Results 1,421-1,440 of 26,350 for speaker:David Cullinane

Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Second Stage (21 Feb 2024)

David Cullinane: Sinn Féin will support this Bill. I welcome in particular the provisions relating to medicines substitution protocols, which will improve the availability of products through pharmacies without a prescription. These are issues we have talked about for some time in the Houses of the Oireachtas. I have tabled a number of questions on this issue through priority and oral questions over...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2024)

David Cullinane: He should spend it for the purpose for which it was intended.

Select Committee on Health: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

David Cullinane: I support Deputy Shortall's amendment. I have said several times that this Bill is a really good attempt at balancing the rights of the child, the surrogate mother and the intending parents, which is obviously really difficult to do legally. I agree that what is of paramount importance is the rights of the child in all circumstances, and the Bill generally achieves that goal. I have been...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

David Cullinane: Yes, there are a number of amendments, including the Sinn Féin amendment. A number of the amendments relate to the number of surrogacy agreements and pregnancies a surrogate can participate in under the Act. As I understand it - perhaps the Minister will correct my interpretation - the original section limits a surrogate mother to two agreements. However, the amendment limits this to...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

David Cullinane: I tend to agree with the Minister's response. Obviously, we want to protect women against coercion. There are no obvious answers to all of these issues. We have to come down somewhere to protect women from coercion. I am still not entirely convinced, though. Two births, if I was to look at it, probably would be my preference, but obviously we have to start somewhere. As the Minister...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

David Cullinane: Amendments Nos. 112 to 116, inclusive, are included in the group.

Select Committee on Health: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

David Cullinane: Is it amendment No. 121?

Select Committee on Health: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

David Cullinane: I will be brief on it. I apologise as I was a little delayed coming back. The amendment concerns domestic surrogacy. We share concerns that were raised with us to the effect that intending parents under section 55(3)(c)(ii) are being asked to substitute the role of the State social welfare system. The point being made with regard to the surrogate mother is that the social welfare element...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

David Cullinane: My amendment has not been moved but I would have withdrawn it on that basis.

Select Committee on Health: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

David Cullinane: I have a question on this. The parental order came up in earlier discussions and in the briefings we had with the Minister's officials. The Minister mentioned the courts. There is concern over the time between birth and the making of a parental order. There was some discussion about whether the court system would be able to hear the cases in a timely fashion. Was consideration given to...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

David Cullinane: That is fine.

Select Committee on Health: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

David Cullinane: I would like clarification on something. From my memory of the briefing we had with the officials, we had some discussion on this and it was exactly as Deputy Shortall pointed out with regard to the status of the child from the point of birth to the granting of a parental order. My understanding of the briefing we got was that both the intending parents and the mother would be guardians...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

David Cullinane: I thank the Minister for the confirmation of my understanding of the situation. Perhaps I could hear from one of the officials what the process is so that we are clear. An agreement has to be reached or entered into by the intending parents and the surrogate at the earliest stage, which raises the question of what legal standing the agreement has. Built into the agreement, as the official...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

David Cullinane: If this Bill passes, what will be the legal rights of that surrogate mother in those circumstances? That is the question.

Select Committee on Health: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

David Cullinane: We need a wider note. That would be helpful. The Department will have had many discussions and internal deliberations on these issues and I imagine that all sorts of scenario were discussed. I hope that challenges will be rare, but it is always the rare cases that become problems. It would prepare us for Report Stage if we had a much more detailed note on the time between birth and a...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

David Cullinane: Yes.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Vacant Properties (21 Feb 2024)

David Cullinane: 174. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 662 to 664, inclusive, of 15 February 2022, 378 of 10 March 2022 and 796 of 22 March 2022, the number of vacant, derelict or otherwise unused properties owned by the HSE, in tabular form; the number of vacant assets under review; the number of vacant assets in disposal; the number of retained vacant assets and the...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Primary Care Centres (21 Feb 2024)

David Cullinane: 175. To ask the Minister for Health the operational and planned primary care centres, by county; the stage at which each planned centre is at and the timeframe for delivery. [8292/24]

Select Committee on Health: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

David Cullinane: This is an important amendment because it sets out how the courts can determine the best interests of the child. We had a lengthy discussion on this and I am satisfied that the criteria outlined in the Bill and the amendment are the appropriate approach in terms of a direction to the courts, but Mr. Daniel Keating in my office – he is working through all of these amendments and how...