Results 2,981-3,000 of 8,212 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Minister is aware from the debate in the Dáil of the serious concerns people have about this section and specifically the provision which has been inserted as part of the new section 68L(1)(g). The subsection requires that someone be genuinely seeking but "unable to obtain employment suitable for him or her, having regard to his or her age, physique, education, normal occupation,...

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: I have still not really had any answer on the issue of commencement.

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Minister might have a chance to come back again. She has made the case very clearly. This is not an extension of a payment. This is a new payment that is being introduced. It is a new payment with a new requirement. It is going from being a supplementary welfare solidarity payment of income support into being a jobseeker's payment which requires the seeking of jobs. It is a new...

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Minister has discretion.

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am asking the Minister about her intentions in using that discretion.

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: I hope the Minister will arrange a meeting with officials, legal advice, civil society and so forth and consider the points I have made in respect of commencement. The concern is about the practicality. What the Minister outlined addresses the sanction, it does not address the core problem of description. In that context, regrettably, I must oppose the section as it is at the moment, but I...

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: Skellig Star Direct Provision Centre and the Future of Direct Provision: Statements (30 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I have very little time in which to speak, but everything that needed to be said has been said in an incredibly eloquent way by colleagues. The issues that have been raised include access to heating, food, water, transport, basic health and basic education. These are fundamentals for any society and when anyone in society is not getting them, it is a disgrace to all of us. Yet that is what...

Seanad: Financial Provisions (Covid-19) (No. 2) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (30 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I wish to express my support for the recommendation. It has been a time when we have heard of the importance of solidarity, and thinking how we rebuild our economy. The workers within companies are also part of the economy and part of society. It is a very fundamental thing. Building back better has been a message being put out but a simple and key part of that is that the voices of...

Seanad: Financial Provisions (Covid-19) (No. 2) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (30 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am also opposed to the section. Very pertinent photographs were put up by Senator Moynihan showing the price of houses having gone up overnight by €10,000. We know that sometimes happens when there is something that is simply driving cost upwards. An impact assessment was needed as to market distortion.One of the best ways to help people is by ensuring that there is more building...

Seanad: Financial Provisions (Covid-19) (No. 2) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (30 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move recommendation No. 10: In page 48, between lines 12 and 13, to insert the following: “Report on Deferred Tax Assets and Bank Losses 13.The Minister shall, within 8 weeks of the passing of this Act, produce a report on the use by banks and other companies in Ireland of the Deferred Tax Asset schemes in respect of past losses, to include— (a) consideration of the...

Seanad: Financial Provisions (Covid-19) (No. 2) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (30 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am sorry; it was 100%.

Seanad: Financial Provisions (Covid-19) (No. 2) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (30 Jul 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Minister of State. I hope that he will work to find a solution to this issue, be it through the sunset clause, a limitation or a differentiation between the kinds of loss that can be used. To be even simpler in terms of the description of what was happening here, as the Minister of State said, this is another measure that will give companies a chance to use tax previously paid...