Results 741-760 of 2,078 for speaker:Mary Seery Kearney

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Accessing Justice: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: It is why I do not want to ask too specifically but there are things such as that I am interested in exploring.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Accessing Justice: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: I am thinking of the ambition of the State to have a funded IVF process, perhaps by the end of this year. If that were the case, the partners of long-term prisoners could pursue IVF as a means to grow a family. Perhaps that would assist in the trauma of family breakdown and all those things that flow from long-term prison incarceration.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: That goes to the heart of the situation when this was first talked about, with residents thinking they were going to be cut out of the loop because if they stay in, or stay in as themselves and then need to go down the judicial review route, then they are exposed to costs.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: Given that experience of a large-scale residential development, LRD, where the local authority, to my mind, just came up with the first two things that crossed their mind to make sure it got kicked up to An Bord Pleanála, and being resigned to the fact it was going to anyway, we would need to make sure that everyone has the right of appeal if we were to see patterns like that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: We just need to know that in our own submission.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: That particular line of questioning with Deputy O’Callaghan is relevant to one of the aspects that I want to question the witnesses about and seek their advice on. I want to focus particularly on sections 97 and 303. It is relevant to locus standifor appeal of a planning authority decision. I am aware of a particular application or process, without getting into the nitty-gritty of...

Seanad: Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022: Report Stage (1 Mar 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: The Minister and I exchanged messages earlier. I will obviously support the Government’s position. The privilege and the difficulty of being on the Government bench is that while you may not always agree with or like what goes through, you support it. On Monday of this week, I sat for a long time with a woman in the context of a completely different conversation that I will come...

Seanad: Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (1 Mar 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: I support the Minister on this point. It is found in other legislation and in general legal terms "in loco parentis" means anyone who is in the position of the parent. It does not just apply to foster carers. It applies to anyone stepping into that position.

Seanad: Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (1 Mar 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: Now.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó (Atógáil) - Order of Business (Resumed) (28 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: It is quite a despicable act of politicking that people would take the opportunity to laud the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, who has only been in place since December, and completely ignore the incredible work done by his predecessor, who was in the Department for seven years. It is shameful that anyone would do that. I want to talk about apartment defects and the fact...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó (Atógáil) - Order of Business (Resumed) (28 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: Yes, but-----

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó (Atógáil) - Order of Business (Resumed) (28 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: The Leader is abusing her position.

Seanad: Sex Offenders (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage (28 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: I congratulate the Minister of State on the passage of this Bill through the Dáil and its progress to the Seanad. It is good legislation and we give our full support to it. The sex offenders register can often be misinterpreted by the public. People imagine it should be publicly available without understanding that while it ensures the Garda has information about who is living in...

Seanad: Remuneration Information and Pay Transparency Bill 2023: Second Stage (Resumed) (28 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: I commend my colleagues, Senators Ardagh and Crowe, on bringing forward this legislation. It is valuable and important that we move to a place of absolute transparency. There is no excuse now for it not being so. There is discrimination and there are clear disparities in rates of pay, depending on where one is from, and on one's ability to negotiate in a new workplace. Unfortunately, in...

Seanad: Remuneration Information and Pay Transparency Bill 2023: Second Stage (Resumed) (28 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: Agencies are mentioned, however. Agencies are prohibited from seeking-----

Seanad: Remuneration Information and Pay Transparency Bill 2023: Second Stage (Resumed) (28 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank Senator Ardagh for answering the question. It does not go that far. When reading it on Sunday, I was a little bit worried about the engagement with agencies. Perhaps there is an explanatory note somewhere stating that nothing should preclude a person from voluntarily giving the information. We need to be careful on the operation of it, so that employment agencies can function. I...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Primary Care Centres (23 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: The Minister of State is very welcome. It is very pleasant to see a Minister of State from the Department of Health responding to a health matter. I am very grateful for that. We have been here since June 2020. In December 2019, the then Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, and the then Fine Gael Deputy for Dublin South Central and former Minister of State, Catherine Byrne, announced the...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Primary Care Centres (23 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank the Minister of State. She paints a fabulous picture of what the Drimnagh primary care centre will look like and it will have incredibly valuable services. My problem is that there are no dates in respect of it and the day when a resident of Drimnagh walks through the doors of that primary care centre could be ten years away for all I know. She mentioned preliminary reports and...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (23 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: I will begin by echoing Senator Ward’s call for a debate on the report published by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Disability Matters this morning on aligning disability services with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD. It is a really in-depth report and an awful lot of work went into it. I am proud to be a member of the committee that produced...

Seanad: Citizens Assembly on Drugs Use: Motion (23 Feb 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: I pay great tribute to Senator Ruane and all the work she has done. She and I are both chairs of drugs task forces. I asked her for a reading list of things she thought I should be educated on to make me a better chair of a drugs task force. She led me down a route that has been fascinating and very educational. I read In the Realm of Hungry Ghostsby Gabor Maté. I also read The...