Results 121-140 of 2,078 for speaker:Mary Seery Kearney

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (27 Jun 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: Gabhaim míle buíochas and I send my best wishes to Senator O'Hara. I congratulate the Deputy Leader on taking up the leadership of our party in the Seanad as well as assuming the role of Deputy Leader of the Seanad. I am delighted and say that from four years' experience of Senator Kyne being an extraordinary and very supportive colleague. I rise today to ask for statements...

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Second Stage (27 Jun 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I commend the Minister of State and officials for the amazing work. The engagement with the Oireachtas committee has been fantastic. I commend my colleague, Senator Cummins, on his leadership within our party in this area. He has been insightful in his contributions and a great advocate and colleague. I welcome this Bill. It is critical, exactly as described. We need an coimisiún...

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (27 Jun 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I assumed Deputy Stanton would take Deputy Madigan's spot, but I am good to go. If Deputy Stanton would prefer to go now, that is fine. He is the better expert.

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (27 Jun 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I want to come back to the fact that what we are talking about here would be quite a cultural and societal shift. When we put that inside a context that marginalised communities are most impacted by treating drugs in a criminal justice system rather than a health driven system, that suggests it is more than just treating drugs in criminal justice, it is actually about the issues within that...

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (27 Jun 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: Great, thank you.

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (27 Jun 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: Thank you.

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank the Minister very much. I know from Committee Stage in the Dáil that he went through a great and extensive explanation of the screening of anybody who applies for fertility and not just surrogacy. As I said last week, I had a problem where if suddenly one has a diagnosis of something which is going to bring a person into a territory of requiring fertility treatment, and then...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: It is relevant to the section. The fact of the matter is that there are enormous safeguards here. It does not stop the lies being told but there are enormous safeguards here and that needs to be underlined and highlighted. There is misinformation and disinformation going out from this House. It is not reasonable and it needs to be challenged.

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: We are talking about the safety of children, so let us remember the name of the heading of this section: "Safety of children". We are talking about the regulatory authority's oversight of any proposed surrogacy journeys. No embryo has been created at this stage. Nothing like that has happened at this stage when this level of screening of proposed parents occurs. So, it happens. I am not...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: They are allowed have children as well.

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: There was an awful lot there. Individuals who are born without gender-specific characteristics, such as a uterus, know from a relatively young age that they do not have a uterus. A girl will probably find that out by her 14th birthday. I acknowledge that when this was raised last week, the Minister said it would be under review. I think he gave a little bit of latitude that at the...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: -----that the children are only being reared by their biological parents. All sorts of thing constantly go on in society. Step-parents rear children. I have a blended family visiting the House today. Blended families work. They rear children all of the time. As such, to speak about it as being prejudicial to a child born of surrogacy is to deny the reality of what happens in the world...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: It is because my motherhood and the motherhood of “these people” is such that we want our children to be equal, we want our humanity to be acknowledged and we want to become parents. We do not believe we have a right to it any more than anybody else, but we want to become parents. When we become parents, we have those responsibilities that come with parenthood, the...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank the Minister, Pamela Carter, Edward Keegan, Colm McGuinness and their fourth official, who is unofficial, Lisa Cahill, who has done extraordinary amount of work. I thank the Taoiseach, Deputy Simon Harris, former Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar, and especially the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee. Most of all, I thank my husband and my beautiful daughter for whom I will go and...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: That is not true; that is false.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: An Inclusive Education for an Inclusive Society: Department of Education (25 Jun 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank the Minister of State for taking the time. I had a meeting with her last week that was very comprehensive. Some of this is just me thinking on further from that meeting. I apologise, but I had to go to another event and the Minister of State may already have answered this question. The parents in my home constituency of Dublin South-Central have the experience of being handed a...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Regulatory Bodies (25 Jun 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I welcome the Minister of State. As he is aware, we have problems across the country with apartment defects. More than 100,000 apartments are affected by defects and the Government announced a remediation scheme some time ago. While it has been slow in commencing, a portal was opened last December for submissions for interim funding as we await the Bill for the overall remediation scheme....

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Regulatory Bodies (25 Jun 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: The Minister is just the messenger but that is a wholly inadequate answe that does not reflect the lived experience. These are voluntary people on an OMC, people who live in apartments they have been told have defects and some of them got bills for €64,000. There are owner management companies that are in bed with the suppliers and getting backhanders. All sorts of stuff is going...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 Jun 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I support the suggestion that the Minister needs to engage with the Bar of Ireland. The rate of attrition from the Law Library is enormous. Very few criminal barristers survive beyond year six because the rate of pay is just so appallingly low. A person can sit all day, get briefed for one bail application and earn €25. It is not understood that a small number of barristers are...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (20 Jun 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I think I am in line for a Louis Vuitton for her 21st birthday or something like that. I am saving; I have saved for 21 years. I want to begin by paying enormous tribute to the Acting Leader. I am thrilled to see him as Acting Leader today. I missed the last day he was here. I am about to speak about the Oireachtas disability group, but I actually want to pay tribute to the fact that...