Results 1-20 of 28 for carers speaker:Mary Seery Kearney

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (31 Jan 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: ...pattern. It is disrespectful to this House, it is disrespectful to the Members of this House and disrespectful to the very serious issues raised by Members of this House addressing children on waiting lists, carers left without any care or support and people imprisoned in their homes in desperate situations with a HSE that is not answerable to anyone for anything. It is time we had a...

Seanad: Family Carers: Motion [Private Members] (31 Jan 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I move: “That Seanad Éireann: acknowledges that: - family carers provide a vital contribution in our society by the provision of care for their loved ones; - family carers provide this care at considerable personal cost in terms of their own lives and choices; - in 2020, the Irish Health Survey showed that there were over 500,000 family carers in Ireland and of that,...

Seanad: An Bille um an Daicheadú Leasú ar an mBunreacht (Cúram), 2023: Céim an Choiste (Atógáil) agus na Céimeanna a bheidh Fágtha - Fortieth Amendment of the Constitution (Care) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (23 Jan 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: ...being reductive in any way. While I disagree with the interpretation, with due respect to Senator Clonan, and how far he is taking it but I completely agree with the plight of parents and family carers. I was on Newstalk's "Lunchtime Live With Andrea Gilligan". She has been very good in highlighting, promoting and campaigning for family carers. I listened to the story today of Gayle and...

Seanad: An Bille um an Daicheadú Leasú ar an mBunreacht (Cúram), 2023: An Dara Céim - Fortieth Amendment of the Constitution (Care) Bill 2023: Second Stage (22 Jan 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: ...many other things suggest we are moving in that direction. We cannot make a change to the Constitution without clarification from the Government and all of us that where we are recognising the role of carers, we are in no way saying that people with disabilities or disabled persons are the responsibility of their families. They are holders of human rights in and of themselves and have...

Seanad: Recent Violence in Dublin City Centre: Motion (29 Nov 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: ...of the Commissioner is pure populism. It is pure political exploitation. It is to turn what was a shock to everybody into something else. The idea that an individual would behave in such a manner towards children and their carer was shocking to everybody. No-one could have predicted it. That said, we have all become desensitised to terror due to its prevalence on our screens and in...

Seanad: Rights-Based Care Economy: Motion (27 Sep 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: ...in this House, namely that this is a good motion. I completely support it. When we talk about the care economy, we also need to talk about care economics. As an organisation, Family Carers Ireland is incredible. It is incredible in how it supports its membership. Some of the support they need to provide should not, in fact, be needed. If the HSE was doing its job in every way, in...

Seanad: Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (1 Mar 2023)

Mary Seery Kearney: ...the Minister on this point. It is found in other legislation and in general legal terms "in loco parentis" means anyone who is in the position of the parent. It does not just apply to foster carers. It applies to anyone stepping into that position.

Seanad: Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022: Second Stage (14 Dec 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: ...full-time basis. Between now and legislating for surrogacy, for instance, will the second parent be deemed in loco parentisuntil they have statutory standing? How do they qualify? With regard to carers' leave I note the Bar Council made comments on consistencies and inconsistencies with the Carer's Leave Act in this regard. Something that strikes me, and I will explore it further on...

Seanad: Budget 2023 (Finance): Statements (27 Sep 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: ...now gone down by 25%. The number of people who will get fuel allowance is going to increase as we widen and increase the eligibility criteria. Those people will get a lump sum of €400. Pensioners, carers and people on disability benefits will have €624 extra, plus the €500 lump sum in November. Families with young children will receive double child benefit and...

Seanad: Institutional Burials Act 2022 (Director of Authorised Intervention, Tuam) Order 2022: Motion (21 Sep 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: ...deterioration of remains during that time. We must move as quickly as possible on this issue. We are talking about children in State-sponsored care. Yesterday, we had representatives of foster carers and social workers before the Joint Committee on Children, Disability, Equality and Integration. They talked about the shortcomings for children in State-sponsored care today. We have the...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Children's Unmet Needs: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Mar 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: ...avoided? In that case, it was avoided by very high-level intervention, for which I am grateful, but it reached a stage where I had to be completely exasperated that a child was continually without carers at a critical juncture in his or her life. How do we resolve that? What is the nature of that relationship between services that are arguing about which of them is responsible for...

Seanad: International Women's Day 2022: Statements (9 Mar 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: ...women. Sometimes we come to the Chamber and talk about high-profile heroes, but in our everyday lives, there are ordinary women who are incredible heroes too. I refer to women such as family carers, that is, the mothers, sisters and daughters who live sacrificial lives, including as the carers of children with disabilities. I spend much of my days listening to them and advocating on...

Seanad: Brain Health and Dementia: Statements (9 Mar 2022)

Mary Seery Kearney: ...from a policy perspective whether we are co-producing mental health and research programmes, capturing in our research the lived experience of those who have dementia and their families and carers, and using it to inform our policy. How are we gathering data? Are we gathering data? We must look through the correct lens when considering our policy and practices. Organisations like the...

Seanad: Children in Care and Children Leaving Care: Statements (23 Nov 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: .... There is no doubt that there are exceptional foster families, individuals, couples and family situations that are fantastic. There are many people who would probably like to be foster carers. Because I am involved in IVF, surrogacy, fertility and other such groups, fostering comes up in discussions of alternative pathways. One of the repeated statements I hear - I am probably guilty...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (4 Nov 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: ...from people in the autistic community. Children in preschool are being expelled because they get anxiety, they have difficulties or they behave in a way that is not acceptable to their so-called carers. We need public information and training in respect of this issue. We require so many things in order to ensure that everybody in our community has a right to be who they are and has that...

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Jul 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: ...former Deputy Jim Daly before that. It is part of addressing sensitively a whole suite of measures for older people and the vulnerable in our community. We need to ensure we are looking at family carers. Getting the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act into being is my big thing, and the amendments. As well as the announcements of this week, home caring is very important. There are...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Rehabilitative Periods) Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (28 Jun 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: ...Bill. Wearing my employment lawyer and data protection officer hat, I have advised employers on Garda vetting and its implementation, particularly in the recruitment industry, which might supply carers and employees to many industries. In this regard, I have always advised employers to ensure they have a policy that responds to Garda vetting and that it is not acceptable to decide that...

Seanad: Gender Pay Gap Information Bill 2021: Second Stage (14 Jun 2021)

Mary Seery Kearney: ...also more likely to be the applicants in family court pursuing maintenance, trying to enforce agreements between partners over the care of children and they are more likely to be the lone parents who are the carers. All that being the case, we need to ensure that when women are in the workplace their hour there is of equal value to a man’s, given they have so many steps along the...