Results 121-140 of 7,199 for speaker:Rónán Mullen

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2024)

Rónán Mullen: I move amendment No. 1: In page 3, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following: “ “designated institution of higher education” has the same meaning as it has in the Higher Education Authority Act 2022;”. Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach, agus cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. This amendment provides that in page 3,...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2024)

Rónán Mullen: The Minister's reply has left me with many questions. I am surprised at the extent of it. I will start by keeping it logical. Not all of what is in this Bill is equally bad. Section 2 states that a person shall not, without lawful authority, in a safe access zone, engage in conduct that is likely to obstruct or impede another person from accessing a relevant healthcare premises.I can...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2024)

Rónán Mullen: I am, because this is all part of-----

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2024)

Rónán Mullen: I am trying not to. We are talking about a life-and-death issue, a Chathaoirligh Gníomhaigh.

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2024)

Rónán Mullen: I will, and I do not intend to take longer than is necessary. My colleague, Senator McDowell, had to take considerably longer recently on the referendum legislation, which was also rushed through. I will do my best to keep to the point. My point is that we do not have abortion clinics in Ireland. Therefore, if a person in any given situation wants to promote or get out a pro-life message...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2024)

Rónán Mullen: I will. That was just a passing comment. The parallels, in terms of how closed the Government is these days to voices of dissent on serious and important issues, will not be lost on people. This legislation is about crushing dissent. The Minister talks about Ireland being the most progressive and advanced in the area of healthcare and women's healthcare. I would love for that to be the...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2024)

Rónán Mullen: No, I have not.

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2024)

Rónán Mullen: Where is the insult?

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2024)

Rónán Mullen: You are the one who is lying now.

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2024)

Rónán Mullen: Yes, please.

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2024)

Rónán Mullen: Yes, although I have to say he came very close there. First of all, Minister, your strategy here is to come out fighting and to put on the false umbrage of the wronged politician. I did not insult you personally but I am certainly insulting what you are doing because it is the worst kind of public service to seek to crush dissent on a life-and-death issue in the way that you are doing....

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2024)

Rónán Mullen: Yes, and sometimes they are campaigners not being honest, Minister, and you are not being honest if you deny that.

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2024)

Rónán Mullen: What you have failed, Minister, to acknowledge-----

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2024)

Rónán Mullen: What you have failed to acknowledge is what I said, which is you have not had a single complaint, or else you would have told us by now, from a reputable health-providing institution.

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2024)

Rónán Mullen: You have failed to acknowledge-----

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2024)

Rónán Mullen: Yes.

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2024)

Rónán Mullen: That is not true when it comes to giving evidence for a point of view that you hold. Say, for example, the Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris, said that there is a lacuna in our law and that we need to legislate because there is a real danger of people being intimidated when they access abortion facilities. The opposite was the message we got. If Mr. Harris had said it, it would be remiss of...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2024)

Rónán Mullen: It is not an absolute rule. I can quote William Butler Yeats, and it is not just because he is dead. Sometimes it is entirely appropriate to quote somebody. I challenge the Minister to quote anybody who is not a campaigner in one way or another for extended abortion rights, including members of the medical profession, or somebody who has skin in the game.However, what he has failed to do...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2024)

Rónán Mullen: If somebody writes a letter and says, "Dear Minister, my name is Joe Bloggs and on the blank day of blank, the following happened. Please use this when bringing forward your legislation.", or "Dear Minister, we represent the such and such organisation or we are the blank hospital of the blank region of the country and at a meeting on the blank day of blank, it was recommended that we ask the...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2024)

Rónán Mullen: I am finishing now. The Government is pushing legislation at the behest of an invisible few. It does not have the slightest respect for the electorate. If the Minister did, he would be giving us chapter and verse. He would be showing us the Government's own studies as to whether this was in fact a problem. He would be bringing forward evidence of his careful consultation with the Garda...