Results 201-220 of 346 for speaker:Jim Higgins

Seanad: Order of Business. (12 Jun 2003)

Jim Higgins: The second issue I wish to raise concerns a new development which, in my opinion, is a complete waste of Garda time. At every GAA championship match during the current season, Garda video cameras have been used to scan the crowds. I do not know what purpose this serves. A feature of the GAA has always been – we are extremely proud of the fact – that violence never erupts in the crowds...

Seanad: Order of Business. (12 Jun 2003)

Jim Higgins: I wish I could believe the Leader.

Seanad: Interest Rates Reduction: Statements. (12 Jun 2003)

Jim Higgins: With the permission of the House, I wish to share time with Senator Coghlan.

Seanad: Interest Rates Reduction: Statements. (12 Jun 2003)

Jim Higgins: The decision by the European Central Bank to cut interest rates by 0.5% was a welcome relief for those with high mortgages. A four-bedroom house in any large town now averages a purchase price of €200,000. Despite the fact that European interest rates are at an historic low, this still represents monthly repayments of approximately €1,600 or €1,700 to a young couple on two average...

Seanad: Interest Rates Reduction: Statements. (12 Jun 2003)

Jim Higgins: —a key component missing from that list is some kind of regulation of interest rates. One of my big regrets is that we did not insert a stipulation regarding controls on interest rates on Committee and Report Stages of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority Bill. Financial institutions have no obligations, moral or otherwise, other than to their directors and shareholders. It is profit...

Seanad: Interest Rates Reduction: Statements. (12 Jun 2003)

Jim Higgins: Will the Senator name and shame?

Seanad: Adjournment Matters. - Murder of Councillor. (25 Jun 2003)

Jim Higgins: I thank the Cathaoirleach for choosing this important matter for discussion on the Adjournment. In the early hours of 25 May 1991, Sinn Féin councillor, Eddie Fullerton, was gunned down at the bedroom door of his house in Buncrana, County Donegal. Reports at the time stated that three men had been involved in the murder, that they had been collected by boat and had escaped across the River...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters. - Murder of Councillor. (25 Jun 2003)

Jim Higgins: Will the Minister of the State give an assurance the matter will be investigated if the new independent witnesses come forward and Mr. Greg O'Neill, the solicitor acting on behalf of the Fullerton family, presents the file containing the evidence to his Department? Does he accept the Garda is not the appropriate authority to investigate this matter, given that 12 years has elapsed and there...

Seanad: Order of Business. (26 Jun 2003)

Jim Higgins: The Equal Status Act has now been on the Statute Book for over five years. The purpose behind it was to ensure equality of treatment for all sections of the community, particularly minorities, and end discrimination. It seems the pendulum has now swung in the other direction. I am talking, in particular, about the right of access of members of the Traveller community to public houses. Just...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Second Stage. (26 Jun 2003)

Jim Higgins: This is the Upper House.

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Second Stage. (26 Jun 2003)

Jim Higgins: I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Parlon, to the House for this debate. The Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill is one of the most welcome items of legislation to come before the House for many a day. Decoupling is very much the in-word. I welcome the decoupling of the role of the Minister for Finance in regard to the running of the Houses of the...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (1 Jul 2003)

Jim Higgins: I do not have a problem with the amendment. However, I have put down amendments proposing that the deputy chairperson be the Cathaoirleach of the Seanad. These amendments were not suggested to me by any person, lest anybody be under a misapprehension that they were. They are my own idea. Indeed, during the debate on Second Stage, I gave notice that I would put down amendments to give effect...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (1 Jul 2003)

Jim Higgins: I am disappointed with the Minister of State's reaction because he does not want to be prescriptive but the Bill is prescriptive in making the Ceann Comhairle the chairperson. I cannot see why, from the point of view of recognising the status and role of this House, the Cathaoirleach of the Seanad cannot be prescribed in the Bill. I agree wholeheartedly with Senator Mansergh in his reading of...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (1 Jul 2003)

Jim Higgins: I suppose we have been pre-emptive.

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (1 Jul 2003)

Jim Higgins: Fine.

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (1 Jul 2003)

Jim Higgins: I have no problem whatsoever with amendment No. 4, which is good. However, regarding the amendment itself and the business of providing legal advice and so on, lines 15 and 16 concern seeking leave to intervene in existing legal proceedings. Assuming proceedings are already up and running, how does it square with the sub judice rule that, at a certain juncture, the Minister will seek to...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (1 Jul 2003)

Jim Higgins: Perhaps I might ask the Minister the rationale behind this. We are setting up an independent commission comprising Members of both Houses which will be all-party or as representative as possible, presumably on a pro rata basis. Yet at the same time, from the point of view of authorising legal representation and advice at a certain stage, the decision must go back to the relevant House. On the...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (1 Jul 2003)

Jim Higgins: It is over-restrictive and does not conform to what is supposed to be the spirit of the Bill, namely, that we are setting up a group of 11 honourable people, representatives of all sides and from both Chambers, who will decide on a whole range of issues and matters of policy, administrative or otherwise, set down in the Bill. Yet when it comes to authorising legal advice, that must be done by...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (1 Jul 2003)

Jim Higgins: Section 4 deals with a whole range of functions of the commission. One of the issues to which we alluded on Second Stage was the provision of secretarial facilities. The point was made very forcibly from both sides that in this day and age a situation where Senators have the service, on a shared basis, of one secretary is not good enough. We are entitled on our own merits to a 1:1 ratio. I am...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (1 Jul 2003)

Jim Higgins: I meant for Deputies. I was not suggesting it for us.