The Irish Legislation Podcast with Barry Ward

In this episode, Senator Barry Ward talks to his Seanad colleague, Independent Senator Eileen Flynn, about her private member’s bill to remove the term “child pornography” from Irish legislation, and replace it with the more appropriate term “child sexual exploitation material”. Also in the podcast are Emer Taylor and Jessica Bray, who worked on the Bill with Senator Flynn. This is a first for Irish legislation because it alters the title of an existing act without repealing it; the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998 will become the Child Trafficking and Child Sexual Exploitation Material Act 1998. You can read the Bill here. You can read the second stage debate on the Bill in the Seanad on 2 February 2022 here. Media coverage of the Bill can be seen here: RTÉ The Irish Times The Irish Examiner TheJournal.ie Buzz.ie Headtopics.ie Highland Radio Donegal Daily Donegal Live Senator Eileen Flynn is an Independent Senator and a member of the Civil Engagement Group, which can be found on Twitter @SeanadCEG, and on Instagram @SeanadCEG - the Bill was co-sponsored by Senators Eileen Flynn, Alice-Mary Higgins (@aliceeire), Lynn Ruane (@SenLynnRuane) and Frances Black (@frances_black). You can follow Eileen on Twitter @love1solidarity or find out more about her on the Oireachtas web site. Emer Taylor is a legislative consultant working with Senator Eileen Flynn and Independents 4 Change, and Jessica Bray works directly with Senator Flynn in her office. The Irish Legislation Podcast is presented by Senator Barry Ward. Follow Barry on Twitter @barrymward; Instagram @barrym_ward; Facebook at BarryWard.ie; or his web site: www.barryward.ie. E-mail [email protected] with any comments or suggestions.

This week, Senator Barry Ward talks ticket touts with former Fine Gael TD Noel Rock, and barrister and law lecturer, James McDermott. The Sale of Tickets (Cultural, Entertainment, Recreational and Sporting Events) Act 2021 all stages and was signed into law last July and is now facing its first real life tests as live events return. Then TD for Dublin North-West, Noel Rock, along with Stephen Donnelly TD , originally sponsored the Prohibition of Above-cost Ticket Touting Bill 2017, which fell with the 32nd Dáil and was re-entered as the Sale of Tickets (Cultural, Entertainment, Recreational and Sporting Events) Bill 2021 by Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment, Leo Varadkar TD. Previous private members’ bills on this issue also include: the Sale of Tickets (Sporting and Cultural Events) Bill 2017 by Maurice Quinlivan TD of Sinn Féin; the Prohibition of Ticket Touts Bill 2005 by Jimmy Deenihan TD  of Fine Gael; the Prohibition of Ticket Touts Bill 1998 by Alan Shatter TD of Fine Gael; and the Sale of Tickets Bill 1990 by Pat Rabbitte TD of Labour. You can read the debates and details of the Sale of Tickets (Cultural, Entertainment, Recreational and Sporting Events) Act 2021 as it passed through the Oireachtas, here. Noel Rock is a former Fine Gael TD for Dublin North-West. You can follow Noel on Twitter @noelrock  on Instagram @rockdublin, and on Facebook, or find out more about him on his web site. Noel is the founder of Pixel Consulting, a technology-focused consulting firm (Twitter @pixel_ie; Instagram @pixel_consulting). James McDermott is a practising barrister and Assistant Professor in the UCD Sutherland School of Law. You can read some of James’ articles in The Irish Times here and in The Sunday Business Post here. The Irish Legislation Podcast is presented by Senator Barry Ward. Follow Barry on Twitter @barrymward; Instagram @barrym_ward; Facebook at BarryWard.ie; or his web site: www.barryward.ie. E-mail [email protected] with any comments or suggestions.

This week, Senator Barry Ward looks at a private members bill to ban so-called “conversion therapies”, which seek to change a person’s . Barry is joined by one of the sponsors of this cross-party legislation, Senator Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael – Cork South-Central), and practising psychotherapist Stella O’Malley, who is opposed to the bill. You can read the Prohibition of Conversion Therapies Bill 2018 and track its progress here.  Jerry Buttimer was Fine Gael’s first openly gay TD and the first Chair of the Fine Gael LGBTQ+ group. You can follow Jerry Buttimer on Twitter @jerrybuttimer, on Instagram @jerrybuttimer, on Facebook, or find out more about him on his website. Stella O’Malley is an author and practising psychotherapist in County Offaly; she is the founder of Genspect, an organisation for parents of gender-questioning children. Stella is a member of the Association of Professional Counsellors and Psychotherapists. [Erratum: Please note that the podcast contains a mistake in saying that Stella is a member of the Irish Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists, when she is, in fact, a member of the Association of Professional Counsellors and Psychotherapists (please see a detailled explanation here); we are happy to clarify this.] You can follow Stella on Twitter @stellaomalley3, on Facebook, or find out more on her website. She also presents the “Secrets of the Motherworld Podcast” with Lisa Marchiano. The Irish Legislation Podcast is presented by Senator Barry Ward. Follow Barry on Twitter @barrymward; Instagram @barrym_ward; Facebook at BarryWard.ie; or his web site: www.barryward.ie. E-mail [email protected] with any comments or suggestions.

In Episode 1 of Season 2, Senator Barry Ward talks gender quotas in business and the Irish Corporate Governance (Gender Balance) Bill 2021 with Fine Gael TD for Dublin Mid-West, Emer Higgins, and Orla O’Connor, Director of the National Women’s Council. This episode covers gender quotas, how they will work for boards of Irish companies, how to address gender imbalance and whether gender quotas are a fair approach. Emer Higgins is a Fine Gael TD for Dublin Mid-West and former Chief of Staff, Global Operations, Europe, for PayPal. You can follow Emer Higgins TD on Twitter @EmerHigginsTD, on Instagram @emerhigginstd, on Facebook at EmerHigginsTD, on LinkedIn, or on her web site: www.emerhiggins.com. Orla O’Connor is Director of the National Women’s Council, the leading national women’s membership organisation in Ireland, with over 190-member groups. She was Co-Director of Together For Yes, the national Civil Society Campaign to remove the 8th Amendment in the referendum. For her role in Together for Yes, Orla was recognised as one of the 100 Most Influential People by TIME magazine in 2019. A feminist and expert in the policies needed to progress women’s equality in Ireland, Orla has led numerous high level, successful campaigns on a wide range of issues on women’s rights, including social welfare reform, pension reform and for the introduction of quality and affordable childcare. Orla is passionate about ensuring access to women’s reproductive rights; about ensuring more women are in leadership positions; about ending violence against women; and increasing women’s economic equality. You can follow Orla O’Connor on Twitter @OrlaNWCI or find out more on the National Women’s Council’s web site. You can follow the National Women’s Council on Twitter @NWCI, on Instagram @womens_council_ireland, on Facebook @NationalWomensCouncilofIreland, and on its web site. The Irish Legislation Podcast is presented by Senator Barry Ward. Follow Barry on Twitter @barrymward; Instagram @barrym_ward; Facebook at BarryWard.ie; or his web site: www.barryward.ie. E-mail [email protected] with any comments or suggestions.