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			<title>Senator Rónán Mullen's website RSS Feed</title>
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			<copyright>Senator Rónán Mullen's website 2006</copyright>
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				<title>Statute Law Revision Bill 2012</title>
				<link>http://www.ronanmullen.ie/481.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[ For these reasons I commend the Bill but question the value of an exercise focused on repealing or retaining pre-1922 statutes when the post-1922 Statute Book is in such a poor and inaccessible state. ]]></description>
				<pubDate>Fri, 18 May 2012 10:59:15 +0100</pubDate>
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				<title>Employment Equality (Amendment) Bill 2012</title>
				<link>http://www.ronanmullen.ie/480.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[ The purpose of the Bill is to change a section of legislation that allows religious education or medical institutions to take action that is reasonably necessary to prevent a prospective employee from undermining an institution’s religious ethos. As it stands, this legislation does not mention homosexuality in particular. It provides a general protection.  ]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 09 May 2012 16:25:24 +0100</pubDate>
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				<title>Water charges/ Abortion debate </title>
				<link>http://www.ronanmullen.ie/478.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[ I refer to an issue arising in the other House this evening, which prompts a call from me for a debate on a sensitive issue. For the first time, legislation is being introduced in the other House to legalise abortion. That is a sad situation. The legislation has many flaws, not least that it provides for abortion without time limits, disregards the consent of women in certain situations and imprisons conscientious objectors. It is also based on a false premise, an outdated notion that there are psychiatric grounds for abortion, as was canvassed in the X case, in which no psychiatric evidence was heard. The question is no longer whether abortion is ever necessary for mental health reasons; the question experts are considering is in what circumstances abortion poses a mental health risk for some women. ]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 02 May 2012 15:10:03 +0100</pubDate>
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				<title>Parents' wishes count on denominational schools</title>
				<link>http://www.ronanmullen.ie/477.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[ The reason for the enduring support for denominational schools is that tens of thousands of parents, including many who wouldn’t regard themselves as particularly religious, want something more than mere toleration of diverse beliefs.
They want their children to have values they can hold as true no matter what life throws at them. They may want their children to understand that real love is about self-giving, which is a much greater calling than just tolerating diversity.
Their local Christian school knows how to cherish pupils from different cultures and traditions without adopting a neutralism that might ultimately promote indifference.
 ]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 02 May 2012 14:55:42 +0100</pubDate>
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				<title>Debate on media standards urgently needed </title>
				<link>http://www.ronanmullen.ie/476.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[ I also notice a tendency in the comments of the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, to let RTE off the hook, so to speak. I do not think it was satisfactory that Deputy Rabbitte should go to the other extreme and ridicule the notion that one would have heads on plates so to speak. I do not think the Madame Defarge approach is being advocated by genuine critics of our public service broadcaster. There is a very legitimate concern that people who are in receipt of taxpayers’ money are not doing their utmost to guarantee full fairness, impartiality and balance in their coverage of certain current affairs matters ]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 02 May 2012 14:46:23 +0100</pubDate>
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				<title>Media standards/ Catholics in Civil Service </title>
				<link>http://www.ronanmullen.ie/475.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[ This is about attitudes to different groups and sectors in our society. Political parties, like the media, need to show responsibility in their public utterances. That is why this is a relevant issue which I bring before the House this morning. ]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 02 May 2012 14:35:28 +0100</pubDate>
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				<title>Disability cuts in Budget/ Media coverage on abortion</title>
				<link>http://www.ronanmullen.ie/474.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[ Why the silence? Is this another example of a bias in our media whereby certain issues are deemed to be worthy of coverage but the near death of an Irish woman as a consequence of an abortion in England is covered by only one broadsheet newspaper? Has there ever been coverage of the fact that in 2008 alone, 66 unborn children survived being aborted in England and were delivered alive, only to be left to die? That is going on in our nearest neighbouring country. Anybody with the most rudimentary sense of what human rights should encompass must ask questions about this. However, the Irish media apparently do not agree. ]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 02 May 2012 14:27:39 +0100</pubDate>
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				<title>Issue of Gendercide needs to be highlighted and condemned </title>
				<link>http://www.ronanmullen.ie/473.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[ We are here to talk about one of the most horrific human rights abuses in the world and perhaps the most widespread form of violent anti-female discrimination. It is called “gendercide”, a term coined in the book of the same name by Mary Anne Warren in 1985. It involves selective abortion, infanticide or fatal neglect of baby girls after birth. The scale of the abuse has been comprehensively documented at UN level, in US Congressional reports and by reputable publications such as The Economist, Time and Newsweek. Only two weeks ago, the Council of Europe adopted a resolution condemning the most prevalent aspect of gendercide, that of sex-selective abortion. ]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 02 May 2012 14:07:00 +0100</pubDate>
