Results 781-800 of 1,013 for speaker:Colette Kelleher

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Adult Safeguarding: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Oct 2017)

Colette Kelleher: No. I would be interested to see the comments from the other Departments, but we can do that outside of the committee. My background is as a social worker. I have also been responsible for large services at the Alzheimer Society of Ireland and the Cope Foundation, so I have had multiple experiences and I am very persuaded of the urgent need for this legislation. I think we can move...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Adult Safeguarding: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Oct 2017)

Colette Kelleher: Is this on a statutory basis?

Seanad: Mental Health Services: Motion (4 Oct 2017)

Colette Kelleher: I am delighted to second Senator Joan Freeman's motion on 24-hour access to mental health services. I support this motion and I am very much informed and driven by my eight years of experience working for the Cork Simon community. Access to 24-hour mental health services was a major pressure point for those who were looking for support and also for the staff who were trying to handle and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Adult Safeguarding: Discussion (4 Oct 2017)

Colette Kelleher: There are lots of Kellehers here today. We are out in force. I am no relation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Adult Safeguarding: Discussion (4 Oct 2017)

Colette Kelleher: I have some questions for each witness. I commend Mr. Healy on his leadership in developing the adult safeguarding policy in the wake of Áras Attracta. It was hard to take any positives from that but the work that was initiated by Mr. Healy in establishing the National Safeguarding Committee in December 2015, on which I served, and the adult safeguarding teams in the nine community...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Adult Safeguarding: Discussion (4 Oct 2017)

Colette Kelleher: There is a national safeguarding authority proposed in the Bill. That deals in a way with some of the points Mr. Healy is making.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Adult Safeguarding: Discussion (4 Oct 2017)

Colette Kelleher: We have a report from the Institute of Public Administration. It arrived yesterday, so it is hot off the presses. It deals with some of the issues around the establishment of an authority and it explores the current arrangements and different options in an independent-minded way. We will have a chance to examine it next week.

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme: Statements (3 Oct 2017)

Colette Kelleher: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Daly, to the Seanad and welcome the opportunity to speak on this important issue. I was delighted to see the reference to home care because, as with my colleague, Senator Swanick, I want to speak on that issue. While the focus of this discussion is on the fair deal scheme, I want to focus my remarks on home care and the need to provide a real...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (27 Sep 2017)

Colette Kelleher: I share the frustrations of Senators Boyhan and Higgins. I am afraid I got my times wrong and thought we would resume at 7 p.m. There has been so much jiggery-pokery with the schedule. Like Senator Boyhan, I feel that we have let the advocacy organisations down.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (27 Sep 2017)

Colette Kelleher: I appreciate that I got the time wrong.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (27 Sep 2017)

Colette Kelleher: I am not suggesting anything untoward was done, whatsoever. First, it was decided to take Committee and Report Stages together in order to fit all of the debate in today. Second, changes were made right up to quite late in the day.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (27 Sep 2017)

Colette Kelleher: I withdraw my words.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (27 Sep 2017)

Colette Kelleher: Fair enough. There is huge frustration in terms of the substance of what we are trying to do, with Senator Boyhan, which was to reflect concerns and issues that have been raised with us by people who work on the front line with people who are victims of crime, particularly issues relating to people who try to make complaints and get justice for sexual crimes. I am disappointed with the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (27 Sep 2017)

Colette Kelleher: I concur with all those speakers and I am encouraged that the Minister of State is open to accepting amendments Nos. 15 and 34.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (27 Sep 2017)

Colette Kelleher: I hear what the Minister of State is saying about the process, but the absence in court of information on a victim needing protection, particularly where the defendant is the person against whom protection is needed, represents a huge gap and a lack of knowledge in ensuring court proceedings are reasonable and fair, with the victim being protected.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (27 Sep 2017)

Colette Kelleher: If the word "shall" was changed to "may", would the Minister of State accept the amendment?

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (27 Sep 2017)

Colette Kelleher: I understand the Minister of State's argument, but I am asking him whether, if the word "shall" was changed to "may", he would accept the amendment.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (27 Sep 2017)

Colette Kelleher: I move amendment No. 7:In page 23, between lines 34 and 35, to insert the following:“(3) Where a victim of an alleged offence has been assessed under section 14 and the Garda Síochána or the Garda Ombudsman Commission, as the case may be, has identified specific protection needs in relation to the victim which are special measures within the meaning of this section, the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (27 Sep 2017)

Colette Kelleher: It takes enormous courage for a person to come forward, particularly in a case of rape or sexual assault. There can be valid reasons for the DPP not being in a position to prosecute but the victim should go away with very firm knowledge of that and an understanding of why that is the case. That is the issue that victims of these types of crimes are raising with us. They are not getting...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (27 Sep 2017)

Colette Kelleher: As suggested by Senator Bacik, perhaps we need better drafting along the lines of "information specific to the case" rather than "sufficient information" because the latter seems to be taking us down a blind alley. That was the intent of my amendment. If the Minister of State can assure us that he will look at that at the next Stage, I will be happy to withdraw it.