Results 7,581-7,600 of 20,831 for speaker:David Norris

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

David Norris: With parental consent, yes.

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

David Norris: Thank you very much for your helpful intervention. I have to say I rather smiled when somebody said they should be "as old as possible". The swimming capacity of sperm declines considerably with age. I would think they are swimming around merrily at 18. They are hopping, jumping, diving and all this kind of stuff. They are the boys you want. Come on.

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

David Norris: I support Senator Crown's amendments. The question arises of somebody with cancer who may be unable to have a child due to radiation treatment. However, I should be concentrating on the question of anonymity. There is a difference between adopting a child who has been already born as a result of the activity of two separate people and deliberately setting out to create an embryo. There is...

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

David Norris: It is not the adoption argument.

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

David Norris: There may be situations in which the parents do not want to see the intrusion of a third person.

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

David Norris: It is already available through the clinics.

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

David Norris: In regard to maintaining the separation between the right to access identity and the right to access genetic information, I understand that as of this moment, the clinics have possession of or have methods of gaining possession of all the genetic material that is required and will make it available. Therefore, that is the situation currently. Also, I understand that in places like the Czech...

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

David Norris: My understanding is they have the complete information, or at least they have a method of accessing the complete information. That is what I have been told.

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

David Norris: I understood they have information concerning, for example, any sort of genetic defects and details relating to illnesses of various kinds. This is precisely the kind of information to which people would have a legitimate interest in gaining access.

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

David Norris: I presume what is intended are changes of address but I agree with Senator Healy Eames that these people are unlikely to keep in contact. I do not see a sperm donor updating every time they change their address or telephone number. It is desirable but it is simply not realistic. What penalties would be imposed if they do not update the register? One cannot say something is mandatory...

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

David Norris: I support Senator Crown in this and I believe there is case law to back him up. I recall two cases, in one of which the father was alive but the couple had separated and the mother was very anxious to have a child. It may have been because of medical complications but in any case the father denied it. The other case was even worse. It involved a woman whose husband had made the donation...

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

David Norris: While I have the greatest admiration for Senator Power, this is an appalling and ghastly amendment. First, regardless of whether the child wishes to be contacted, he or she will be faced with it and I do not think that is right. I think a child has a right to be left in ignorance if he or she wishes and I do not believe that Ministers contacting them all over the place is a good idea at...

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

David Norris: I do.

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

David Norris: It is a blob of sperm.

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

David Norris: That is the nature of the Senator.

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

David Norris: This is a grotesquely restrictive and deeply offensive amendment. I am pretty disgusted that this House has to suffer through this kind of stuff. This is exactly what the people from the IVF clinic whom I have spoken to warned us about. They form part of what Senator Mullen so charitably called "the industry". They warned us about this both when they talked to me privately and when they...

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

David Norris: That is because he ran out with his tail between his legs. He can read what I have said, but I would say it to his face.

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

David Norris: Senator Mullen had left his seat but he was still inside the door of the Chamber when I started talking.

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

David Norris: Yes.

Seanad: Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2015)

David Norris: That is Senator Mullen's problem.