Results 801-820 of 7,581 for speaker:Rónán Mullen

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Protecting Vulnerable Individuals from Coercion: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: Should doctors be involved?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Protecting Vulnerable Individuals from Coercion: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: It is on the allegation of paternalism, when people who are settled in their mind as to what they want.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Protecting Vulnerable Individuals from Coercion: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: I thank all the witnesses for attending the meeting. Dr. Kelleher spoke about exposing more people to vulnerability. As a lay, non-medical person, am I characterising his approach and that of the other witnesses fairly as one that holds that while it may be possible in theory to say there are people, and individuals have been mentioned, who are not suicidal and not affected by mental health...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Protecting Vulnerable Individuals from Coercion: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: My colleague and friend, Senator Ruane, mentioned Ireland's abortion law as an example of where limits or margins are put in place. People have different views on that particular issue. People can comment as they wish but I am not asking them to comment on their attitude to Ireland's abortion law. What I do see is an increase in numbers and a lot of controversy about the position of those...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Voting at 16) Bill 2021: Second Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: Slightly taller than Barry Desmond.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Voting at 16) Bill 2021: Second Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: It is latchiko central.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Voting at 16) Bill 2021: Second Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: I welcome the visitors to the Gallery. Needless to say, it is not fashionable, and for good reason, to quote Enoch Powell in these Houses. In fact, it is a long time since I heard Enoch Powell quoted. I am a bit of a history buff and I suspect many Members enjoy looking at various famous speeches on YouTube when they have nothing better to do in the evenings and have written to all of...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Voting at 16) Bill 2021: Second Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: Indeed. The Ceann Comhairle said when a former Sinn Féin Deputy brought her baby into the Dáil that it was the first time there was an actual baby in the Dáil. My point is quite serious, masked in a small bit of attempted humour. There is a time for maturing. There is a lot of immaturity in our society. I am afraid to say that in our world today we see the increasing...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Protecting Autonomy and Assessing Decision-making Capacity: Discussion (7 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: I am very taken with our journey into a discussion of dementia which, as my friend and colleague, Deputy Higgins, said, we have not veered into that much in these weeks. Perhaps I am not fully ready to speak about it myself, but I would offer this much with certainty. I lived with and helped to care for my own father at home for approximately ten years during the time in which he suffered...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Protecting Autonomy and Assessing Decision-making Capacity: Discussion (7 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: I suppose what I am saying is that the full vindication of autonomy for one person may actually affect other people's autonomy down the line.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Protecting Autonomy and Assessing Decision-making Capacity: Discussion (7 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: My point is really then that my father's condition released things into his life and our lives that nobody could have foreseen, not even himself, and I would call it living. I want to ask Dr. Doherty about this. My concern and that of many people is that if we talk about autonomy and choice purely and simply in this area, it is possible that we send out, or that euthanasia or assisted...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Protecting Autonomy and Assessing Decision-making Capacity: Discussion (7 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: I might pick up on that point.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Protecting Autonomy and Assessing Decision-making Capacity: Discussion (7 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: I think at some point, as a committee, we probably need to think more about what is available in terms of the management of pain and discomfort and sedation. I know that does not address the demand for autonomy but it deals with pain perhaps in a way that hedges against the risk of there being unidentified victims of a change in the law, which I think is what we are talking about here, or...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Protecting Autonomy and Assessing Decision-making Capacity: Discussion (7 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: The no decrease would require some analysis because the claim is made that when you introduce assisted suicide, you take some people out of the violent suicide cohort and you put them into the controlled situation. There is clearly more going on that we have to think about.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Protecting Autonomy and Assessing Decision-making Capacity: Discussion (7 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: Is there time to ask Dr. Dalton a quick question?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Protecting Autonomy and Assessing Decision-making Capacity: Discussion (7 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: Dr. Dalton has made a number of instructive comments as to the need to look not only at capacity in a blunt way, but also at the surrounding social circumstances that might enable or inhibit capacity. One of those is the very inadequate healthcare environment we have in this country, particularly with regard to mental health, which, to be frank, looks set to continue for no short time. Dr....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Protecting Autonomy and Assessing Decision-making Capacity: Discussion (7 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: If we are honest about it, we will continue to have inadequate services, particularly with regard to mental health but also the other things Dr. Dalton has described as being part of a person being able to have capacity in some truly objective way. We are now talking about a very radical and final decision, the decision to end one's life, and this is predicated on the idea that a person can...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying: Protecting Autonomy and Assessing Decision-making Capacity: Discussion (7 Nov 2023)

Rónán Mullen: Perhaps I should have distinguished more clearly between capacity and autonomy. To some degree, I am suggesting that what goes for capacity also goes for autonomy as regards the availability of services to truly support real independence.

Seanad: Gnó an tSeanaid - Business of Seanad (25 Oct 2023)

Rónán Mullen: Did we have a revolutionary poet?

Seanad: Gnó an tSeanaid - Business of Seanad (25 Oct 2023)

Rónán Mullen: Not a revolutionary puppet.