Results 1-20 of 25 for other and baby come speaker:Victor Boyhan

Seanad: Gnó an tSeanaid - Business of Seanad: Mother and Baby Homes (25 Oct 2023)

Victor Boyhan: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. This Commencement matter relates to the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Act 2023. I was hoping the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, would be here but, as I read the newspapers every day, I am aware he clearly has many pressing issues on his plate this morning. I understand and...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Second Stage (Resumed) (21 Jun 2023)

Victor Boyhan: I welcome the Minister and thank her for being here and for listening to the contributions at the previous session and today. She has an unenviable task in bringing forward this legislation. We need clarity and less ambiguity around anything to do with this legislation. I will be clear. We absolutely need hate crime legislation. There is no question about it. We are coming from the...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Report Stage (14 Jun 2023)

Victor Boyhan: Okay. That is the reference to that. As I said in my opening remarks, I intend to concentrate all of my efforts today on this. I do not want to keep getting up here and repeating the same old story. Even now, I find it exceptionally difficult to keep saying the same thing. This is my swansong to a certain extent, in relation to this legislation. I want to thank the members of the...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Report Stage (14 Jun 2023)

Victor Boyhan: I had made most of it, I think, but I was just flagging with the Minister that he had spoken with regard to his series of amendments, and I was drawing attention to Schedule 1, Part 2. There are three columns there: the reference number, the name of the institution, and the concluding year. I was talking about St. Kevin's Institution, initially the Dublin Union, and the concluding year was...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Report Stage (14 Jun 2023)

Victor Boyhan: I will be brief. I really only want to flag this and am not expecting the Minister to come back with another response. There are a number of issues here. A lot of these people were not ever abandoned by their families. They were abandoned by the State. It is too simplistic to say that. In relation to the county homes, a lot of these women were held back. They went in as young girls of...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Report Stage (14 Jun 2023)

Victor Boyhan: ...to meet three families who are here for this legislation. I reiterate there is now uncertainty. Senator Gavan talked about the issues around Castlepollard. This relates to Schedule 1, Part 2 and the three sections concerning reference number, name of institution and concluding year. There is now a query around the Westmeath home in Castlepollard. I also query St. Kevin's institution,...

Seanad: Gradam an Uachtaráin Bill 2023: Second Stage (14 Jun 2023)

Victor Boyhan: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I also want to take this opportunity to welcome my own colleague and friend, Councillor Anthony Waldron. I also welcome Professor Pat Guiry, the president of the Royal Irish Academy; Councillor Noel Heavey; and our other visitors to the Chamber. I want to acknowledge the work that my colleague Senator Keogan and other members of our technical...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 May 2023)

Victor Boyhan: I will be brief because I believe Senator Black articulated that very well. This is a particularly important amendment. It comes from a great deal of engagement. I also thank Senator Higgins, who cannot be with us today. We have talked so much about racial discrimination in recent years. Historically, we know that many children in care suffered racial discrimination. When we have...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 May 2023)

Victor Boyhan: ...important aspect of it. Given the nature of the Bill, particular issues are in focus. The amendment suggests that "within six months of the passing of this Act, [the Minister shall] prepare and lay before Dáil Eireann a report on the operation of the Mother and Baby Institution Payments Scheme. A report under this section shall consider the following". Six months is tight and the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Homelessness Issues: Discussion (30 May 2023)

Victor Boyhan: I apologise for my absence. I was speaking in the Seanad on the mother and baby homes redress Bill. It struck me when I was speaking on the Bill that it ties in to this issue because many homeless people have come from institutional care. The discussion on the older cohort reminded me of the number of people who have come from various areas of State care, such as health facilities and...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (23 May 2023)

Victor Boyhan: I endorse all those excellent amendments. They are logical, fair, they make sense. All those issues were echoed and touched on in the excellent report by the children's committee of which Members of this House were members, which is teased out to a great extent in the Bill digest on the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022. I hope we will hear from them at some point in...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (23 May 2023)

Victor Boyhan: Senator Higgins put it very well and set our her stall on both amendments. I am very heavily reliant in discussing the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill on the Bill digest that was done by the Library and Research Service. I acknowledge and thank Dr. Deirdre Halloran and Ms Michelle Lynch, senior parliamentary researchers in law in the Oireachtas, for their very extensive...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Second Stage (19 Apr 2023)

Victor Boyhan: I, too, welcome our guests in both sides of the Gallery. I also welcome the people who are tuned in online to listen to this debate. As a memento I have with me a little docket or complimentary slip from RTÉ, which is signed "A note from Mary Raftery". I want to acknowledge the enormous work that she did in advocating with her very well documented "States of Fear" documentary, to...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (1 Mar 2023)

Victor Boyhan: I welcome the officials from the British Embassy who are in the Gallery. They are always very welcome to the House. The first issue I raise concerns an editorial in The Irish Timestoday referring to GSK plc, the successor to Wellcome, and the vaccine trials performed on children in this State. I raise this issue mindful that we will soon see the introduction of a scheme of redress for...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Victor Boyhan: I will be brief. We have a lot of work ahead of us this afternoon. I will follow on from Senator Higgins's point, especially in respect of amendments Nos. 56 and 57. In the context of all this, we have to remember there is perhaps not as much information held as we might like to think or wish for. I will share some experiences. As I said to the Minister the other day, I am one of seven...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (4 May 2022)

Victor Boyhan: I welcome the Minister to the House. This Commencement Matter relates to the Government's mother and baby institutions payment scheme. I acknowledge the Minister's commitment since coming into office. This has not been an easy issue to deal with as it is complex and diverse, with many strands to it. There are many stakeholders involved, with the lives of many individuals and those of...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (4 May 2022)

Victor Boyhan: I thank the Minister for that informative response. I will comment on three elements. Regarding the eligibility of those applicants who are overseas and outside the State, it is likely that many of them may be living in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool and places like that. It is critically important that this message regarding eligibility is disseminated and that to do so we tap...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (17 Nov 2021)

Victor Boyhan: I thank the Deputy Leader for setting out the Order of Business. I also thank the Cathaoirleach, the Seanad staff and the staff of the Oireachtas for facilitating a very late debate in the Seanad. We will not sit until 1.15 a.m. tomorrow but we did so yesterday to deal with important legislation, the Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill. It was a...

Seanad: Report of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation: Statements (19 Jan 2021)

Victor Boyhan: I welcome the Minister to the House. As I was listening to Senator Pauline O'Reilly, the expression "Blessed are those amongst women" struck me because there are virtually no men in the Chamber. I am the only male Senator present - the Cathaoirleach of course is here too, as well as the Minister. For some reason that clicked with me and I thought about it and that is quite profound in...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 Oct 2020)

Victor Boyhan: -----and the timelines they are up against. I thank them for that. Unfortunately it gives us very little time to consider it or to discuss it with our colleagues. We are a small group of five Senators and other groups have bigger numbers. I ask the Leader to take on board the difficulties and practicalities around that and to use her position as Leader of the House to do something about...