Results 1-15 of 15 for other and baby speaker:Averil Power

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2015: Department of Children and Youth Affairs (8 Oct 2015)

Averil Power: I have two additional questions. The witness said the birth certificate will be given out but other information will only be released with the consent of the natural parent. Is it only the birth certificate or the birth certificate and some other information that can be given without consent? For example, if the natural parent cannot be contacted, what information will the adoptive person...

Seanad: Redress for Women Resident in Certain Institutions Bill 2014: Second Stage (24 Feb 2015)

Averil Power: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. On 27 February 2013 I stood up in this House and warmly welcomed the Taoiseach's apology the previous week to the Magdalen survivors. I also said that I was proud of him for the genuine, warm and sincere manner in which he had delivered that apology. Unfortunately, as Maeve O'Rourke of the Justice for Magdalenes group has pointed out, while the...

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Averil Power: As we outlined on Second Stage, we appreciate there are two rights at play here, namely, the adoptees' right to their identity and the natural parent's right to privacy. The courts have made it clear that neither of those rights are absolute. That point was made in the IO'T v. B case, and has been consistently made in constitutional cases with respect to all the rights in the Constitution....

Seanad: Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Motion (27 Jan 2015)

Averil Power: I move amendment No. 1: “To delete all words following ‘establishing a Commission under that Act,’ and insert as follows–- calls for Schedule (11) (B) of the draft Commission of Investigation (Mother and Baby Homes and Certain Related Matters) Order, 2015 to be amended by inserting after ‘their children’, ‘with particular regard to the...

Seanad: Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Motion (27 Jan 2015)

Averil Power: ...fact that the terms of reference are not as narrow as had originally been feared. I acknowledge that this is a result of the consultation the Minister has carried out with the Opposition parties and, more important, with survivor groups in recent months. That is important and welcome. However, Fianna Fáil does have some concerns about the terms of reference. We have listened to...

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Second Stage (19 Nov 2014)

Averil Power: Earlier this year I spoke about what it was like growing up as an adopted child and not knowing anything about my natural mother until I was 29 years of age. Since then, I have been overwhelmed with e-mails and letters from other adoptees sharing their experiences. Some of their personal circumstances are very different to mine. However, their pain, sadness and anxiety are all too...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Adoption Services Provision (18 Jun 2014)

Averil Power: As I am sure the Minister of State can imagine, given all the focus on the mother and baby homes and the issue of adoption over the past few weeks, voluntary organisations are being inundated with requests for support from adoptees and their birth relatives and the wider group of people affected by the mother and baby homes. Groups like the Adoption Rights Alliance are trying to help as many...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Homes: Statements (11 Jun 2014)

Averil Power: I welcome the Minister to the House. I welcome the announcement of the establishment of a commission of investigation to examine what happened in the mother and baby homes. It is important for us finally to uncover the whole truth about what went on in those institutions, the circumstances in which women were sent to them, the conditions in which they and their children had to live, the high...

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Jun 2014)

Averil Power: I welcome the announcement that a commission of investigation is to be established to report on the mother and baby homes. I note the assurance that the commission will have full statutory powers. I understand that a cross-departmental group will report to the Government by 30 June to advise on the terms of reference. I join other Senators in calling for an early debate this week ahead of...

Seanad: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (12 Dec 2013)

Averil Power: I move recommendation No. 6: In page 20, line 19, to delete "100 days" and substitute "75 days".This was tabled in error. We oppose the 100-day rule. I will refer more broadly to the single parent tax credit when we discuss our later recommendations and why we feel it is unbelievably regressive and will have a huge impact on parents' ability to co-parent and to have as much contact with...

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Averil Power: The Minister indicated that this had not been established from a constitutional perspective and there has not been a Supreme Court case. We put legislation through this House every day that enjoys the presumption of constitutionality. We work on the basis of advice from the Attorney General or other counsel, and we assume that the interpretation we work with is consistent with the...

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Averil Power: I thank Senators O'Donnell and Mac Conghail for tabling these amendments which I strongly support. Like many other Members of the House, I met several of the women from the Terminations for Medical Reasons, TFMR, group who have gone through the terrifying and upsetting experience of having babies with fatal foetal abnormalities. I listened to their heart-breaking stories. These ladies...

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (16 Jul 2013)

Averil Power: ...When people speak about unwanted pregnancies I cannot but reflect on the fact that I was one. I was the unplanned daughter of a single woman for whom keeping me was never a real option in the Ireland of 1978. I am grateful for the fact that adoption gave me a chance both to be part of another family and to get to know my birth mother and half-siblings later in life, and when some on the...

Seanad: Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Bill 2012: Second Stage (19 Jul 2012)

Averil Power: I thank the Minister for his address to the House and for being here for the debate. I shall start where he finished and before dealing with the technicalities of the Bill by offering my sincere sympathy to the victims of residential child abuse. As he said, many of the victims are in the Visitors Gallery. Earlier I met Christine Buckley on my way into the Chamber. To everybody in the...

Seanad: Priory Hall Development (20 Oct 2011)

Averil Power: .... Last night, I attended a meeting of about 130 residents of the Priory Hall development in the Regency Hotel, where they are currently staying. People are very upset. There are families with babies and small children and elderly persons residing in hotel accommodation. There are three or four people to one room. In fairness, the hotel is doing its best to accommodate them but it is...