Click on the title of the blog post to read the article in full and to view or post comments.
Senator Quinn called for a debate on parenting and marriage. Research on parenting in Trinity College and elsewhere shows what matters is the quality of the parenting and not the legal bond or otherwise between the parents, be they same sex or opposite sex couples or single parents. It is not the case that married parents are better parents.
Senator Ivana Bacik: Will the deputy leader consider holding a debate on abortion, a topic of ongoing concern, particularly to women? Politicians have ignored and overlooked the topic. Governments have failed to legislate for abortion, particularly to provide for the circumstances in which an abortion may be carried out in line with the Supreme Court judgment in the X case, whereby continuing a pregnancy poses a real and substantial risk to a woman’s life.
In a recent poll in The Irish Times 69% of women surveyed said they would favour the Government’s legislating to provide for the X case circumstances. A total of 54% said they would like to see abortion legalised.
Last week, a senior
I have introduced a Private Members bill, the climate protection bill 2007 – which if passed would commit this and future governments to make specified annual reductions in carbon emissions. The Bill was debated on 3rd October 2007, debate was adjourned and it will be debated further. The Bill is supported by Friends of the Earth (Ireland) and the stop climate chaos coalition. For more information on these and other issues in which I have been involved, see the Oireachtas website, www.oireachtas.ie. For more information on the Climate Protection Bill, see the Friends of the Earth website, www.foe.ie
“With Strike a Balance as this year’s theme, Health Week aims to help staff and students find a balance between work and relaxation,” stated Aileen McGloin, Trinity College’s Health Promotion Officer. “It is all about getting the right amount of work, rest and play, eating good food and minding your health. We also hope that Health Week will encourage students control exam stress through physical activity and healthy eating.”
Read more from Trinity College News
Pictured: Launching College Health Week 2007 - Ivana and Fr Paddy Gleeson on their bikes, Front Square, April 2007
I also thank Senator McDonald for again calling for a debate on gender equality, an issue to which I intend to return. From looking around this House and the other House it is clear that women’s representation in
Female Members in particular may like me to repeat what I said. Today’s edition of The Irish Times contains a comprehensive opinion poll of women’s attitudes to various issues, including work and life in the home. One of the more alarming findings is that of the women surveyed, only 33% reported that their male partners contributed regularly to housework. Men clearly need some gentle encouragement to contribute to work in the home.
I have made the case for many years that men require recognition as fathers in the workplace.
I support the call for a motion condemning the recent actions by the military junta in
We are all deeply concerned about the savage attack on Garda Sherlock yesterday but it is posturing to call for the return of capital punishment in response. That cannot be an answer. It is something with which the Burmese junta would be happy but it is not a democratic solution to the problem of crime, even armed crime.
I support Senator O’Toole’s call for a debate on the management of our primary education system. This is also topical. All Members will have noted the opening this week of Bracken Educate Together school in north Dublin and must be concerned that while it is important the children in that school have all received a school place, it signals a highly dangerous move towards a system of education that may be based upon racial segregation. We already have a system based on religious segregation as a result of the present system of patronage and as Senator O’Toole has stated, this must be examined. Members should seek a debate on restructuring the existing system of primary school education and management to ensure that patronage based on religious denomination will no longer be the basis on which our primary schools are managed and run. It is time to leave religious denomination outside the school door and a national conference on this matter is needed urgently.
Click here to download the Summer 2007 Newsletter in PDF format.I will be contesting the 2007 Seanad election as an independent candidate.
I graduated with an LL.B. from Trinity in 1989 and was President of the Students’ Union from 1989-90. I am now lecturing in the Law School and practising as a barrister.
I was the Honorary Secretary of the Law Alumni Association for several years (1996-2003). During that time, colleagues and I pioneered the Law School Scholarships Scheme, a groundbreaking scheme providing funded places for students from disadvantaged backgrounds to study Law.
I have been a College Tutor for several years and was elected a Fellow of the College in 2005. ln 2006 I was presented with a Provost’s Teaching Award. I am also Registrar of the Law School. Apart from my work in Trinity, I have a long track record of campaigning on human rights and on civil liberties, for social justice and equality for women; for gay rights, for people with disabilities, for the environment ; against the war in Iraq; and for social justice. I have published widely on human rights law, criminal law and criminology, and equality
issues.
Recently, I wrote Kicking and Screaming: Dragging Ireland into the Twenty-First Century (O’Brien Press, 2004), in which I set forward an agenda for progressive change in Ireland. I believe that the Seanad provides a vital platform for making
that change.
You will see further details about my work to date, and my election campaign, at www.ivanabacik.com.
I would really welcome any views or comments you have in the lead into
the election. Please contact me by phone or email.
Regards,
