Results 11,461-11,480 of 11,695 for speaker:Ivana Bacik

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (29 Oct 2008)

Ivana Bacik: I welcome the distinguished members of the Ugandan judiciary who are guests of my colleague, Professor William Binchy from Trinity College Law School. I would welcome a debate on embryonic stem cell research, but I would like it to be conducted from a position of education and in an informed manner, not in a spirit of ignorance which, unfortunately, we have heard informing the debate today....

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (29 Oct 2008)

Ivana Bacik: What has happened is that in the absence of legislation, UCC has had to move and it has introduced a more restrictive regime and has done so in a responsible and measured fashion. I am not an expert on medical research, nor are the other speakers here, but I am very much persuaded by the fact that the academics on the board of UCC, the persons engaged in the research on the medical side, are...

Seanad: Order of Business (29 Oct 2008)

Ivana Bacik: The Senator did not do so.

Seanad: Health Promotion Priorities: Statements (23 Oct 2008)

Ivana Bacik: I welcome the Minister of State to the House and I also welcome the opportunity to speak on the important issue of health promotion priorities. I listened with great interest to what previous speakers stated. Clearly, this topic covers an enormous spectrum of health issues. Senator Mary White correctly spoke about the need to incorporate physical and mental health. Enormous work must be...

Seanad: Health Promotion Priorities: Statements (23 Oct 2008)

Ivana Bacik: I hope that will not put a stop to the work it is doing in health promotion. The Crisis Pregnancy Agency has not been able to stop rogue or bullying pregnancy counselling agencies because there is no legislation in place. These operate around the country to essentially bully and intimidate young women who present to them with crisis pregnancies, giving them misinformation. Some form of...

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Oct 2008)

Ivana Bacik: It is interesting to hear the extraordinary division of views on the Government side of the House regarding the budget. It is welcome to hear some Government Senators acknowledge that the budget was ill-advised, but to hear others describe it as successful management of the economy beggars belief, particularly when one considers the tens of thousands of people who demonstrated in the streets...

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Oct 2008)

Ivana Bacik: If we accept that education is a right, not a privilege, as the 15,000 students argued yesterday, we must accept that it should be free at the point of access. Of course the rich should pay more but they should do so through a fair and progressive taxation system. Let us have a debate on taxation. I suggested in the House that we should not stop with 2% for people earning over €100,000...

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Oct 2008)

Ivana Bacik: I ask the Leader for a debate on universal access to public services. There has been much talk on universality in the wake of last week's budget because the Government is clearly set on attacking the principle of universal access to public services and introducing a means test for a range of benefits. In saying this, I include the signal by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan,...

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Oct 2008)

Ivana Bacik: I also inquired about legislation on civil partnerships.

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Oct 2008)

Ivana Bacik: When?

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Oct 2008)

Ivana Bacik: What about the Civil Partnership Bill?

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Oct 2008)

Ivana Bacik: In the next session?

Seanad: Child Care Services: Statements (21 Oct 2008)

Ivana Bacik: I wish to share my time with Senator Feargal Quinn. I welcome the Minister of State to the House and the opportunity to debate this important issue. I wish to take up a theme rightly addressed by Senator Fitzgerald on the universal provision of child care services. Before doing that, however, I wish to say how delighted I was to hear what Senator Mary White had to say. She has spoken...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2008)

Ivana Bacik: We need a debate on universality as the Government has clearly placed the principle under attack. The Minister for Finance declared last week that he was reviewing the universality of child benefit payment. He has already tried to change the universal provision of medical cards for the over 70s in a botched and haphazard way. The European principle is that we supply public services to...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2008)

Ivana Bacik: The principle of equity of taxation is important and should be examined. If the Government asks for our suggestion, why not take those on the minimum wage out of the 1% levy and instead place a higher levy on those earning more than €150,000 or €200,000——

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2008)

Ivana Bacik: ——instead of a blunt instrument of 2% for everyone over €100,000, irrespective of the fact that there are people in the country who can well afford to pay more than 2%, and who are earning well in excess of €100,000? I support the amendment and it is very important that we have this debate and we should closely examine what the Government is really about, which is attacking the...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2008)

Ivana Bacik: It is certainly not 5%.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2008)

Ivana Bacik: Tax the wealthy.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2008)

Ivana Bacik: What about access to education?

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2008)

Ivana Bacik: I support the amendments to the motion proposed by Senators Frances Fitzgerald and Joe O'Toole. It is vital to debate these issues on the budget——