Results 5,681-5,700 of 8,235 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (7 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The amendment inserts a new subsection in, section 15 which requires that where the commission would enter into contracts or appoint persons as consultants or advisers, a record of such contracts and consultations would be kept and laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas on a biannual basis. The amendment is about transparency. When the body responsible for elections and referendums in a...

Seanad: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (7 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: While there are measures relating to spending on consultants and advisers, the concerns do not solely relate to financial transparency; the concerns relate to who the consultants and advisers are, who is giving advice and what factors are in play. It should be borne in mind that such consultants and advisers, while not being public employees in the full sense, may well be providing...

Seanad: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (7 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I believe we are authorised to move Senator Moynihan's amendment.

Seanad: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (7 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Okay, that was obviously yesterday and not today.

Seanad: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (7 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 7: In page 24, line 39, after “time” to insert “, but only once”.

Seanad: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (7 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The amendment seeks to limit the term of a chief executive to be renewable only once. Currently, the Bill provides that the chief executive can have a five-year term and may be reappointed, but not for more than ten years sequentially at a time. This amendment would seek to only allow two terms to the chief executive and no more than that. I spoke earlier about accountability and...

Seanad: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (7 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I appreciate that the consideration was given. I will not press amendment No. 7. I will withdraw it.

Seanad: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (7 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 9: "In page 25, line 10, after “section” to insert the following: “, having due regard both to the desirability of the appointee possessing knowledge of, and experience in, electoral matters, and obligations as set out under section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Act 2014 and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with...

Seanad: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (7 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 10: "In page 27, line 19, after “office” to insert “with a record of such representations to be kept”."

Seanad: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (7 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I second the amendment.

Seanad: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (7 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 12: In page 29, lines 23 and 24, to delete “in such manner as the Commission considers appropriate” and substitute “in an accessible manner on a website maintained by the Commission”.

Seanad: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (7 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am sure the Senator was not reluctant.

Seanad: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (7 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: This amendment, the principle of which I am sure Senator Gavan strongly supports, requires for copies of the annual reports of the commission to be laid in an accessible manner on a website maintained by the commission. A number of these amendments return to the same measures. As the Minister is aware, these are measures echoed across lots of legislation. The reason they need to be echoed...

Seanad: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (7 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The question is not just best practice and whether the commission will engage in best practice, as it may choose to draw on the precedent of the Referendum Commission of Ireland, or not. The question is best practice in legislation. To put a caveat and a dilution in respect of the question of accessibility is not best practice in legislation. The Minister of State referred to where there...

Seanad: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (7 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 13: In page 30, between lines 32 and 33, to insert the following: “(d) to review and implement the proposals of the Seanad Reform Implementation Group and the Manning Report;”.

Seanad: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (7 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Amendment No. 13 mandates, as a function of the commission, that the commission would review and implement the proposals of the Seanad reform implementation group and the Manning report. Yesterday we enumerated the long process and the fact that in 1979 the public voted in favour of the expansion of the university franchise by an overwhelming majority. Again in 2015 in a campaign with the...

Seanad: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (7 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I want to reply to the various points that have been made. I agree that graduates should not have a privilege over others to vote. The proposals we put forward from the implementation group sought, as far as possible without constitutional referendum, to ensure we would widen university franchise to all graduates, not just those with a degree but those with a diploma as well. That was...

Seanad: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (7 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 14: In page 31, between lines 4 and 5, to insert the following: “(i) to undertake the wholesale review of the Electoral Act 1997, including, inter alia, its provisions regarding political funding.”.

Seanad: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (7 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 15: In page 31, line 18, after “publish” to insert “in plain language”.

Seanad: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (7 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 16: In page 31, line 20, after “of” to insert “print media such as newspapers,”.