Results 1,481-1,500 of 4,465 for speaker:Jim Walsh

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: EU Presidency: Discussion with Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (23 Jan 2013)

Jim Walsh: I am following up on that. I wish to relate it specifically to a point made by the Tánaiste on his engagement with Bill Gates today. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is involved in measures involving the euphemisms to which I referred. Sometimes in the western world we are inclined to impose values. We have significant challenges such as crime levels, including murder,...

Seanad: Local Government Reform: Statements (22 Jan 2013)

Jim Walsh: I thank Senator Kelly for giving me that minute and a half. I am disappointed. Local government has been crying out for real and meaningful reform going back many decades. An attempt was made in 2001 but unfortunately some of the initiatives in the 2001 Act were subsequently reversed. These current proposals are not reform but rather rationalisation of councils, which is the corollary of...

Seanad: Local Government Reform: Statements (22 Jan 2013)

Jim Walsh: I am not excluding ourselves from it; I blame all Governments-----

Seanad: Local Government Reform: Statements (22 Jan 2013)

Jim Walsh: -----going back at least 25 years. In 1975, an international competitiveness report identified Ireland as the most centrally governed country in the world.

Seanad: Local Government Reform: Statements (22 Jan 2013)

Jim Walsh: I will finish on this point. Representation statistics show that each member represents 4,800 people; the figure is much smaller in other countries, including Denmark, where it is 1,115. We are going in the wrong direction.

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Jan 2013)

Jim Walsh: Up the PDs.

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Jan 2013)

Jim Walsh: I agree with a number of my colleagues in regard to sentencing but I am very taken by what Senator Healy Eames said because she identified the nub of the issue, that is, the very low level of prosecutions with regard to the heinous crime of rape. Many of us were appalled by the barbarism involved in the attack on a young woman in India recently but many of those crimes committed here are not...

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Jan 2013)

Jim Walsh: -----and I ask that the Minister be invited to the House to allow us have a good, open, honest debate on this issue rather than-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Implementation of Government Decision Following Expert Group Report into Matters Relating to A, B and C v. Ireland (10 Jan 2013)

Jim Walsh: I concur with the previous comments. The feedback from outside the House has been that these meetings have been conducted very well and professionally. As the Chairman knows, that is only symptomatic of the quality of the debate that goes on in this House every sitting day, even since he left. He and I had a conversation prior to this and I thank him and the members of the committee for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Implementation of Government Decision Following Expert Group Report into Matters Relating to A, B and C v. Ireland (10 Jan 2013)

Jim Walsh: Given that the medics stated there was no problem in dealing with patients and no record of inhibitions on the part of medical professionals because of current legislation, do the witnesses accept that opinion? Correct me if I am wrong but they seem to suggest that abortion is a solution to all problems in crisis pregnancies. Do they think it beyond the capacity of this society to deal with...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Implementation of Government Decision Following Expert Group Report into Matters Relating to A, B and C v. Ireland (10 Jan 2013)

Jim Walsh: ----- to Dr. Bernard Nathanson's book. Dr. Nathanson was one of the great campaigners for abortion in the US. In 1979 he wrote a book from which I will quote a couple of passages.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Implementation of Government Decision Following Expert Group Report into Matters Relating to A, B and C v. Ireland (10 Jan 2013)

Jim Walsh: He wrote: The supposed threat of suicide was the logical battering ram. It was just a question of finding a squad of complacent psychiatrists...Out would come the little notebook from my back pocket for a quick consultation to see which two I had sent the last woman to...One particular psychiatrist was reputed to conduct his interview in five minutes and to charge $100 a letter. To be fair,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Implementation of Government Decision Following Expert Group Report into Matters Relating to A, B and C v. Ireland (10 Jan 2013)

Jim Walsh: I have been told that I supplied incorrect information this morning. In case I mistakenly stated that four out of five pregnancies in Britain end in abortion, the correct figure is one out of every four or five, or approximately 25% of pregnancies. Do the witnesses believe that is a good scenario for society?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Implementation of Government Decision Following Expert Group Report into Matters Relating to A, B and C v. Ireland (10 Jan 2013)

Jim Walsh: Would the witnesses agree or disagree with me that protection for the unborn is the real human rights issue of our day?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Implementation of Government Decision Following Expert Group Report into Matters Relating to A, B and C v. Ireland (10 Jan 2013)

Jim Walsh: Will Dr. Seán Ó Domhnaill and Dr. Eoghan de Faoite give us details about the Dublin declaration and the specialties of those involved because Dr. Rhona Mahony was quite dismissive of it when she was before the committee? All the evidence we got from the medics was that they have never found a situation where our current legal framework in any way inhibited them from giving best...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Implementation of Government Decision Following Expert Group Report into Matters Relating to A, B and C v. Ireland (10 Jan 2013)

Jim Walsh: My first question is for Bishop Jones and Fr. Tim Bartlett. Their position is that we should progress the non-statutory but desirable guidelines that clarify current practice with the two-patient model. If it were possible to construct legislation which would underpin current medical practice in that area, without including suicide, how would they feel about that? My second question is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Implementation of Government Decision Following Expert Group Report into Matters Relating to A, B and C v. Ireland (10 Jan 2013)

Jim Walsh: I invite each of our witnesses to talk about the continuum of life, which is dependent on the preceding path of that life. That is a biological fact. In other words, if one interrupts life at any stage-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Implementation of Government Decision Following Expert Group Report into Matters Relating to A, B and C v. Ireland (9 Jan 2013)

Jim Walsh: I compliment both contributors for their honesty. The session is enhanced by their differing perspectives, something we did not have at this morning's session. The notion was canvassed this morning that we could legislate for foetal abnormalities without the need for a referendum. I concede this is a very difficult area and a situation with which most of us have a great deal of sympathy....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Implementation of Government Decision Following Expert Group Report into Matters Relating to A, B and C v. Ireland (9 Jan 2013)

Jim Walsh: Sorry, I did not realise that. In other words, could it be left to case law? I ask for the views of the witnesses. Deputy Timmins put his finger on it. I do not think there will be a great deal of difficulty in Members and the general public subscribing to dealing with the real medical issues but suicide is definitely going to be a major controversial issue because of the experience in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Implementation of Government Decision Following Expert Group Report into Matters Relating to A, B and C v. Ireland (9 Jan 2013)

Jim Walsh: A bit of clarity.