Results 11,181-11,200 of 11,695 for speaker:Ivana Bacik

Seanad: Adoption Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Mar 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I do not believe the amendment does state the law at present. The law at present, as the Minister of State and I said, is that there is a constitutional presumption that the interests of the child are within the marital family but, in all other matters, while the constitutional preference for the family is there in Article 41, it is not necessarily with the natural parents. We must be...

Seanad: Adoption Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Mar 2009)

Ivana Bacik: It is a useful idea. I am not sure this is the best section in which to insert it given this is the section providing for the welfare of the child and, therefore, to include anything else in it seems to be a weakening or a detracting from that paramount consideration. However, it is useful idea to have some sort of duty, be it in statute or guidelines, that the authority would, where...

Seanad: Adoption Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Mar 2009)

Ivana Bacik: No.

Seanad: Adoption Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Mar 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I thank the Minister of State for that clarification.

Seanad: Adoption Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Mar 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I support this amendment. There are instances where the finality of an adoption order may not be appropriate. On Second Stage, I argued that it might be a good idea to provide for special guardianship in this Bill or in other legislation. This is a mechanism provided for in section 115 of the UK Adoption and Children Act 2002. It gives long-term foster carers an additional legal status...

Seanad: Adoption Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Mar 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I am glad of the opportunity to address the House on this section as I flagged this issue on Second Stage. I believe that section 32 adds nothing to, and indeed is in conflict with the Bill. It seems to be in conflict with our international obligations to regard the welfare of the child as the first and paramount consideration. This section is, effectively, a relic of our past. It relates...

Seanad: Adoption Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Mar 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I support Senator Fitzgerald in this amendment. I cannot remember but I think I spoke already on this to support her and in that case I will not say any more. It is an important amendment and like Senator Fitzgerald, I would like to hear the Minister of State's response.

Seanad: Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission: Motion (10 Mar 2009)

Ivana Bacik: With the permission of the House, I wish to share my time equally with Senator Hannigan.

Seanad: Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission: Motion (10 Mar 2009)

Ivana Bacik: Perhaps the Leas-Chathaoirleach will tell me when I have reached seven and a half minutes. I welcome the Minister of State to the House and the opportunity for this debate. I support wholeheartedly the appointment of Dermot Gallagher as chair of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. Members today are focusing on policing and on police practices as they reflect on the brutal murder of...

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Mar 2009)

Ivana Bacik: Like other colleagues, I join in expressing my outright condemnation of the brutal murders in Northern Ireland over the weekend and yesterday, and I express my sympathies to the families of those killed and injured in such a horrible way. We all thought we had gone back in time when we first heard the news. I heard it late on Saturday night and thought I was listening to an archive...

Seanad: (4 Mar 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I know time is against us, so I will make a few brief points. I fully support this amendment, which adds greatly to the tenor of this section of the Bill. I hope the Minister of State can accept it.

Seanad: (4 Mar 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I thank the Minister of State for his considered comments on this matter. Like Senator Norris, I do not propose to divide the House in respect of my amendment. Rather, I wish to reserve my right to do so on Report Stage on the basis that the Senator and I have agreed to draft a composite amendment that will seek to address the clear discrimination that exists against same sex couples and to...

Seanad: (4 Mar 2009)

Ivana Bacik: A saucer of milk is more like it for some people.

Seanad: (4 Mar 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I did not mention statistics.

Seanad: (4 Mar 2009)

Ivana Bacik: On a point of order, is this relevant to the amendments we are debating?

Seanad: (4 Mar 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I propose, as I have done throughout this debate, to be concise and to keep my comments directly relevant to the amendments we are discussing, which were tabled by me and Senator Norris. Like Senator Healy Eames, I welcome the Minister of State's point that same sex-couples are currently fostering children. We allow single people to adopt, as indeed we should. I am glad we do not confine...

Seanad: (4 Mar 2009)

Ivana Bacik: For which we are truly grateful.

Seanad: (4 Mar 2009)

Ivana Bacik: One had to apply to the District Court.

Seanad: (4 Mar 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I understand that but I have carried out the procedure on behalf of two children. The Minister of State is correct that the right is particular to natural fathers. A separate issue arises where the mother does not consent to the natural father being named as a guardian, regardless of whether he is on the birth certificate. An application to the courts is required in the latter instance but...

Seanad: (4 Mar 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I will have to check that.