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				<title>Referendum endangers people’s right to respect for their reputations and to fair procedures </title>
				<link>http://www.ronanmullen.ie/472.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[ The Government wants constitutional underpinning for strong parliamentary powers of inquiry into allegations of incompetence or wrongdoing. These inquiries may make damning and damaging findings about persons’ conduct. Reputations may be destroyed. ]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 02 May 2012 14:02:18 +0100</pubDate>
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				<title>RTÉ need to come before Oireachtas Committee to explain Fr.Reynolds affair</title>
				<link>http://www.ronanmullen.ie/471.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[ What I believe is appropriate is that the relevant managers of RTE be invited to come before the all-party Oireachtas committee dealing with communications to explain how the decision to broadcast the Fr. Reynolds allegation came to be made, why it was decided not to await the outcome of the paternity test offered, outline the disciplinary actions that will be taken against those responsible, the steps that will be taken to ensure that this never happens again. ]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 02 May 2012 11:48:29 +0100</pubDate>
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				<title>Judges pay Referendum Bill leaves open possibility of abuse in future </title>
				<link>http://www.ronanmullen.ie/470.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[ I have concerns about the wording that is proposed in the referendum. I have drafted an amendment which offers a clearer wording that is less open to misunderstanding and possible abuse in the future. It has been said that the majority of judges have accepted cuts. I note the comment in the Minister’s speech that they have accepted one cut but they have not necessarily accepted the other. An issue arises about how the reduction is to be imposed on judges as a class. The Minister set out the legislation that will apply not retrospectively in terms of cutting back into the income already received, but in terms of applying reductions which were decided and imposed on others previously. In the case of public sector unions, they have long-established mechanisms for meeting Government and making submissions in respect of their remuneration either through a formal multilateral process such as the Croke Park negotiations or through meetings with the relevant Minister. ]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 02 May 2012 11:34:02 +0100</pubDate>
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				<title>Troy Davis execution/ Prolifration of 2nd level students receiving grinds</title>
				<link>http://www.ronanmullen.ie/469.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[ There have been many comments in these Houses in recent days on the ongoing issue of education. It will come as no surprise to people to hear that maths is the most popular subject for grinds at second level and that Irish is also popular in that regard. The fact that close to half of leaving certificate students are taking grinds at second level raises serious questions about the meaning of free education. I will conclude on this point. We must have a debate about that matter. It points to the vital importance of primary school and stable family structures because if children do not attend primary and secondary school in a situation where they can compete equally and if they do not have the family environment and the quality of second level education that would allow them to progress without the need for grinds then there is not real equality in this country as people progress to third level. This is an important and troubling subject which I hope we can discuss soon.
 ]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 02 May 2012 11:27:24 +0100</pubDate>
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				<title>Rural transport should be expanded </title>
				<link>http://www.ronanmullen.ie/468.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[ I understand the rural transport programme accounts for about 1.5 million passengers annually, and it achieves that while functioning with less than 1.2 per cent of the total annual spend on public transport. There is a strong case to be made for not just continuing it but expanding it. If we are serious about it, we should consider Irish Rural Link’s recommendation that rural transport services across the board, including Bus Éireann and school transport services, should be more integrated. In that way, we can hope for a better reputation for rural transport and also for more efficiency. Obviously, one is linked to the other. ]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 02 May 2012 11:18:36 +0100</pubDate>
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				<title>Taoiseach not fully credible on Cloyne Report </title>
				<link>http://www.ronanmullen.ie/467.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[ The pretence exhibited by the Government’s motion that failure in child protection belongs somehow exclusively to the church contributes to a culture of complacency within Government and State agencies and, in turn, draws society’s attention and media scrutiny away from the gross abuse of children currently taking place under the watch of the State and without its needed intervention. ]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 02 May 2012 11:05:04 +0100</pubDate>
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				<title>Protection of whistleblowers - especially vulnerable whistleblowers</title>
				<link>http://www.ronanmullen.ie/466.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[ This debate is particularly timely now, given the allegations coming from Rostrevor House nursing home and how allegations that workers at the home were treated after blowing the whistle there. However this issue has always been deserving of our attention.

