance of functions under section 8(1)(a), (b) and (c) and reviewing services. The planning would...

Topical Issue Debate: Child Protection Issues (24 Oct 2013)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: What happened this week to two Roma and their families in Tallaght and Athlone is most disturbing. It is especially disturbing to all in these Houses who have long campaigned for children's rights and protections, and who invested considerable time and effort in realising a child protection system that is fit for purpose and in which we can all have confidence. What happened in these cases...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: To explain to the Minister, I have tabled as a Topical Issue the tragic case of the Roma children.