Results 21-40 of 187 for like to work speaker:Mary Seery Kearney

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (20 Jun 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: ...of these amendments. I will go through all of them and point out the errors in their conception, if you pardon the pun. Amendment No. 1, which is based on the idea that parents entering into surrogacy should be on par with adoptive parents and meet the criteria for adoption, seeks to conflate surrogacy and adoption, which are different things in the journey to becoming a parent. It does...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (20 Jun 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I have two amendments in this group. I will not be moving any of my amendments. They are merely there for discussion purposes. I flagged to the Minister's officials that this would be the case. Before I get into them, I will address a couple of things. There were a few chestnuts that were always predictable so let us nail those here and now. The first is the quotation from the Ukrainian...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Jun 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I commend Senator Ardagh on her Bill. I cannot see anyone not supporting it in its entirety. I have just come from the Committee on Autism's first year anniversary meeting, in which it listed its recommendations and the progress thereon. I want to first reflect on the fact that there is never a case here where a committee sits, produces a report and has a progress report a year on. That...

Seanad: National Cancer Services: Motion (19 Jun 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I welcome the Minister of State. I commend my colleague Senator Kyne on drafting and bringing forward this motion. It is excellent and aptly timed. I reiterate the asks. The idea that your probability and possibility of surviving cancer is dependent on where you live, your socioeconomic grouping or your geographical location is awful. It should not be that way in 2024.It is shocking that...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Heritage Sites (13 Jun 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting my matter today. The Minister of State is very welcome and I am delighted he is in as Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works when this an Office of Public Works issue. That is really good news. I have had the privilege of working with the Chapelizod historical society and a lot of those same individuals are in Chapelizod...

Seanad: Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022: Second Stage (13 Jun 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: It was ten years ago last month that I sent my first email to a predecessor of the Minister's asking for a legal framework for surrogacy in Ireland. I begin, therefore, by congratulating the Minister and his team for the exceptional work that has gone into this Bill. I am very grateful to the Department of Health officials - Pamela, Edward, Colm and others - the members of the...

Seanad: Order of Business (30 May 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I will work in reverse order. Senator Maria Byrne welcomed the beds announcement. We all breathed a huge sigh of relief yesterday. The sheer scale of it was very impressive. The Minister also spoke about it at length following the debate in the Dáil on the Assisted Human Reproduction Bill. It is great. Senator Maria Byrne in particular is a huge advocate for University Hospital...

Seanad: Order of Business (30 May 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: It is important to get the day for no homework right so that it has power. Returning to Senator Hoey, it is an important point. We are seeing the language grow outside Gaeltacht areas but the idea of being able to go to an area where people are shopping and living in the language is lovely.That is a good and very important part of our culture and it ensures the ongoing life of our...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (23 May 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I formally second Senator Martin's Bill. It is excellent, insightful legislation. It is very simple and straightforward but much needed, especially where applications regarding coercive control come into play. I congratulate and thank the Minister for Rural and Community Development for her announcement yesterday on the local enhancement programme. The constituency of Dublin...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Health Services (21 May 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank the Minister of State for taking the time to come to the House to deal with this in person. I am working with a family who are incredibly caring and supportive of their 29-year-old son and brother who is a ward of court and has been in the care of the State for some years, since he left school. He was undergoing treatment under the auspices of the HSE in Dublin. At times, that...

Seanad: Employment (Collective Redundancies and Miscellaneous Provisions) and Companies (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage (24 Apr 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I congratulate the Minister of State. I could not be more thrilled to see her here presenting this Bill. I am delighted she is here in the Seanad. She is very welcome. I have a background in employment law and have been involved in collective redundancies over the years so I particularly welcome this Bill. It is very good legislation. The consultative process is a very valuable tool....

Seanad: Smartphone and Social Media Use: Motion [Private Members] (24 Apr 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: Everybody is welcome. I thank the Minister for taking the time to attend. I appreciate that she is very busy at the moment so she is very good to come here. As long ago as 2010, the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Use published an article that said smartphone use and social media platforms - platforms, apps and games - were designed to be addictive, which is what is addressed in this...

Seanad: Smartphone and Social Media Use: Motion [Private Members] (24 Apr 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I welcome the members of Fórsa. I have gone to bat against Fórsa in the WRC on many an occasion. I acknowledge the Minister’s remarks and all the work she has done, which clearly is felt across this House. There was a time when everybody smoked in all of the movies. In fact, they did it to promote them. That was what being cool looked like. Then there were decades...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ireland's International Obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I was curious about how the panel was made up and how long it was serving. I am glad to know this is something that is working. Again, we should probably have an advisory panel as a committee as well, and why not? It seems bizarre we would speak about children and young people and not actually hear from them. I am a little bit ashamed that we are four years in, and although this is not...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 Mar 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: That is the experience of the people advising the Senator. However, there are huge amounts of money out there - €80 million from the Government and €80 million from the EU is considerable support. We need people coming up. I liked the championing of the ideas and the opportunities in this. That is to be commended and amplified further. I would say to Senator Clonan that...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Protection of Children in the Use of Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (13 Feb 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: That is great. I thank the witnesses. The content this afternoon has been fascinating. When I first came into the Oireachtas, I used to feel that if I raised issues like this, people would look around and wonder where my tinfoil hat was because my thinking seemed so catastrophic. I have been on a campaign to have no smartphones. I do not believe children should have smartphones. I...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Engagement of Children in Criminal Activity) Bill 2023: Second Stage (31 Jan 2024)

Mary Seery Kearney: I thank the Minister of State and he is very welcome to the House. I also welcome this Bill about which we have spoken on a number of occasions. The fact is that depending on where you are lucky or unlucky enough to be born, and the family into which you are born, you either have a lifetime of opportunity rolled out in front of you, with parents, families and networks supporting a life...

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

Mary Seery Kearney: ...own lives and choices; - in 2020, the Irish Health Survey showed that there were over 500,000 family carers in Ireland and of that, 88,900 were in receipt of Carer’s Allowance and over 52% of carers worked outside of the home in paid employment in addition to their role as carers; there is no reason to believe that these figures have changed in the intervening years; - those in...

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

Mary Seery Kearney: How do I follow that? Well done. I am very proud to have worked with Deputy Rabbitte as Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities and I absolutely stand by her. There is real ambition here. There is an understanding of what should be and what can be. There is no point in anybody standing up here and pretending that things can be fixed overnight but they can be set on a route...

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: I will be voting a very strong "Yes" to this amendment to the Constitution and will do so with a very glad heart. I believe that the description of women as set out is dated and is not reflective of an inclusive modern Ireland and of how care and duties in families are reflected in a modern Ireland. Let us look at what a "No" vote would do. A "No" vote would leave it in there - a piece of...