Results 1,661-1,680 of 7,637 for speaker:Rónán Mullen

Seanad: Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021: Second Stage (9 Dec 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Most of these regulations are uncontroversial. It would be stroke of the pen stuff. What is being asked for is that where something serious is involved, such as a curtailment of civil liberties, the House would make a decision that it wanted to have a vote.

Seanad: Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021: Second Stage (9 Dec 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Whichever we decide.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: United Nations (8 Dec 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. The context of the matter I raise today is that Ireland pays more than €300 million per annum towards the cost of running the United Nations. Within that framework of the United Nations, special rapporteurs are regularly appointed and given a remit to examine and report on a specific human rights matter of broad concern worldwide or a...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: United Nations (8 Dec 2021)

Rónán Mullen: I thank the Minister of State for his response and, of course, I agree with much of what he has said about the need for such special rapporteurs to receive adequate funding and the importance of their role. I question whether they can be as independent as he says when it is a matter of public record, for example, that the Open Society Foundation donated $137,000 to Amnesty International to...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: United Nations (8 Dec 2021)

Rónán Mullen: I was a rapporteur for a report for a parliamentary assembly. It is a very different matter.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: United Nations (8 Dec 2021)

Rónán Mullen: I do not have the same code of objectivity, independence, freedom etc. from all parties. I am a parliamentarian. It is a very different matter. We are political.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: United Nations (8 Dec 2021)

Rónán Mullen: An independent special rapporteur cannot be political in that way.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: United Nations (8 Dec 2021)

Rónán Mullen: I was not concurrently funded by any private body. My only salary was my parliamentarian's salary.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: United Nations (8 Dec 2021)

Rónán Mullen: We are all entitled to our views but we are not entitled to conflicts of interest.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: United Nations (8 Dec 2021)

Rónán Mullen: I have; there are several matters on the public record. I mentioned Mr. Philip Alston. It is a matter of public record-----

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: United Nations (8 Dec 2021)

Rónán Mullen: He got $600,000 from Soros and declared only $5,000 of it to the UN. Does the Government know about that, and is it worried about it?

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: United Nations (8 Dec 2021)

Rónán Mullen: The Minister of State is a distinguished former Member of this House-----

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: United Nations (8 Dec 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Exactly.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: United Nations (8 Dec 2021)

Rónán Mullen: And not in the pay of private organisations.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: United Nations (8 Dec 2021)

Rónán Mullen: I gave two examples: Mr. Philip Alston and Ms Fionnuala Ní Aoláin.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (8 Dec 2021)

Rónán Mullen: The concerns I had that the proposed three-year review of the 2018 abortion legislation would not be impartial have only grown since hearing what the Minister for Health had to say this morning. From the outset he continued to speak of his concern about widening access to abortion. When the official from the Department of Health spoke about the supposedly independent chair this morning, she...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (1 Dec 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Would that be a post-colonial matter as well?

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (1 Dec 2021)

Rónán Mullen: There was a certain amount of talk about colonisation and post-colonialism at the beginning of this session. I have spoken many times about the subtle influence of money on the policy agendas of governments and international bodies, and the ideological activism that can be associated with that money. As Senators know, within the United Nations, special rapporteurs are regularly appointed to...

Seanad: Human Rights in China: Motion (1 Dec 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Did she get her job back?

Seanad: Human Rights in China: Motion (1 Dec 2021)

Rónán Mullen: Following on from Senator Ward, the problem is not the Chinese people and their ancient traditions and wisdom and tremendous capacity. The problem is the evil empire that modern China, under the Chinese Communist Party, has become. It is at war with the rest of the world, or certainly with the free democratic world, because it sees that as undermining its claims to its alternative wisdom of...