Results 5,241-5,260 of 8,220 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Social Welfare (Covid-19) (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I understand that.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Covid-19) (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: There is an issue which I hope we can address. My colleague spoke about the fact that currently the requirement for the working family payment, which is a vital subsidy for many people, is that they would be working 38 hours in a fortnight, that is, 19 hours in a week. That has long been a problem in respect of one sector, namely, childcare, whereby most people are on 15 hour contracts....

Seanad: Social Welfare (Covid-19) (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 7: In page 11, after line 38, to insert the following:“Report on Social Welfare (Consolidated Claims, Payments and Control) (Amendment)(No. 9) (Absence from the State) Regulations 2020 (S.I. No. 242 of 2020) 13. In respect of the amendment made to section 249 of the Principal Act by the Social Welfare (Consolidated Claims, Payments and Control) (Amendment) (No....

Seanad: Social Welfare (Covid-19) (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Yes, I am discussing my amendment No. 7 in respect of SI 242, concerning travel, and its implementation. What I am saying is directly relevant to what I set out the amendment. I am speaking specifically to the provision that a report be produced containing details on any data-sharing arrangements arising out of inspection procedures and the actions of social welfare inspectors at ports and...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Covid-19) (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: With due respect to the Minister, the issue of actions in respect of persons who are not living in Ireland - the 90% of cases, as she described it - are not relevant to the report I seek. It is not in respect of the right and function of the control of the Department in terms of ensuring that the persons who are getting payments are living in Ireland. I would underscore that I believe there...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Covid-19) (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: No. Galway is lovely and open to visit. So is Clare.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Covid-19) (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Will the Minister provide clarity on the issue of the paperwork for persons who have cancelled?

Seanad: Social Welfare (Covid-19) (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I hope that the Minister will bear in mind and consider the issue I mentioned in respect of the commencement date. It could be useful to her.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (24 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I echo the points made about how we do business. It is a concern that by the end of next week we will probably have had more Bills go through all Stages than went through the entire last Seanad by means of the "all Stages" mechanism.That is a real concern because the job we are all elected to do is legislative scrutiny. The very real and thoughtful concerns that Senator Sherlock expressed...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (24 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am.

Seanad: Health (General Practitioner Service and Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Bill 2020: Second Stage (24 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: As my colleague said, it is a pity that we cannot debate this Bill in a bit more detail, not because anybody opposes it but because many of us have ideas about medical cards and how they operate and this would have been a great opportunity to address them. Having sat on the Joint Committee on Employment Affairs and Social Protection, I know that people have many concerns and fears around...

Seanad: Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. This is another piece of legislation in the context of stimulus, which is badly needed for society and the economy in Ireland, across Europe and across the world in the aftermath of the Covid crisis. As we identified many years ago, stimulus is the best response to a period of potential recession, rather than the austerity that was chosen in the...

Seanad: Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: There is interest.

Seanad: Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Will the interest be going back into the SMEs?

Seanad: Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Unfortunately, as it has been ruled out of order I cannot really speak on it. My hope was that it would have been a potential saving for the State. Earlier, the Minister of State called for accuracy from others in the House. With regard to being accurate, I know the policy intent is that the SMEs benefit but if there is interest on the loans there is still a profit mechanism built into...

Seanad: Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am not arguing the policy intent as to why there is a guarantee. I have accepted this. The Minister of State called for people to be factual earlier and he needs to be factual. Of course, it would only be called on if there were a loss. This is the legislation whereby the State says if there is loss it will take that hit. What I am pointing out is that there is still a profit even at...

Seanad: Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 2: In page 5, between lines 32 and 33, to insert the following: “Report on Credit Guarantees 7.(1) The Minister shall, within eight months of the commencement of this Act, prepare, in consultation with the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, a report to consider: (a) the role played by the State through credit guarantees...

Seanad: Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That is a basic principle. That was the case between 2009 and 2014. Mr. Lenihan's successor as Minister for Finance, Mr. Michael Noonan, changed and widened that scheme so that 100% of all profits made by the banks could be written off. The Comptroller and Auditor General, who sets and measures the financial interests of the State in a way that is beyond and separate from all of us, has...

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I congratulate the Minister of State and the Minister on their leadership of what will be a new and exciting Department. It is important that each element of this new Department is given its rightful consideration and that some parts of it do not overly determine the approach to others. Science is a part of the new Department but, as has been eloquently said, it should not determine all of...

Seanad: National Oil Reserves Agency (Amendment) and Provision of Central Treasury Services Bill 2020: Second Stage (17 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome the Minister to the House. From his perspective, the primary purpose of this Bill is the establishment of the climate action fund. Like everyone else, we welcome the establishment of a climate action fund. However, there is much within that and during the debate in the other House, much of the focus was on what it might fund and the scope and parameters the Minister effectively...