Results 7,021-7,040 of 8,768 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 5:In page 8, line 21, after “woman” to insert “where necessary, and consulted where possible”. I will withdraw this amendment in support of amendment No. 4 which may be reintroduced on Report Stage. I urge the Minister to engage with amendment No. 4 which has the preponderance of support in the House. Elements of his response on the...

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That is fine, I will be very brief. I think my colleague has said that we are not simply talking about symbolic things here and sending a signal and the heads of the Bill and what we promised the people. We are talking about very real situations for women and their health and that is where we are coming from. I would point out again that my colleague, Senator Ruane, ensured we would have...

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I think this is different to some of the other concerns in this section. As the Minister described it, I became more concerned. He described the word "avert" as very hardline. The Minister spoke of avoiding, preventing, stopping or turning aside. I am worried, as other Senators are, about many scenarios. I refer to the example of an 80% risk of serious harm that is going to be reduced to...

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Which amendment?

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I would be happy to meet the Minister on this matter and take up his offer to provide written assurances in this regard because this is an area of concern. I support amendment No. 20, which makes clear recommendations in relation to obstetricians. The language used for making arrangements for the carrying out of the procedure is reasonable. The Minister referred to prescription. Are...

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am just pointing out that amendment No. 20 relates to the section on conditions likely to lead to the death of a foetus. These are situations in which persons may be receiving news in a very short space of time and may receive it twice in a very short time. While the Minister has emphasised the relationship between the obstetrician and the woman in question, that might not be the most...

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 22:In page 9, line 36, to delete "carried out" and substitute "initiated".

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Second Stage (6 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I join other Senators in welcoming the Minister of State to the House. I am aware that he is also interested in some of these issues in his brief. I look forward to engaging on them in greater depth on Committee Stage with the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputy Doherty. I will touch on a couple of the key issues, one of which is the fundamental issue of pensions....

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Second Stage (6 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is an historic moment. This is an issue that has spanned many decades of Irish life. Like others, I applaud those who took a very difficult stance in 1983 in highlighting the concerns, dangers and consequences for women that would come about with the introduction of the eighth amendment. Even if our recent referendum was difficult, the 1983 referendum was extremely difficult for those...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (5 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I support the idea of this report and think it is appropriate that it would be done as part of a real forensic analysis of our tax reliefs and their ongoing effect. It is in a similar spirit to the amendment I had proposed to put forward to previous sections, in respect of a very large new set of measures put in place for tax reliefs and so forth, where I suggested we should not leave...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (5 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: While I am not opposed to this amendment there are serious data protection concerns, and that will still be the case even following the acceptance of the proposed amendments. I will address those issues when I come to the relevant section. I am speaking to this section in case I need to take action on it on Report Stage.

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (5 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Could the Minister of State confirm that this will not mean a de facto weakening of the power and that it is simply a change of terms and that there is not a diminishment of the capacity by virtue of the change from investigations to review?

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (5 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 8:In page 8, line 26, after “other” to insert “public”. My set of amendments, to which the Government has tabled amendments in response, relates to section 5. Before I get into a detailed discussion of the amendments, I note that I was an English language teacher myself for four years and am looking forward to that part of the debate. This...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (5 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Central Applications Office is listed separately and would not be affected by my amendment No. 8, as is SOLAS and a number of other bodies. My concern is with reference to "any other body". I accept it is a very substantial concession for the Minister of State to take directly identifiable personal data out of this exchange of information, but there are still caveats. Perhaps a further...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (5 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 11:In page 8, lines 27 to 32, to delete all words from and including “may” in line 27 down to and including line 32 and substitute the following:“may put in place a data sharing agreement with a Department of State, the Office of the Revenue Commissioners, An tUdarás um Ard- Oideachas, Solas and the Central Applications Office. The Minister...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (5 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 12:In page 8, line 30, after “other” to insert “public”. I will withdraw the amendment and reserve the right to reintroduce it.

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (5 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I note that amendments Nos. 21 and 29 relating to criteria and specified providers, and I reserve the right to examine those on Report Stage. It is also important to recognise the large number of students who come to Ireland looking for education because Ireland is one of those English speaking countries that offers and extraordinary and important educational opportunity, and the valuable...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (5 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Given everything that has been said so articulately by my colleagues, I will keep my contribution to a minimum. I was an English language teacher in Ireland for four years when I saw the extraordinarily bad practice that is in the sector. It was an area that lacked unionisation and I am delighted to see people are organised and unionised now. I support the provisions and the Minister of...

Seanad: Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (5 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I wish to clarify something for those who might have been concerned after hearing the earlier speeches on European law. The legal advice which has been given to us is clear. While the Attorney General may have given advice about cases, it is clear in European and international trade law that cases would be taken under this. For example, the EU trade agreement with Israel, which is in no...

Seanad: Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (5 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: In that sense this is a move in favour of multilateral diplomacy and in favour of the use of tools of diplomacy, rather than the rule of might, power and alliances. It shows we can instruments put in place. It reaffirms international diplomacy and is important not simply for Israel and Palestine but, as was rightly mentioned, for Western Sahara and the Sahrawi where trading by Irish...