Results 121-140 of 519 for speaker:Mary Ann O'Brien

Seanad Public Consultation Committee: Farm Safety: Discussion (23 Mar 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I thank the delegates for coming in. I will direct my question to the IFA president. I have listened to all the excellent presentations and we need time and money. What collaboration exists between all the organisations, the Government and the HSA? Are they splintered? There is no doubt from listening to delegates that they would have great power if they could all come together. Is the...

Seanad Public Consultation Committee: Farm Safety: Discussion (23 Mar 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: Yes, I will be very brief. I wish to say how much I enjoyed Mr. Connie O'Driscoll's and Mr. Patrick Duffy's presentation. I wish I had been Mr. Duffy's student at school because I would probably have ended up as an A student. Play makes a subject come alive and he brought it alive today. It engages the right and left sides of the brain. Albert Einstein described play as the greatest form...

Seanad: Succession (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second Stage (11 Mar 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Succession (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second Stage (11 Mar 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I thank Senator Quinn for his time and incredible hard work for bringing this Bill to the House. Like Senator White, words fail me. I am not a lawyer and, to be honest, legal speak drives me crazy because I can never understand it. Can the Minister of State imagine if he were one of those people in the Gallery? People kill for a variety of reasons, some for monetary gain or to force the...

Seanad: Succession (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second Stage (11 Mar 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: Hear, hear.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Dairy Sector and Annual Report 2013: Teagasc (10 Mar 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I will be very quick. I thank the witnesses for their presentations and answers so far. I congratulate Professor Boyle and Dr. O'Dwyer on their involvement in the Food Works programme, which is in its third year. It is a fantastic programme for brilliant young entrepreneurs who want to be innovative and come up with international businesses that can trade food. Teagasc has been involved...

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Mar 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I am asking about what I would call a "no-brainer", namely, the Public Health (Availability of Defibrillators) Bill 2013, which Senator Quinn brought to the House towards the end of 2013. I bumped into a really superb paramedic last week who told me about a 15 year old girl in a school he had been called to who had collapsed. The teacher put the girl into the recovery position. In fact,...

Seanad: Redress for Women Resident in Certain Institutions Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Mar 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I thank the Minister of State for his patience but we are trying to achieve absolute clarity and certainty for the Magdalen ladies who are an extremely vulnerable group. Their advocacy groups have different perceptions of the Bill. Amendment No. 4 relates to dental, optical and aural appliances.

Seanad: Redress for Women Resident in Certain Institutions Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Mar 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I thank the Acting Chairman.

Seanad: Redress for Women Resident in Certain Institutions Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Mar 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I wish to cover the dental, ophthalmic and oral services. The wording of the Health (Amendment) Act 1996, and Mr. Justice Quirke's recommended wording in appendix E, is "dental, ophthalmic and aural treatment and dental, optical and aural appliances". The wording in the Bill is not the same as that in the 1996 Act, and we need to hear the Minister of State's commentary on that. As the...

Seanad: Redress for Women Resident in Certain Institutions Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Mar 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: Returning to the issue of dental services, the Minister of State said the only difference for the hepatitis C sufferers is that they have a huge need for very specific drugs, liver drugs and drugs for skin problems. Our amendments are simple and seek to delete the reference to section 67 of the Act of 1970 and insert "and dental, optical and aural appliances". This has nothing to do with...

Seanad: Redress for Women Resident in Certain Institutions Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Mar 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: It is very comforting that the Minister of State thought the Senators made good points in respect of personal advocates and that he agrees that action should be taken. The fact is, however, those women who remain institutionalised require to be represented in respect of obtaining things to which they may be entitled - including, for example, mattresses or walking supports - but on which they...

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Mar 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I empathise with what Senator Power said about the loss of jobs in Cadbury, but I also recognise that the global giant Mondelez, whose raison d'etreis profitability and the bottom line, is investing €11.7 million in automation.The jobs are going into robotics and automation. There have been many interesting articles and some research done by Deloitte in Oxford in the past year on the...

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Mar 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: Not all.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Water Fluoridation (24 Feb 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: As the Cathaoirleach has read out, this matter pertains to the need for the Minister for Health to provide an update to Members on the Health Research Board’s review of the international evidence on fluoridation of water and to indicate when its findings are likely to be published given that it was expected last year. A story on the front page of today's edition of The Daily...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Water Fluoridation (24 Feb 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I thank the Minister of State for her reply and I look forward to the report's publication in April. I am passionate about this issue but I have also been careful to study the evidence and take advice. I am not a scientist but I wonder what the rest of Europe knows. Similarly, the US National Academy of Sciences produced the most comprehensive balanced scientific report on the issue in the...

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

Mary Ann O'Brien: I thank the Minister of State for his attendance. All Members have looked forward to this legislation and to going the full way towards taking care of the Magdalen survivors. This truly is what the Seanad is for and having listened to Senator Moran, thank goodness most of these ladies still are around because Members can take action now and all parties can come together. I beg Senator...

Seanad: Betting (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (11 Feb 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I thank the Minister of State for coming into the Chamber this afternoon. I also am in agreement with Senator Craughwell's amendment. To clarify, Members today are referring to amendments to online betting. All Members present share the frustration because ever since they came into this House, they have been waiting for this legislation. I acknowledge that technical EU matters have...

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Feb 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I support the calls by other Members for a debate on the subject of Internet safety for children. I am not sure whether such a debate with the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources should include the Minister for Education and Skills because this area covers a wide spectrum of our society. It is an area on which we are really and truly ignorant. Most Members will have a...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Driver Safety (5 Feb 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, to consider whether a compulsory driving retraining programme should be introduced for those drivers who are unfortunate enough to have lost a limb as a result of an accident or medical complications. This may seem a strange matter to raise but I refer to the wonderful work of the Department...