Results 4,821-4,840 of 8,220 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Animal Health and Welfare and Forestry (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Feb 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I had held back, but I want to offer something in the crucial debate we are having. We will end up debating these points again when we discuss section 7. The question about just transition is important. Senator Lombard put it well when he talked about the idea of the template. I believe there are two layers to just transition. One is that it is a transition towards justice, towards...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Commission for Regulation of Utilities Strategic Plan: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will come to my questions. I reacted quite strongly because I was concerned. The position on data centres has changed but we still do not have that assurance that it will only be on renewable energy as we look at a moratorium. Given that we know that different kinds of data are being processed that may need to be prioritised if we have an energy crunch, what do the witnesses think about...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Commission for Regulation of Utilities Strategic Plan: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We heard very serious concerns before last summer about the level of potential consumption of energy by data centres. We had a somewhat disappointing discussion about this matter in the autumn. Since then, new guidance has been given, new progress has been made and new measures have been taken, however, I am concerned when we see what is happening in Ennis and in other places. There may be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Commission for Regulation of Utilities Strategic Plan: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That is the exact example I would give. It is a case of cryptocurrency versus the hospital data we need to keep going. I thank the Chair for adding that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Commission for Regulation of Utilities Strategic Plan: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: If security of supply was addressed in this note, why was the decarbonisation issue not addressed at the same time? If they are two of the four strands in the strategy, to address the security of supply rules but not to have added in clear and hard rules on the requirement of, for example, renewable or zero-carbon energy seems to be an opportunity missed.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Commission for Regulation of Utilities Strategic Plan: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I think it is an area that needs regulation, not market vulnerability.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Commission for Regulation of Utilities Strategic Plan: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I was late in joining the session so I apologise if I go over ground that may have been covered. I am extremely concerned about what I heard during the last few questions and answers. There seems to be almost an abdication of responsibility regarding the fundamental public policy goals we must achieve and even on the CRU's own strategic plan in terms of enabling security of supply and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers Scheme: Discussion (16 Feb 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome the Ombudsman. It is great to see the work already kicking in. I am also a member of the Joint Committee on Disability Matters and the Joint Committee on Climate Action, where this is also an area of concern. A few of my questions are around the intersection of those areas. Mr. Deering pointed to the distance that needs to be travelled in terms of public transport reform....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers Scheme: Discussion (16 Feb 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That is because it is not based on individual need. I apologise that I was not clear. What was I asking was should GP certification be used as an interim measure, given this situation with the primary medical certification? My first question was on this exact point, concerning the replacement of this method with an individual assessment mechanism. Would such an approach be more in line...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers Scheme: Discussion (16 Feb 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: On the age issue, I agree with Mr. Deering regarding the employment aspect. My other query concerned people being disqualified at a certain age from the scheme. As I understand it, that was one of the key findings regarding where the motorised transport scheme was in conflict with the Equal Status Acts. Again, the concern here is that this might be a wider issue in respect of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers Scheme: Discussion (16 Feb 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank Mr. Deering. Social protection might be an interesting area to explore in that regard, as I believe some of the same assumptions are still present there, unfortunately.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers Scheme: Discussion (16 Feb 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I was very struck by many aspects of the testimony we heard but particularly the client who was unable to travel. There is the wider issue where no appeals are possible currently because of the inappropriateness of the assessment system. I was also struck that a client in a local Citizens Information Services office lost an appeal because the person was unable to travel the five hours to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers Scheme: Discussion (16 Feb 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Just to follow up, Mr. O'Brien mentioned the emergency needs payment. I was just so struck by that woman who clearly needs support with transport as she could not even fund transport to her appeal. The emergency needs payment is one mechanism. Dr. Lajoie also mentioned the idea of interest-free loans. Will she expand a little on that as an idea? There is that concern Deputy Doherty...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers Scheme: Discussion (16 Feb 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: On that, it strikes me that refundable tax credits is another measure that has been talked about before. So many of the schemes we have are delivered through tax reliefs. If people are under a certain threshold, they are not really benefiting from them. My last question concerns an issue I raised with the Ombudsman, namely, the intersection on age and disability. A concern raised in the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers Scheme: Discussion (16 Feb 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It strikes me that like the UK, we should look at the Vimes Boots Index. I do not know if the witnesses have been following it. As Mr. O'Brien said, the idea is that there is an extra cost. For example, the good boots might cost €50 and last a lifetime, but everybody is buying €10 boots because they cannot afford that €50. It is the idea of not having capital carrying...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 Feb 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will follow up on my colleague, Senator Flynn's points in terms of public transport. Research from the UK has found that bus drivers have higher levels of Covid-19 deaths than other occupations. We also have research that found that 41% of people polled said they were less likely to use public transport after the pandemic. I am really concerned that removal of masks as a requirement on...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Second Stage (22 Feb 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome the Minister to the House. She can hear the interest in this Bill as it is discussed. For a long time there was a little bit of complacency among some of the major players in the tech industry around the idea that they would always be slightly ahead of Government and regulation and that this was an area of such complexity. I remember being in a situation once when I was told that...