Results 3,861-3,880 of 8,212 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Gender Pay Gap Information Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 42: In page 11, line 9, after “review” to insert “to be published”. My amendments relate to a review. This is a simple matter but basically I want to ensure that the review will be published. The review clause currently simply says, "The Minister shall cause a review of the functioning of the amendments made", but it does not commit to...

Seanad: Gender Pay Gap Information Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am not giving up on them.

Seanad: Gender Pay Gap Information Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 43: In page 11, line 10, to delete "4th anniversary" and substitute "3rd anniversary". For reasons of consistency, I will press the amendment.

Seanad: Gender Pay Gap Information Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 44: In page 11, line 11, after "section" to insert "and shall review the same not less than every three years subsequently".

Seanad: Gender Pay Gap Information Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 45: In page 11, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following: "Report 7.The Minister shall, within three years of the passing of this Act, lay a report before both Houses of the Oireachtas outlining a sectoral analysis with respect to the information published under section 2 and further recommendations based upon such analysis in terms of reducing the gender...

Seanad: Gender Pay Gap Information Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 46: In page 11, to delete lines 19 to 22 and substitute the following: "(1) This Act shall come into operation three months after it has been passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas or a prior date which the Minister may appoint by order.".

Seanad: Gender Pay Gap Information Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Minister indicated his wish for speedy passage and implementation of the Bill. In that context, I am happy to withdraw the amendment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Banking Matters: Discussion (16 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the speakers for sharing their experiences and strongly speaking about an ethical vision of what the finance industry should be. A few areas struck me. Mr. Butler mentioned the pressure on people to reclassify themselves, to be pressed into inappropriate financial instruments and loan structures that do not match their needs, and the abuse of power. It is striking that only a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Banking Matters: Discussion (16 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It strikes me that we are at a very vulnerable point right now, with banks leaving and loans that should be matters of negotiation or dispute being recategorised as non-performing loans to facilitate an exit or divestment from----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Banking Matters: Discussion (16 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Even though it may in a case such as Mr. Lawlor's involve a very legitimate dispute and legitimate-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Banking Matters: Discussion (16 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: No. I thank the witnesses.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Ratification of Optional Protocol: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the three witnesses. I am glad we seem to be narrowing down on the issue of a timeline for the optional protocol. It is welcome to hear we are not waiting for an external process in terms of the UN but that an internal set of factors, which are within the control of the State, will determine the timeline for ratification of the optional protocol. Given the Department is looking...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I would like a lot more clarification from the Minister of State in respect of these amendments. I have a number of amendments, to which I will come later, around strengthening the provisions that are currently in section 11D. Given that so many of the amendments refer to section 11D, I am quite concerned about whether this implies that the consideration of the factors within section 11D is...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: To clarify, this section of the Bill, which provides for the proposed new section 9A, refers to "Modification to operation of section 9". I see that the proposed new section 11D refers back to section 9. Section 9A refers to section 11D. Section 11D(2) provides that "Before making a decision under subsection (9), the planning authority shall be satisfied that ... the effect of the proposed...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I would reserve the right to challenge it on Report Stage but we will not have the opportunity, unfortunately. I would want to have had clarity on exactly how these provisions will unfold. Perhaps we will get to hear that at a later stage.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I strongly agree with the importance of local authorities and their members and the fact that they should have more power and more reserved functions. I also very much agree that they should be supported to get independent legal and planning advice. In that sense, I am very happy to support amendment No. 6, which clarifies that it is the members of the local authority making a key decision....

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is a delay, and the delay may well be justified in order to produce a good plan.However, it is a delay. To be clear, there is a difference in the date on which a new plan will start. It is an extension at a point at which we face multiple crises. We face the Covid-19 crisis, but we also face other crises, such as climate, for example. In that context, this has been brought through as...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Some parts of this have been made somewhat redundant, by the previous amendments that were passed. The concern is that this three-quarter threshold, which is an appropriately high threshold for these decisions, might not be applied to all of the extensions that might be made consequentially in this Act. Now that the threshold has been lowered, the bar has dipped backwards. This was a...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: One part of the amendment has been partially addressed by amendment No. 6, which I supported. It clarifies that it is the members of a planning authority. That was one part. The concern about the two points of initiation is to be clear where the decision would sit. There is still a concern. The Minister of State mentioned some parts, like section 11D(10), not being a concern. However,...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I can speak to this amendment. I have a similar amendment which I do not think was grouped. Can I check that my amendment was not grouped?