Results 17,381-17,400 of 19,162 for speaker:Alan Shatter

Adoption Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: I move amendment No. 11: In page 18, between lines 19 and 20, to insert the following: "(2) Nothing contained in this Act shall result in the furnishing of legal advice, assistance or representation about adoption or any adoption matter to any person being regarded as the making of arrangements for adoption.". I will just listen to what the Minister of State has to tell us about his...

Adoption Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: I do not fully understand amendment No. 97 which relates to section 147 and deals with the prosecution of offences. Subsection 147(1) provides that an accredited body will be guilty of offences if it contravenes provisions under various sections of the Bill, while subsection (2) deals with further offences that a person may commit. I pointed out on Committee Stage that given the way the...

Adoption Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: Amendment No. 97 refers to the determination of the courts as to whether a person "provided assistance to any prospective adopter habitually resident in the State in relation to any legal matter that arose in the state of origin of the child concerned and relates to the effecting of the adoption in that state". Does this not again suggest that if a person is effecting an adoption outside the...

Adoption Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: So, in a nutshell, it is an offence to give legal advice to somebody who is trying to adopt abroad.

Adoption Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: On the basis of the matters the Minister of State is deleting, I will not press the amendment.

Adoption Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: I move amendment No. 16: In page 19, to delete lines 30 and 31. We addressed this issue on Committee Stage. There is a definition of "father" in different places in the Bill but this section has a particularly odd definition, namely, that for the purposes of this Part, ""father", in relation to a child, includes a person who believes himself to be the father of the child". There could be...

Adoption Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: I move amendment No. 4: In page 15, line 12, after "years" to insert the following: "and over 18 years who was in the care of a person or persons other than his or her biological parent or parents for a period of three years or more prior to attaining the age of 18 years". This deals with the reference to the term "child" and defines a "child" as any person under the age of 18 years. The...

Adoption Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: To briefly respond to that, there is a policy issue in relation to this matter which is do we, as a matter of policy in all circumstances forevermore, confine adoption to persons under 18 years of age or is the Government open to considering, for the type of individual I have described, the possibility of extending of adoption to them? It is not necessarily an issue which is going to be...

Written Answers — Youth Services: Youth Services (1 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: Question 203: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the level of State funding, if any, an organisation known as Lucca Leadership Ireland has received from the Health Service Executive and other State agencies such as Comhairle na nÓg and vocational education committees to date; the number of successful tenders the organisation has received from Comhairle na nÓg and from various...

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (1 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: Question 262: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if approval has been granted by her for the national child care information service included in the Health Service Executive national service plan 2010; if her attention has been drawn to the fact that the Ombudsman for Children has strongly recommended that work to standardise processes and improve data sets by the HSE be continued...

Written Answers — Child Protection: Child Protection (1 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: Question 325: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Ombudsman for Children has recommended that there should be a dedicated child protection service within the Garda Síochána; the consideration given by him to this proposal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23335/10]

Written Answers — Vetting of Personnel: Vetting of Personnel (1 Jun 2010)

Alan Shatter: Question 326: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his attention has been drawn to the fact that applications for vetting to the Garda vetting office take between 12 and 14 weeks to process; if his further attention has been drawn to the fact that the delay in the vetting process is creating an obstacle to persons unemployed taking up employment and is a cause for...

Local Government Elections (27 May 2010)

Alan Shatter: Question 7: To ask the Minister for the Environment; Heritage and Local Government when he will bring legislation on the setting up of a directly elected Mayor for Dublin to the Houses of the Oireachtas; when he expects to hold an election; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22367/10]

Adoption Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (27 May 2010)

Alan Shatter: I move amendment No. 3: In page 14, to delete lines 8 and 9. The purpose of this amendment is to remove references to adoption committees from the Bill. There are consequent amendments that apply essentially to Chapter 1 of Part 4, which deals with adoption committees formed by the HSE. The principal amendments of these propose to delete, in their entirety, sections 35 and 36, which deal...

Adoption Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (27 May 2010)

Alan Shatter: I have had the same experience as the Minister described of learning not just anecdotally but first-hand of cases where prospective adopters have not got on with social workers. On some occasions they had valid grounds for complaint, while in others they did not. I have never yet had the experience that the adoption committee has been of remote help in these circumstances, because it has...

Adoption Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (27 May 2010)

Alan Shatter: Yes.

Adoption Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (27 May 2010)

Alan Shatter: No social worker who is, as the Minister describes it, wet behind the ears should be carrying out adoption assessments in the first place.

Adoption Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (27 May 2010)

Alan Shatter: Yes, it was, and it is a problem. No such social worker should be carrying out adoption assessments. Second, there should always be a senior social worker or a child care manager in charge if there are personality difficulties. Those are the people to go to and that should be made known. Anybody going through an assessment process should be told that if a difficulty arises, they can talk...

Adoption Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (27 May 2010)

Alan Shatter: The Minister of State has not addressed the problem and his amendment is more technical than substantive. I understood on Committee Stage we were at a point where it was agreed that where there were declarations of suitability in place, a foreign adoption would be recognised in the circumstances in which we currently recognise foreign adoptions under the 1991 Act. He has not addressed the...

Adoption Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (27 May 2010)

Alan Shatter: I am not happy. In the transitional period there will be individuals who are unfairly caught up in a change of law that they could not possibly have envisaged and whose assessment and application for the declaration of suitability has been unduly delayed by a grossly inefficient system, in which there is no uniformity of approach throughout the country and no timelines for anything to be...