Results 3,541-3,560 of 8,468 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Joint Meeting with Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action
Exploring Technologies and Opportunities to Reduce Emissions in the Agriculture Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am thinking of the life cycle emissions tracking, even of the energy that goes into those processes. It is not an argument for or against but it is about ensuring that part is tracked when it comes to the blunt emissions reduction schedule.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Joint Meeting with Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action
Exploring Technologies and Opportunities to Reduce Emissions in the Agriculture Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: There are some interesting ideas here but I am concerned about the overall frame. It is great to hear about the level of scientific work that is being done and the support for PhDs in some of these areas. Many of the areas our guests have talked about in the context of the mitigation toolkit are straightforwardly reducing emissions rather than trading emissions. I have concerns about the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Joint Meeting with Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action
Exploring Technologies and Opportunities to Reduce Emissions in the Agriculture Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am back. May I be allowed to come back in? I will have to leave in five minutes. I have a concern about woody riparian strips. Something we have talked about is ensuring we do not end up with thin areas because we know there are new grant schemes coming in that area from the forestry legislation that is going through at the moment. We do not want people removing existing biodiversity...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Joint Meeting with Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action
Exploring Technologies and Opportunities to Reduce Emissions in the Agriculture Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: This is all very interesting. I am coming at it from the point of view of how it fits into the climate piece in terms of emission reductions. While agriculture has lower emission reduction targets for the coming years than other areas, it still has to meet very serious emission reduction targets. They are not as high as in other sectors. Effectiveness, efficiency and the impact on soil...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Joint Meeting with Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action
Exploring Technologies and Opportunities to Reduce Emissions in the Agriculture Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Did I get cut off there a moment ago?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Joint Meeting with Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action
Exploring Technologies and Opportunities to Reduce Emissions in the Agriculture Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: At what point was I cut off? Was I on the-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Joint Meeting with Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action
Exploring Technologies and Opportunities to Reduce Emissions in the Agriculture Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I had said about linking into Pillar 1 of the eco-scheme, the nitrates derogation and the need to, overall, reduce our emissions and how the witnesses see this contributing to that. There has been some extensive discussion on the health and safety aspects of anaerobic digestion, but the emission element is very important. We know there are concerns about a large amount of methane leakage...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Joint Meeting with Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action
Exploring Technologies and Opportunities to Reduce Emissions in the Agriculture Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We are not looking to keep going in what we are doing but to reduce. The key point is that we have targets we have to meet in the coming five years and in the five years after that. We have then got quite a leap to go to from 2030 to 2050. We will need any additional savings we can make in the period 2030 to 2050, but we will really have to do everything. We cannot rely on any future...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Joint Meeting with Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action
Exploring Technologies and Opportunities to Reduce Emissions in the Agriculture Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Does Mr. Dolan see himself intersecting more with Pillar 1? It is interesting. I was not speaking about the idea of maximum livestock. For the GPS to qualify under Pillar 1, it needs to be combined with either a nitrate reduction or a maximum limit on livestock. It seems, for it to qualify, it will have to link one or both of them in each individual time it might apply. I wanted to get a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Joint Meeting with Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action
Exploring Technologies and Opportunities to Reduce Emissions in the Agriculture Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Mr. Macken's comments about appropriate cropping are also interesting so that, as well as lowering the level of nitrogen needed, it seems it may also be useful for determining what the best and effective use of a particular soil might be. I thank Mr. Macken. My last question was on methane and the measurement of methane leakage.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Joint Meeting with Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action
Exploring Technologies and Opportunities to Reduce Emissions in the Agriculture Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am thinking of the life cycle emissions tracking, even of the energy that goes into those processes. It is not an argument for or against but it is about ensuring that part is tracked when it comes to the blunt emissions reduction schedule.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Joint Meeting with Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action
Exploring Technologies and Opportunities to Reduce Emissions in the Agriculture Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: There are some interesting ideas here but I am concerned about the overall frame. It is great to hear about the level of scientific work that is being done and the support for PhDs in some of these areas. Many of the areas our guests have talked about in the context of the mitigation toolkit are straightforwardly reducing emissions rather than trading emissions. I have concerns about the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Joint Meeting with Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action
Exploring Technologies and Opportunities to Reduce Emissions in the Agriculture Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am back. May I be allowed to come back in? I will have to leave in five minutes. I have a concern about woody riparian strips. Something we have talked about is ensuring we do not end up with thin areas because we know there are new grant schemes coming in that area from the forestry legislation that is going through at the moment. We do not want people removing existing biodiversity...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I have been accumulating questions on other questions. Therefore, I may have lost some of my original questions in the processes. There are a few interesting threads that I want to take up, the first jumping from Ms Blackwell's point. She spoke about the importance of action on this new national strategy immediately. It should start immediately looking at everything that is already in play...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will be brief. It is almost on a positive frame piece. When we look to what the citizens wanted, that relates to dealing with violence but also, and ultimately, to inequality and equality of participation. Do our guests wish to comment on that? It is very relevant for the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, which has a new development plan. The idea of public spaces and the right to participate...

Seanad: Support to Ukraine: Motion (30 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Fine Gael group for putting forward this motion and framing it very carefully in terms of international law. When we talk of sides and approaches, the key thing is that Ireland has been unequivocal in condemning Russia’s aggression and invasion of Ukraine because it is a breach of international law and the UN Charter, which calls on and requires countries to refrain from...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Central Bank of Ireland (30 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am conscious Deputy Farrell asked very specific questions and it is important they get answered. I am happy to withdraw my questions if Deputy Farrell can get immediate answers to hers and I will put my questions in the next round.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Central Bank of Ireland (30 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the witnesses. I have two sets of questions. The first is on risk. In the opening statement, there was talk-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Central Bank of Ireland (30 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: -----in relation to particular loans. The two areas of risk that are interlinked, which I am hoping the witnesses can shed more light on, are cryptocurrencies and crypto assets, and climate. I want to get a sense of what the strategies are, what assessments are being made and what actions are being taken in these areas. The Central Bank has produced a useful briefing on crypto assets and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Central Bank of Ireland (30 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Okay. I am a little bit concerned to be honest because, as Mr. Cross said, this is fundamentally speculative. This is not necessarily real economy work. I am extremely concerned that some such businesses, services and financial services may be considering relocating in Ireland. I do not want us to become a poor regulator and a poor actor in this area. Ireland has a disproportionate...