Results 2,561-2,580 of 8,212 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: They really care about the natural heritage areas.

Seanad: Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am not speaking to or about anybody in this House. I am speaking about communities. I am saying that there are those in communities who really value the natural heritage areas that are located near to where they live and to which they go. There is a danger that a natural heritage area, which might be extremely important to people in a particular region and that might be a natural...

Seanad: Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am responding specifically on the issue of the comparator mechanism, not the amendments put forward by others. My point is that if there is a natural heritage area in a community which people want to continue to be protected and it is used in a comparator mechanism with another area of protected peatland in different community, it should not be the case that a natural heritage area valued...

Seanad: Death of Former Member: Expressions of Sympathy (23 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome the family of the late former Senator, Feargal Quinn, to the House, and many of his friends who are in the other Gallery and right across Ireland. I met and worked with Feargal Quinn on only one or two occasions. We worked together, along with Senator McDowell and others, in the campaign to save the Seanad in 2013, long before I thought I might ever become a Senator. As previous...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Peatlands Restoration and Rehabilitation: Discussion (23 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It was requested that the Bill would not be moved while the committee was due to discuss this matter.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Peatlands Restoration and Rehabilitation: Discussion (23 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am struck by the same issue raised by Deputy Pringle, namely, the mismatch in terms of scale of ambition. I thank Mr. Lucas and Dr. Renou-Wilson for their presentations. Dr. Renou-Wilson spoke about 16,000 ha that make up the 53 special areas of conservation that together would store 28 million tonnes of carbon. Mr. Lucas spoke about 1,800 ha being worked on in 2020 and 28,000 tonnes of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Peatlands Restoration and Rehabilitation: Discussion (23 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am not-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Peatlands Restoration and Rehabilitation: Discussion (23 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am saying that a bog-by-bog comparison is the mechanism for determining environmental criteria under the Wildlife Act. That is why it is relevant. I am not asking about something in the past but something proposed for the future.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Peatlands Restoration and Rehabilitation: Discussion (23 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Can I ask a specific question?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Peatlands Restoration and Rehabilitation: Discussion (23 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I apologise but I was not getting the answers I sought.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Peatlands Restoration and Rehabilitation: Discussion (23 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will stick to my questions and list them three or four in a row. The mechanism now for determining which will be included in the list of 46 is a bog-by-bog comparison. Mr. Lucas mentioned restoration potential but rewetting potential and the benefits of potential rewetting were not considered. In response to my colleague, who asked about the SACs, Mr. Lucas was very clear because this...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Peatlands Restoration and Rehabilitation: Discussion (23 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: My final question was addressed to Dr. Renou-Wilson. Can we afford steps backwards with regard to bogs? How do we ensure that we are consistently moving forward? Should we be looking to an expansion of our natural heritage network and perhaps the connectivity with that? Dr. Renou-Wilson mentioned farming. I have heard beekeeping discussed as a potential ecological restoration mechanism...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Peatlands Restoration and Rehabilitation: Discussion (23 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I never suggested that. I said that it is not a virtue that they will not be de-designated.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Peatlands Restoration and Rehabilitation: Discussion (23 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It does allow for that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Peatlands Restoration and Rehabilitation: Discussion (23 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The regulation of turf cutting on smaller sites is something that comes under the remit of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Bogus Self-Employment: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank Mr. McMahon for his testimony. As others have said, it is very strong and very meticulous, and it really goes through the narrative that is being put forward by both the Department and Revenue. The contradictions, as they emerge, are very clear. I was struck by a few things. Mr. McMahon mentioned the Scope Section, and of course we heard from it earlier in our discussions on bogus...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Bogus Self-Employment: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: -----in a very clear way in terms of the basic steps. It is interesting, and I mention Revenue in relation to some of the other issues and related issues we have been looking at around managed service companies, MSCs, and personal service companies, PSCs, and the intermediary actor space. In engaging with us on that, Revenue has been really clear to emphasise that in relation to the joint...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Bogus Self-Employment: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am struck by the Denny case. As Mr. McMahon mentioned, there is a lot of discomfort-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Bogus Self-Employment: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: -----with Revenue around the Denny case being taken forward because of the idea that one would be making a wholesale decision about employees of a particular company, but of course it is now making wholesale decisions effectively about a particular sector.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Bogus Self-Employment: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I see that. It really raises questions around cartel or state aid practices as well-----