Results 1-20 of 7,690 for speaker:Rónán Mullen

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (13 Nov 2025)

Rónán Mullen: I raise a global human rights crisis that is ignored far too often. Next week, the charity Aid to the Church in Need will mark its annual week of witness which highlights the ongoing persecution of Christians around the world. It is a sobering thought when we realise that since the first century AD of the Roman Empire, which we most associate with the beginning of Christian persecution,...

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Nov 2025)

Rónán Mullen: I am worried that, like the proposed amendment to section 11 which we discussed previously, this live broadcast defence is another very strong pro-media measure. It seems, notwithstanding the subclauses contained in the proposed amendment, that it takes us from one extreme to another and removes a necessary protection and issue that broadcasters, journalists and presenters should have in the...

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Nov 2025)

Rónán Mullen: With regard to the ungrateful media, I often think of the story about Kelvin MacKenzie of The Sun after some journalists were wined and dined by some corporate interest seeing to curry favour. On the way back to Fleet Street and the office, MacKenzie said "Now, let us go stun them with our ingratitude". An ungrateful media is a cornerstone of our democracy but an accountable media is also...

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Nov 2025)

Rónán Mullen: I do accept the Minister’s good faith attempt here to create a space for the media to do its important work. When he says it is not for us to decide whether the media operate using live broadcasts and so on, that may be so, but we all have to live with the consequences of our own liberties. It is not a question of telling the media what they can do. It is a question of saying that...

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Nov 2025)

Rónán Mullen: I have one last observation. Increasingly, we see on our programmes that, no matter what topic is being dealt with, up comes an announcement at the end of the current affairs programme, “If you have been affected by any of the issues in this programme, you can dial the following number or go to the following helpline.” Is this what we are facing into? Should we be expecting...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (5 Nov 2025)

Rónán Mullen: Ní raibh deis agam go dtí seo gach rath a ghuí ar ár nUachtarán nuathofa, Catherine Connolly. I want to wish, as I know many in this House and elsewhere have done already, our President-elect Catherine Connolly the very best for her tenure as Uachtarán na hÉireann. I have had the pleasure of serving on the Coiste na Gaeilge, na Gaeltachta agus na...

Committee on European Union Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals: Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (5 Nov 2025)

Rónán Mullen: My apologies to the Minister of State for my being delayed. I wish him well with his work.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó (Atógáil) - Order of Business (Resumed) (22 Oct 2025)

Rónán Mullen: We could do with some nuanced thinking about the whole question of spoiling one's vote. To be clear, if one can make a clear choice between candidates and express a clear preference, it is entirely reasonable to express that. If on the other hand you are unhappy that you have been left with a bad choice and if your feeling of indignation is so strong that you choose, American style, to...

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Oct 2025)

Rónán Mullen: Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach agus cuirim fáilte ar ais roimh an Aire. On the last occasion, I had just begun to speak when we had to report progress. I expressed my wonderment at how this section had got through the Dáil, considering how far-reaching it is in how it changes the situation with regard to the protection of people and their right to a...

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Oct 2025)

Rónán Mullen: It would not make him unique.

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Oct 2025)

Rónán Mullen: I have some sympathy there and Senator Ruane has raised some very interesting points on the right to recover a reputation. It reminds me of that idea of the right to be forgotten as well. Some of us have been reflecting on that in recent days with the question of whether a person who had a conviction for firearms could be employed in the precincts of the Oireachtas. I remember thinking...

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Oct 2025)

Rónán Mullen: Can we have a definition of "jinks", please?

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Oct 2025)

Rónán Mullen: I am afraid I will be one more voice contributing to the rumour of the Minister's fallibility on this. Senator McDowell offered an answer to a question I had in my mind when I read this section, this dramatic proposed change to the law, which was, "How did this section survive? How did it escape the scrutiny of the Dáil?" I felt the same about this section as I did about the ill-fated...

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Oct 2025)

Rónán Mullen: I report progress.

Seanad: All-Island Strategic Rail Review: Statements (15 Oct 2025)

Rónán Mullen: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I was thinking of Percy French because the debate got off to a rather slow start. I was wondering whether we would get there before the night. As I was listening to the Minister of State the thought occurred to me that if the review recommendations were to be implemented, the rail network would increase from 2,300 km to 3,000 km, which would...

Seanad: All-Island Strategic Rail Review: Statements (15 Oct 2025)

Rónán Mullen: Cassady is a good Irish name. Come west.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Safeguarding Policies and Procedures within the Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (24 Sep 2025)

Rónán Mullen: The one thing I do not understand is that the world and his mother, and anybody who knows and has worked in an organisation where it comes to a point where formal complaints are made, whether in relation to an historical or current thing, knows organisations in some way have to prepare for that kind of stuff and that there is therefore stuff going around. I really do not understand why the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Safeguarding Policies and Procedures within the Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (24 Sep 2025)

Rónán Mullen: I have heard of an abundance of caution but it seems to me the FAI is drowning in caution. We deal with an environment around here when, every now and again, the Government tells us it is acting on legal advice when it proposes to do or not do something, and we do not see what that legal advice is. The claim that legal advice prevents someone from doing something can really be the last...