The Criminal Justice (Rehabilitative Periods) Bill 2018 will be debated in Seanad Éireann on February 13th. In order for the bill to pass to the next stage and get one step closer to reforming Ireland's limited spent convictions regime, we need the support of political parties
February 5th 2019 Independent Senator Lynn Ruane has today launched the Criminal Justice (Rehabilitative Periods) Bill. The bill would expand fairer access to spent convictions; minor convictions that don’t have to be disclosed after set periods of time when returning to education, applying for a job or
The Register of Electors for the Trinity Seanad constituency is published every year on June 1st. If you would like to be included in the 2019 Register, the deadline to make an application is February 26th. Are you eligible? If you are an Irish citizen and a
We are delighted with the initial response to the Project Sums maths tutoring pilot programme and would like to thank the students, the volunteer tutors who've given us their time and the media for their help in getting the word out. We're continuing to recruit volunteers
November 22nd 2018 Following a meeting in Leinster House this morning, the launch of the new Oireachtas Cross-Party Group on Drug Policy Reform (ODPR) was agreed by a cross-party group of Oireachtas members. The Ana Liffey Drug Project will be the NGO partner to the group and
Independent Senator Lynn Ruane today welcomed the acceptance by the Minister for Health of her proposal to make it a legal requirement for two members of the new Health Service Executive board to be patient advocates. Speaking after the passage of the Health Service Executive (Governance)
At a press conference in Dublin today, Senators Higgins and Ruane joined campaigners from Barnardos, One Family and Spark to call on the Government to deliver for lone parents in Budget 2019 in key areas of housing, social welfare and access to employment and education. Senator
2017 was my first full year in office and I'm delighted to share an update on the issues I've worked on in the Oireachtas over the past 12 months. You can also view it via ISSU here.
The Domestic Violence Bill 2017 was debated at committee stage in the Seanad on November 28th and I was delighted to secure an amendment to the bill, co-sponsored by my colleague Independent Senator Frances Black. The text of the amendment was as follows: 27. In page 17,
I recently made a submission to the Fifth Programme of the Law Reform Commission of Ireland in relation to anomalies in enforcement procedures of child maintenance submissions between parents. You can view the submission here.
