Results 1-20 of 4,508 for at speaker:Róisín Shortall

Motor Insurance Insolvency Compensation Bill 2024: Second Stage (13 Jun 2024)

Róisín Shortall: At the outset I would like to join with others in wishing Martin well in his retirement. His 22 years of service have provided an incredible record of helpfulness and professionalism. We all found him very good to deal with and always very supportive. I wish him good health and happiness in his retirement. I welcome this legislation, which the Social Democrats are happy to support....

Select Committee on Health: Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) (No. 2) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (12 Jun 2024)

Róisín Shortall: I welcome this Bill, in so far as it goes but it is very limited. The Minister of State knows very well that so much more needs to be done regarding nursing homes. I find it hard to understand why she is only dealing with this very limited number of improvements to the inspection and oversight regime. For a start, she promised that a statutory right to home care would be introduced. That...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Jun 2024)

Róisín Shortall: I welcome to the Gallery a group of women from the Inner City Organisations Network. I am raising an issue that will be of relevance to them and many other people and about which I gave notice to the Taoiseach earlier. A charity, GP Care For All, which was established by a Dr. Austin O'Carroll, is in real difficulty because of changes that were made to the taxation of GP income. I am...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (11 Jun 2024)

Róisín Shortall: ...raised earlier. In reply to Deputy Cairns, the Taoiseach quoted a lot of figures but made no reference to the level of need. Here are some more figures. Some 72% of family carers get no respite at all. Only one in four family carers get the carer's allowance. Some 50% of family carers have no choice but to pay privately for therapies, while the other 50% go on long waiting lists....

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

Róisín Shortall: I move amendment No. 86: In page 181, line 12, to delete “section” and substitute “paragraph”. This amendment would ensure that all non-clinical conceptions up to this paragraph coming into operation would be covered by the legislation, as opposed to just those up to 4 May 2020, the date on which the section of the Child and Family Relationships Act was...

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

Róisín Shortall: The passage of this Bill through the Dáil today is a really important landmark. It is undoubtedly very warmly welcomed by many of the campaigners seeking recognition of their parent-child relationships. Huge credit goes to those campaigners for their tireless and compelling work making the case so strongly to legislators that this issue should not slide down or off the political...

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

Róisín Shortall: I move amendment No. 72: In page 156, to delete line 19. I have had contact from a couple of different groups including the LGBT+ Parenting Alliance, which has particularly drawn my attention to this. The Department has said the reason the High Court has been given jurisdiction is because it believes a transfer of motherhood can only take place there. We discussed this issue in...

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

Róisín Shortall: They will not be allowed, therefore, to provide any medical advice at all.

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

Róisín Shortall: -----and not at some point in the future?

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

Róisín Shortall: Nobody wants to see this Bill falling, but the Minister has had quite a bit of time on it, and I would expect that he addresses the uncertainties there at the moment. It is regrettable that he has not done that. I have to say it is not great practice from the point of view of legislation that is so important. It is a pity we are not getting it right first time round.

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

Róisín Shortall: I move amendment No. 51: In page 85, between lines 27 and 28, to insert the following: “(c) the giving, by a medical practitioner or medical practitioners (SJ), of medical advice in relation to any agreement or other arrangement.”. This amendment arises out of Committee Stage, and I had a similar amendment down. HR professionals raised concerns with me and...

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

Róisín Shortall: I note the Minister's amendments to these sections include the phrase, "lacks the capacity to make decision in that regard". I ask the Minister to consider further grounds for waiving consent. I strongly argue that the best interests of the child must be the paramount consideration. The Minister referred earlier to this already forming part of the legislation but it is in the legislation...

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

Róisín Shortall: The very fact that the Minister is saying he will look at it again in three year's time indicates uncertainty about what is being proposed. The two provisions I have referred to are very vague. If the surrogate mother consents to the child being cared for by the intending parents, who does she consent to and who oversees that? If she changes her mind, and she may do this a number of times,...

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

Róisín Shortall: The fact that what the Minister is proposing in this legislation - which in the main, people agree with - has not been done in any other country means that we have to proceed with caution. The cautionary principle is that in any circumstances that involve a child, the best interests of that child have to be paramount. This does not meant that any of the other safeguards can be disregarded...

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

Róisín Shortall: ...of the child 52. Where, in any proceedings before any court under this Part, the court, in determining whether to make an order, shall regard the best interests of the child as the paramount consideration.”. This group of amendments concerns the issue of the best interests of the child. Neither the AHR Bill nor the Children and Family Relationships Act contains the...

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

Róisín Shortall: I do not think any of us want to go around the safeguards at all. We are addressing this because it could arise as a practical difficulty in the future, given the scarcity of appropriately qualified medical professionals. There must be thousands of people working in this country who are trained abroad, particularly in the UK. I am not aware that they have to go through registration here....

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

Róisín Shortall: If the Minister sets the word "irreversible" down in primary legislation, it will exclude people. A condition that is currently irreversible may not be so in even one month's time because, as the Minister says, the pace of scientific progress is such that these things can change quite quickly. On that basis, I think this is a mistake. I do not think any of us is medically qualified to give...

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

Róisín Shortall: The Minister has taken a reasonable approach on this. I endorse the point made by Deputy Cullinane. Speed is fine if people are in a hurry to get something but speed in addressing legislation, and especially legislation as long and very complex as this Bill, very often results in our having to revisit the issue unless adequate time is given for consideration of the provisions. Therefore, I...

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

Róisín Shortall: ...about these two amendments. AHR professionals have expressed serious concern about these two amendments and the removal of the term “progressive disorders” from the Bill. It is accepted that such conditions are rare. However, because of rapid advances in genetics and other fields, fertility preservation is possible. I have also been advised of several such cases in...