Results 161-180 of 1,827 for speaker:Jillian van Turnhout

Seanad: Marriage Bill 2015: Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Oct 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: I wish to add my applause and thanks to everyone involved in bringing this day about. It is particularly fitting that we would give the final word to the Minister for Justice and Equality.

Seanad: Marriage Bill 2015: Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Oct 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: When is it proposed to sit again?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: I thank Dr. Shannon. It is always a pleasure to listen to him. He has given us another masterclass and has made points I am sure will be repeated in both Houses as we debate this legislation. It is very welcome to hear the right to identity being highlighted in the way Dr. Shannon has highlighted it. All too often we hear about the right to privacy as if it were a right that trumped all...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: I thank Mr. McBride for his presentation and appearing before the committee. I would like to address a wider issue in his presentation that has been raised in the committee before, which is in the area of adoption and the number of prospective adoptive parents who are coming to Tusla. At what point does one actually tell prospective parents the reality of children who are available for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: I want to come back to two points the witnesses raised, in respect of the compelling reasons or understanding. While we have not been able to tie it down, we are talking about an absolute exception, a life or death situation. There is no other compelling reason. We will try to ring-fence that to make absolutely clear what a compelling reason is. Ms Mugan said that many women the agency...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: We can hear one of the TV monitors showing live feed from the Dáil.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: I welcome the Minister and thank him and his officials for the work they have done on this Bill. As the Minister said, we are anxious that people can access as much information as possible and that this can be done in a sensitive manner. Dr. Geoffrey Shannon appeared before the committee this morning and he said something quite striking, that we cannot rewrite the past but, equally, we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Oct 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: The Child and Family Agency raised this issue with us.

Seanad: Children First Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (21 Oct 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: No. Both of those amendments are being taken together and the Minister is about to speak to amendment No. 2.

Seanad: Children First Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (21 Oct 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: The Minister, Deputy Reilly, is always welcome to the Seanad. He is, however, particularly welcome today. One of the first objectives I set when I became a Member in 2011 was for Ireland to repeal the defence of reasonable chastisement. When the Seanad took Committee Stage of the Children First Bill on 23 September, I tabled an amendment, with thanks to the expert help of Dr. Fergus Ryan,...

Seanad: Children First Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (21 Oct 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: I second the amendment for the purposes of debate, but I appreciate, as I have said to Senator David Cullinane, that we probably have not had enough time to debate the issue in full. It is one I support fully in principle.

Seanad: Children First Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (21 Oct 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: It would be remiss of the Seanad not to congratulate the Minister wholeheartedly on the Bill. While we can say it is long overdue, it is before the House. The Minister has done the work to put child welfare and protection provisions on a statutory footing. We are solidifying good intentions, which has to be commended. This needs to be resourced and the Minister took positive steps in...

Seanad: United Nations Principles for Older Persons: Motion (21 Oct 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: I second the motion. I thank my colleague, Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell, for tabling this motion and helping us understand the rationale behind it. We all know it instinctively but she has hit it home for us all. I have long been a believer in balancing our supports and the need to invest more in community services. We tend to put an overemphasis on the medicalisation of too many...

Seanad: United Nations Principles for Older Persons: Motion (21 Oct 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: The Senator is well over time.

Seanad: Marriage Bill 2015: Second Stage (20 Oct 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: The Minister is very welcome. I wholeheartedly welcome the Bill.Many speakers have outlined the different people who were involved. I do not want to fall into the trap, as the Minister said, of naming one or two and not appreciating the efforts made by so many - we can read their names - and by the country as a whole. The power of storytelling came back to life in Ireland throughout the...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Second Stage (14 Oct 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Gerald Nash, to the House and I welcome Oisín Coghlan and Eimear Hannon to the Gallery. I am honoured to speak on behalf of my colleague, Senator Fiach Mac Conghail, who regrets he is unable to attend this debate but has worked extensively on the climate action issue along with his colleagues on the Joint Committee on the Environment, Culture and...

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)

Jillian van Turnhout: The witnesses are welcome and I thank them for-----

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)

Jillian van Turnhout: She will. I thank the witnesses for all the work to get the legislation to this stage. It is difficult when we are on the eve of whenever the election will be. I had really hoped this measure could have gone through but at least the work members will do in these hearings should mean it will get an early start in the lifetime of the next Government. I have a few issues on which I seek to...

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)

Jillian van Turnhout: We can explore the policy decisions made in the Bill as we go through the hearings and we will formulate our recommendations. Will the witness explain the nature of the US records handed over by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to the National Archives? What is the status of them? Are they currently being handed over to the agency? Where are they at present and how are we...

Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Second Stage (6 Oct 2015)

Jillian van Turnhout: I extend congratulations to the Minister and her officials in the Department. Many of the aspects we see in this Bill were raised in the 2006 Law Reform Commission report. I know that the Cabinet gave the Minister approval for this Bill in 2014 and I say "Well done" to all involved. I could not have predicted in 2011 how important and relevant this Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015...