Results 1-20 of 20 for other and baby speaker:Michael Collins

Housing Targets and Regulations: Motion [Private Members] (6 Mar 2024)

Michael Collins: Ireland is in the midst of a severe housing crisis, with the political establishment seemingly incapable of delivering on housing need. The homeless population now exceeds 13,000 and is growing rapidly, yet nothing substantial is being done to reduce the number. The Government's flagship strategy, Housing for All, has goals that include increasing housing affordability and reducing...

Charities (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage (25 Jan 2024)

Michael Collins: ...fairly often in this Chamber. There are a lot of things on which I would not be well versed but certainly when it comes to the community voluntary sector, that is the sector from which I came and which got me elected to Dáil Éireann so I speak with some level of expertise. I am part of 25 community voluntary groups for a number of years and they have delivered. The sad thing...

Courts Bill 2023: Second Stage (19 Apr 2023)

Michael Collins: The Courts Bill 2023, if passed, will increase the maximum number of judges in the District Court, Circuit Court, High Court and Court of Appeal. This increase in judicial resources may lead to the faster and more efficient processing of court cases. It may also help to reduce the backlog of cases in the courts and improve access to justice. Overall, the Bill seeks to enhance the...

Mother and Baby Institutions Redress Scheme: Motion [Private Members] (19 Oct 2022)

Michael Collins: It is important to bring forward this motion today. On 16 November 2021, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth published details of the mother and baby institutions payment scheme. At the time, the Minister stated that the legislation underpinning the scheme would be developed by the Department as a matter of priority. The Bill was eventually published on...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Passport Services (10 May 2022)

Michael Collins: I thank the Minister for his reply. I do not want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, as they say, and I must compliment his Department. The staff have been very helpful to me in dealing with very difficult times for families in the past number of years. What is being done to ensure first-time passports are issued within a reasonable timeframe? There are families who are given an...

Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2021 [Seanad]: Second Stage (24 Mar 2021)

Michael Collins: I am happy to speak to the Bill, which will give adoptive parents the same rights as every other couple who have a child, which I fully support. This is a move in the right direction at a time when so much negativity has been shown to mothers and babies in this country by the Government. Adoptive and single parents should get leave to experience the same joy of having a loving baby in their...

Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Motion [Private Members] (24 Feb 2021)

Michael Collins: We need to extend the lifetime of the mother and baby homes commission and I support the motion put forward by the Social Democrats. By winding down the mother and baby homes commission now, we would, in effect, prevent the carrying out of full investigations, leaving remaining questions unanswered. We need to buy more time for the survivors in their search for truth and justice. Last...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Abortion Services Provision (3 Dec 2020)

Michael Collins: The people of Ireland voted for abortion a couple of years ago but no one ever thought that there would be 6,666 abortions in 12 months. I met so many people who voted for it who are stunned by this. It is what it is. The discussion today is about late-term abortions. It is about what a new study tells us about late-term abortions and babies born alive after abortion in Ireland. A study,...

Maternity Leave Benefit Extension: Motion [Private Members] (14 Jul 2020)

Michael Collins: I support the motion to extend maternity leave and benefit temporarily due to the Covid-19 emergency. The announcement yesterday regarding parents' leave is a step in the right direction, but it is not a solution. It does not solve the crisis that parents face now. It also excludes anybody whose baby was born earlier than last November. These babies still need to be cared for. It is...

Supporting Inclusion and Combating Racism in Ireland: Statements (17 Jun 2020)

Michael Collins: 11 o’clock In 1973, when Ireland joined the Common Market, every denomination and race was to be treated equally in Ireland. I wonder if the Irish were treated in this way all over the world. Have we now become so politically correct that we are going to knock down our statues and sculptures and erase our history? The next thing we know our books will be burned to censor our...

Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Report Stage (Resumed) (5 Dec 2018)

Michael Collins: A group of pharmacists has called on the Minister to amend the abortion Bill to protect the conscience rights of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals. The Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018, as currently drafted, does not provide for the conscientious objections of pharmacists. Pharmacists will therefore play a critical role in any foreseeable abortion...

Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Dec 2018)

Michael Collins: Can I speak? I gave Deputies the opportunity to speak. This amendment is yet another one in respect of which it feels as though it should not be needed. It should go without saying that the parents of any pregnant minor would be, at the least, informed that their daughter was requesting an abortion. Those of us who are parents would be upset if our young teenage daughter came home with...

Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Report Stage (Resumed) (29 Nov 2018)

Michael Collins: ...to protect an infant born alive after an abortion. That is astonishing to say the least but it is along the same lines on which he has been travelling with omissions from this Bill to protect a baby in what is an unlikely situation, albeit one that does happen and there is proof out there. As Deputy O'Keeffe said, what we are trying to put forward in this amendment is the same as what...

Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Report Stage (Resumed) (29 Nov 2018)

Michael Collins: ...because our doctors know how to care for the infants. However, the Minister seems to have forgotten that in this case the doctor was likely to be the doctor who had been tasked with ending the baby's life, therefore surely the Minister can appreciate that there may be a conflict as to what he or she should do at this point. The doctor was asked to end that baby's life and now the baby is...

Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Report Stage (Resumed) (29 Nov 2018)

Michael Collins: I support the amendment. As the previous Deputy said, it is basic humanity that if a baby survives and is seen to be viable that there is an onus on everyone, obstetricians and all other medical personnel, to ensure they are given every chance to survive. The Minister should take this on board. It is only giving basic rights to an infant that was born and was breathing, that they should be...

Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Report Stage (Resumed) (29 Nov 2018)

Michael Collins: It is hard to understand why anybody would be opposed to providing pain relief to a human being about to undergo a painful procedure. I am not sure any Member is actively against pain relief in principle. Sadly, however, many have spoken out against this amendment in recent weeks. When this was raised at the recent health committee meeting, the Minister said this type of detail is best set...

Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Report Stage (Resumed) (29 Nov 2018)

Michael Collins: ...topic. During the referendum campaign, when he sought to reassure the public that this Bill would not allow shockingly high levels of abortions on the ground of disability that occur annually in other countries, and knowing that most Irish people wanted to provide protection against discrimination of the most vulnerable among us, he repeatedly assured voters that it would not allow...

Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Report Stage (Resumed) (29 Nov 2018)

Michael Collins: ...challenge the Minister on the spin that was put out. He would like all of us to believe that if it is not specifically legal to abort on the ground of disability, it will somehow not happen in Ireland. That view is very naive. In Germany, it is not specifically legal to abort a baby on the grounds of disability, yet some 90% of babies with prenatal diagnosis of Down's syndrome are...

Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Second Stage (Resumed) (18 Oct 2018)

Michael Collins: I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill today. There is no doubt that this Bill, regardless of one's position on it, will go down in history and will be spoken about for many years to come. Hundreds of people were here last night to express their serious concerns about this legislation. I am conscious of the fact that people have strongly held views on both sides and we must...

Report of the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Statements (Resumed) (24 Jan 2018)

Michael Collins: I welcome the opportunity to speak on this issue of great importance this evening. The eighth amendment of the Constitution recognises the equal right to life of both the mother and the unborn child in the womb; and it creates a legal right to protect that unborn child, as far as practicable. I believe that it has saved thousands of lives since it was introduced in 1983. I appreciate that...