Results 941-960 of 2,078 for speaker:Mary Seery Kearney

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Oct 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I have a concern with it being left up to a healthcare professional without a direction or an inclusion if we were to end up with a situation such as what happened with Savita Halappanavar, where it is down to the doctors at the time to make decisions because the law is ambiguous. We cannot have any ambiguity. We need a definite position.

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Oct 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: Not to be picky but I wish to pick up on the reference to pregnant directive-makers. A person might not fall under the definition under section 82 of the primary legislation regarding AHDs. One makes an AHD when one has capacity to envisage a situation where one may not have capacity. The person may be pregnant at the time the directive comes into being but not at the time it is being...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Oct 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: On this occasion, the term “the unborn” is so unbelievably loaded that I support the amendment. My one question is whether there a conflict in using the word “her” in the term "her pregnancy". Is there a conflict with other gender recognition legislation?

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Oct 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I will come back to Senator Doherty's view on pregnancy and reiterate the legal definition of a pregnancy, which is that it encompasses the period of time from implantation until delivery. The Bill states: "A woman shall be assumed to be pregnant if she exhibits any of the pertinent presumptive signs of pregnancy, such as misses menses, until the results of her pregnancy test are negative or...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Oct 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: That is right.

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Oct 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I apologise. In answer to the Senator, I am saying that.

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Oct 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I welcome this good amendment. However, the period of time for public consultation on the codes of practice has been disputed by a number of the representative organisations. They have said it was too short and occurred over Christmas, a time when they could not produce the information required. Consultation must be in a form that allows people to receive, digest and comment on the...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Oct 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I accept, with regard to amendment No. 76, that the wording is imperfect. To return to our discussion of last week, I have a slight concern that we will bring in legislation, the raison d'être of which is to ensure that people's voices are heard, which, owing to the review of the Mental Health Act, is imperfect because it cannot include everything it would and should include. In that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Accessibility and Assistive Technology: Discussion (6 Oct 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank the witnesses for their contributions. People around the country readily identify with the health journey that our much-loved character, Charlie Bird, is on at the moment and they appreciate the role that assistive technology is playing in that journey. They see that even though his illness has denied him his voice, assistive technology has restored his voice and his ability to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Accessibility and Assistive Technology: Discussion (6 Oct 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I apologise for interrupting, but will Professor MacLachlan unpack what he means by "competence"? I want to make sure I understand what he means. If I believe I am hearing-impaired, I can have immediate access to being assessed for hearing aids. Is the competence in the audiologists and the accessibility to them, or does the competence lie in the actual assistive technology in that case?...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Accessibility and Assistive Technology: Discussion (6 Oct 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: That is great. Professor MacLachlan was going to say something else, but I wanted to understand what he means by "competence".

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (5 Oct 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I rise to note a matter to this House and ask a question. Last Thursday, the journalist Hugh O'Connell had a story in the Irish Independentabout two joint committees. I will be careful, Cathaoirleach. The committees were obliged to waive privilege to allow members of the Garda in the north west access to their computers. That is in the context of a staff member of a Deputy being accused...

Seanad: Passport Office: Motion (5 Oct 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: Is that agreed? Agreed.

Seanad: Passport Office: Motion (5 Oct 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: No doubt the passport staff do need to be congratulated and thanked.

Seanad: Passport Office: Motion (5 Oct 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: Now I call on a Senator who I am sure will support me in calling for a passport office in Dublin South-Central, our home constituency. I call Senator Warfield.

Seanad: Passport Office: Motion (5 Oct 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: Do you? Come back to us.

Seanad: Passport Office: Motion (5 Oct 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: Strictly speaking, the Minister of State is not supposed to come back in but he can make a brief contribution. I know he is anxious to answer Senator Ahearn.

Seanad: Passport Office: Motion (5 Oct 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank the Minister of State.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (4 Oct 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I wish to acknowledge that today launches breast cancer awareness month. We are all pretty in pink as a consequence. I commend the work of the Irish Cancer Society on highlighting the issue. I have lost a family member, my cousin's wife, through breast cancer at a very young age. She left behind young children. It is really important that people check their breasts, that they are...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Review of Testimonies Provided by Survivors of Mother and Baby Homes: Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (4 Oct 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: I apologise to the Chair for being late, as I had to dip out to another meeting for a quorum. I thank the Minister for his statement. As the Minsiter can appreciate, much disappointment arose over what was an apparent U-turn. The fact is that people went in and gave their testimonies to the confidential session within the commission. The Minister cannot change the content of that report...