For decades, we have heard about the devastating consequences of cover ups, abuse and corruption in Ireland. From the sexual and physical abuse of children graphically recounted in the Murphy report, to the abuse and maltreatment of former patients at our Lady of Lourdes hospital in Drogheda; from the scandal of the Hospital Sweep Stakes competition to the economic catastrophe wrought on this country through wrongdoing in our banks – we have learned that silence is not always golden. 
 ]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 29 Jun 2011 18:01:53 +0100</pubDate>
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				<title>Seanad Reform: More Urgent than Ever</title>
				<link>http://www.ronanmullen.ie/452.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[ Is it not the case that the real failure was that time and again, Seanadóirí failed to stand up for the privileges of the Seanad? They failed to stand up to party leaders. The next Seanad must not seek to be radical rather than redundant.

It must seek to be independent rather than redundant. We will not be well served by a future Seanad composed of members of the governing parties who seek only to do the wishes of the leaders of those parties. ]]></description>
				<pubDate>Mon, 31 Jan 2011 13:37:46 +0000</pubDate>
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				<title>Failure of Opposition politics</title>
				<link>http://www.ronanmullen.ie/451.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[ Like many people, I watched in disbelief at the succession of events in recent days. Nothing pained me more then watching international news programmes and seeing the turmoil of our political events being featured in the manner they were. The only conclusion I can draw is that all the political parties put selfish, short-term political objectives ahead of the needs and interests of the people. The people were entitled to an orderly transfer of power but did not get that. When the Taoiseach announced that an election would be held on 11 March, there was the possibility that all parties, including the Green Party, could agree there was a programme of work to be got through and that this should happen first and foremost. Instead, one saw the weakness of the Green Party. While I have no issues with its members personally as people, their immaturity as a political entity has caused unnecessary chaos in recent weeks. ]]></description>
				<pubDate>Mon, 31 Jan 2011 13:31:51 +0000</pubDate>
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				<title>Record of the Green Party &amp; Academic Freedom</title>
				<link>http://www.ronanmullen.ie/450.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[ Kennedy’s words, “let the word go out ... to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation,” remind me that the dead wood of the Cabinet is to be torched and that the torch will be passed to a new generation of Ministers for only a few weeks. ]]></description>
				<pubDate>Mon, 31 Jan 2011 13:24:08 +0000</pubDate>
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				<title>Senator Mullen calls for referendum after European Court decision abortion</title>
				<link>http://www.ronanmullen.ie/449.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[ Were we to be really honest, we would accept that we have very little choice regarding the tough things that must be done in the next few years. Moreover, I am afraid that it flows logically from this that much that will be said in these Houses will be superfluous. While Members will be engaged in much conversation that is necessary at one level, at another level it will be quite superfluous because the same decisions must be taken anyway. In the next couple of years we will face the test of whether we can get on with the business of improving the country, particularly in ways that do not involve major cost, and avoid getting caught in the headlights of the economic crisis. ]]></description>
				<pubDate>Fri, 17 Dec 2010 17:29:59 +0000</pubDate>
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				<title>Prime Time Prime Scandal</title>
				<link>http://www.ronanmullen.ie/448.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[ Last night we saw people who were little better than pimps procure incompetent, untrained and, in some cases, uncaring people to take care of older persons in their homes. We saw people who were supposed to spend an hour with someone spend sometimes as little as 15 minutes providing completely inadequate care. For how long did the health authorities know this was going on? ]]></description>
				<pubDate>Fri, 17 Dec 2010 17:19:39 +0000</pubDate>
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