Results 3,241-3,260 of 8,212 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I would appreciate written comments from Dr. Muinzer on the idea of the separated targets because while it may be more difficult to achieve zero in terms of bio-methane the concern is that although it does not last as long it does have a quicker and higher impact. The same argument might be made, if we are looking to special qualities, that bio-methane targets might need to be much higher...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I have a couple of technical questions. What is the deadline for people sending us in follow-up pieces?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I forgot to ask the witnesses if there are any good practices in legislation in respect of offsetting.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I refer to limits regarding how much neutrality is based on offsetting. I do not know if there are good legislative examples.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am putting my questions together, so I will be one moment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank Deputy Bruton for asking the question - it saves me the trouble of asking it - about the split targets. The understanding is that a zero-emission target effectively accommodates the fact that biomethane may not be zero but may come to a net zero. That was a useful clarification. Professor FitzGerald mentioned the minimum target of 2030. I am a little concerned, however, that the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I have a concern that criterion (e), on cost effectiveness, is included in those first four functions about deciding how much carbon budget we have to save the planet, reduce emissions and achieve the target of a temperature increase of less than 1.5°C. I wonder what Professor FitzGerald interprets cost effectiveness as because there are different meanings. Is it about what is most...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: To clarify, I do think it is a matter of whether-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I wished to clarify something, in case I was unclear in my question, but it is fine because the professor's response addressed it in any case. My point was that one of the cost-effectiveness inputs to the policy is the how, that is, which approach we take, rather than the how much, which is the budget question. Professor FitzGerald stated Ireland did not achieve its 2020 targets. Given...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We mentioned the fact that science changes and it only seems to be changing in one direction at the moment. We heard in our examination yesterday that the Scottish Act has minimum interim targets but also provides for those targets to be raised within the carbon budgets where, for example, scientific expertise suggests that they might not be achieving 1.5°C limit and the evolution of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I was not speaking to the 2030 or 2050 targets, but in terms of failures in the five-year budgets within that, for example, the budget to 2025, to 2035, to 2040 and so forth. That was what I was talking about with regard to sanctions. As a Member of the Oireachtas who has had the unfortunate experience of calling out failure on multiple occasions and on multiple issues, it is not an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I was holding back on this because it is a slightly wider question, but if there is a third round-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: This is a question for Professor FitzGerald when wearing his economist hat. Will he comment on how economic thinking has been shifting with regard to the centrality of sustainable development and climate? This really relates to the front-loading question. How should or could action on climate change be reflected in our response to the Covid and Brexit crises? We have large financial and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: No, Professor FitzGerald touched on both of my questions. It seems that economics has not changed, but the climate has. We might need to reverse that. I appreciate the specific comments. I mentioned Brexit as well, but Professor FitzGerald touched on the Covid issues.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank both witnesses. Professor Buckley suggested explicitly including the national biodiversity action plan. To future-proof it, might it be useful to say something a little broader, such as "national biodiversity action plan and other biodiversity obligations". This might encompass the EU habitats and birds directives and the national pollination plan, if it ever gets on a statutory...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am certainly happy to say that I think carbon leakage is one that should just go if we are really trotting down our 25. I think that is the third or fourth different interpretation of what it might mean that we have heard. Again, that is not on Dr. Glynn. It is just an example. Around that issue, it might be referring to that question of non-territorial emissions so I was quite...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Apologies if this strayed a bit wider, but I had a question specifically about methane and possibly nitrogen. Dr. Glynn mentioned long-lived versus shorter-lived gases. I am also thinking about heightened intensity of such gases. If one is just counting the gas itself, on a longer term calculation, it may not be there in 100 years but the impact of its increased intensity over a five or...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (4 Nov 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank all the witnesses. In particular, I thank Professor Anderson for focusing on the climate justice issue which I think is important. Two separate questions have come across all these hearings. There is the question of how the level of emissions that need to be cut is calculated - the targets and budgets. That needs to be based on science and not negotiated. Professor Anderson...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: National Disability Inclusion Strategy: Discussion (4 Nov 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Minister and the Minister of State for the presentations and for the genuine enthusiasm they are clearly bringing to this role. Of course, I also thank them both for making clear that they take a rights-based approach to the area of disability. In that regard, I know we are pressing the Minister continuously but it would be useful for him to give us an indication of when - for...

Seanad: Biodiversity: Motion (5 Nov 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Like others, I welcome the motion and the opportunity to discuss the biodiversity crisis. It is a crisis we discussed at some length in this House in various debates over the course of the previous Oireachtas, including on the Wildlife (Amendment) Bill and the Heritage Act, because it cuts across so much of our policy in Ireland. It is always useful at the beginning of any discussion on...