Results 3,001-3,020 of 8,212 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 19: In page 11, line 32, after “incorrect” to insert “or illegal”.

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 20: In page 11, line 35, after “incorrect” to insert “or illegal”.

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: My amendment, No. 55, relates to the fact that, at the moment, the section requiring the relevant body to provide information on application by a relevant person aged 18 years or over, only provides for early life information, care information and incorrect birth registration information. As we discussed with regard to the definitions, medical information is categorised separately. The...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: On amendment No. 55, what the Minister described is a previous amendment of mine, where I sought to include and name medical information within the definition of "early life information". That is not what amendment No. 55 would do. As the Minister has said, he has chosen to list medical information separately in the definitions and it is not encompassed within the definitions of either...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: This suite of amendments largely relates to the question of GDPR and how it intersects with this legislation. The Minister will be aware that we have had lengthy discussions on the general data protection regulation. Some of my very first discussions on this were back in 2018 when that regulation had come into effect. There has been a very long journey of understanding the implications of...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: To follow-up on Senator Boyhan's point, it relates to some of the earlier amendments we discussed. There is a difference between vaccination and the involvement in vaccine trials. Information that a person was vaccinated, be that as part of a trial or part of a medical procedure, is not itself the same as that information in respect of a process of exploitation, effectively, that the person...

Seanad: Quality in Public Procurement (Contract Preparation and Award Criteria) Bill 2021: Order for Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move: "That Committee Stage be taken now."

Seanad: Quality in Public Procurement (Contract Preparation and Award Criteria) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I would be very happy to engage with the Minister of State in respect of any clarification of the definition of "contracting authority". At the moment, the contracting authority is intended to be the State, regional assemblies, local authorities, bodies governed by public laws and associations formed by those bodies. Overall, €17 billion per year is spent on public procurement...

Seanad: Quality in Public Procurement (Contract Preparation and Award Criteria) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will speak to section 3. Of course, we can discuss it on Report Stage but I would have concerns on this. Section 3(4) is a crucial part of the Bill, but I will be open to see what the proposals are.To be clear, section 4 deals with the contract award criteria. These are the criteria on which decisions as to how public contracts are awarded are made. Under the EU procurement directives,...

Seanad: Quality in Public Procurement (Contract Preparation and Award Criteria) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I might clarify a point before the Minister of State comes back in. As I have said, section 3(4)(a) addresses the question of the price-only approach. Perhaps there are concerns regarding section 3(4)(b), which specifically relates to larger-scale projects. Some €165 billion is due to be spent on the national development plan. Section 3(4)(b) relates to large contracts that are...

Seanad: Quality in Public Procurement (Contract Preparation and Award Criteria) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I appreciate the Minister acknowledging the fact that my legislation mirrors the Dutch legislation, effectively, which is running without concern or obstacle. It has been assessed as delivering 2.4 times better value from contracts. We are not balancing value for money against quality. The fact is that quality is part of value for money. That is why the price-quality ratio approach and...

Seanad: Quality in Public Procurement (Contract Preparation and Award Criteria) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The last thing I meant to say is the question of who else loses out when we do not have quality. It is the public who use the goods and services.

Seanad: Quality in Public Procurement (Contract Preparation and Award Criteria) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am happy to work with the Minister of State on that and I understand the intersections with the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003. I inserted that legal advice to have that in but I am happy to look at that. For me, the fundamental part of section 5, and a principle which the Minister of State supports, is that the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014, which has...

Seanad: Quality in Public Procurement (Contract Preparation and Award Criteria) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I understand that exclusions are very difficult. I have studied procurement law and realise that if one does have an exclusion then one is more likely to be challenged. This is why it is really good to have price quality from the beginning, otherwise when a company with a poor track record offers the lowest price then one must award it the contract unless one goes through a formal exclusion...

Seanad: Quality in Public Procurement (Contract Preparation and Award Criteria) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I apologise and finally I will mention the rights component.

Seanad: Quality in Public Procurement (Contract Preparation and Award Criteria) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 1: In page 8, line 37, to delete “shall” and substitute “may”. Amendments Nos. 1 and 2 do not directly conflict with each other but can be combined in a set of three ways. Like Lego pieces, we will see how best to fit them together. Section 6 deals with the guidelines for social considerations. These are areas of State policy on things...

Seanad: Quality in Public Procurement (Contract Preparation and Award Criteria) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The other option is to amend it on Report Stage. Perhaps it would be useful if the Minister of State indicates whether his preference is for "shall consider" or "may comply" because-----

Seanad: Quality in Public Procurement (Contract Preparation and Award Criteria) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Perfect. In that context, I am happy to withdraw my amendments with the agreement that we put it forward as worded by the Minister of State on Report Stage.

Seanad: Quality in Public Procurement (Contract Preparation and Award Criteria) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I note the guidelines on social considerations proposed in this Bill would complement and expand those contained in the 2019 circular. I was very actively engaged with the OGP at that time on the development of that circular because I also dealt with legislation on these issues in the period of the last Oireachtas. I understand and appreciate the situation in respect of emergency provisions...

Seanad: Quality in Public Procurement (Contract Preparation and Award Criteria) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: In that case, I withdraw my amendment with the indication to come back with the revised wording as discussed.