Results 1-20 of 25,386 for speaker:David Cullinane

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

David Cullinane: I just want to make a number of remarks because this is a groundbreaking Bill. We have been through a very lengthy process and I genuinely do not believe that this Bill has been rushed or that we have done anything in haste. We have done our job very diligently. There was a lot of pre-legislative scrutiny. In fact, there was an Oireachtas committee that did a huge amount of work on this...

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

David Cullinane: I move amendment No. 52: In page 85, between lines 27 and 28, to insert the following: “(c) The giving by a medical practitioner of genuine medical advice.”.

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

David Cullinane: These amendments provide beyond reasonable doubt that a medical professional will not be criminalised for offering genuine medical advice. There is a difference between amendment No. 51 and amendment No. 52. My amendment No. 52 permits the courts to exercise reasonable discretion in determining this, and I think that is a better course of action. I understand the logic of amendment No. 51...

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

David Cullinane: I know it all.

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

David Cullinane: We discussed this earlier, perhaps with officials or the Minister. When concerns were raised, that was the exact advice we got - that the Bill already deals with this. That there is now legal advice that says, hang on a second, we may well need to do something else, means we have to do it. All of those scenarios the Minister pointed out could happen. We always look at worst-case scenarios...

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

David Cullinane: I supported the retrospective parental recognition for the same reasons as the Minister and others did. It was because it was the right thing to do. I also support putting in place a new regime, a new set of regulations and a new process that allow for international surrogacy in a way that no other country has done. We are agreeing here. I have to put my cards on the table and say that we...

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

David Cullinane: This is complex legislation. This amended version of it is lengthy and covers many areas. I have in the past commended the Minister's officials on the work they have done. It has been phenomenal but we will get to that later as we conclude the Bill. In all the exchanges we had with the officials and the Minister on many issues, the Minister always said the best interests of the child have...

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

David Cullinane: If we could avoid sending them abroad, would it not be better?

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

David Cullinane: As with Deputy Shortall, it has been highlighted to me by a number of professionals working in this field that there is a very small number of specialists in the State operating in some of these areas. We see this in a number of unique specialist areas where it can be difficult to recruit as there are very few of them. This amendment seeks to provide AHRRA, the assisted human reproduction...

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

David Cullinane: We would all have regard to patient safety grounds and the patient safety advice that is given. Again, this is advice that the Minister sought and was given, and I accept that it came in good faith and that he is accepting it in good faith. There is strong pushback from the HSE and the pushback is on patient safety grounds. However, what the amendment is seeking to do is to give the...

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

David Cullinane: I accept that is what the Minister is doing and that this is not a policy decision of his. The advice is the advice and he has to act on clinical and medical advice. It strikes me that a more sensible approach would have been for progressive disorders to have remained subject to a clinical recommendation by a specialist. That probably would have been a better way to approach it. As Deputy...

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

David Cullinane: Yes.

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

David Cullinane: Hear, hear.

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

David Cullinane: When we discussed this on Committee Stage, and there was lengthy discussion of this with the Minister's officials at briefings on this matter too, the concern that we had was that it could be perceived that providers were being asked to police access to services, so I welcome the fact that the wording here essentially says that the regulator must be satisfied on the basis of information...

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

David Cullinane: Again, I raised concerns on Committee Stage, and on Second Stage, that the net loss of income was not covered under reasonable expenses so the fact that the Minister has agreed to that and that the amendments reflect that and use the terminology that was recommended in the various amendments by Members of the Opposition is very helpful. I thank the Minister for that and I will be supporting...

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

David Cullinane: The current draft of the Bill provides that children in very limited circumstances can participate in AHR, for example in egg donation, where a procedure or a progressive disorder - that is the terminology that was used in the original draft – is likely to cause infertility. As the Minister said, these amendments remove the references to "progressive disorder". I hear what the...

Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (29 May 2024)

David Cullinane: If I am reading the amendments correctly, they provide that where two intending parents enter into an arrangement but one dies before the embryo transfer takes place, the previously given consent is considered revoked. I have been asked to ask the Minister whether any provision has been made, allowed or considered for intending parents to indicate ongoing consent in the event of a death so...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 May 2024)

David Cullinane: We provided €6 million in our budget.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 May 2024)

David Cullinane: It was permanent, as well.