Results 6,921-6,940 of 8,235 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Again, we need to do better than regretting that a very large company with a legacy of systemic abuse of the vulnerable does not want to do more. We need to know what we can make them do. I will press my amendment because it refers to one approach. Again, the amendment my colleagues and I tabled yesterday sought the State to examine its legal options. I think that the State does need to...

Seanad: Academic Precarity: Motion (24 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move: “That Seanad Éireann: recognises: - the important contribution of lecturers, postdoctoral researchers and PhD researchers to teaching and research in our universities and higher education institutions; - that without such a contribution our universities and higher education institutions would not function; - education is a public good and should be treated as such;...

Seanad: Academic Precarity: Motion (24 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am sharing time with Senator McDowell. These important initiatives and debates allow us to look a little deeper and go a bit wider on important topics. In this case, the motion relates to an issue that affects all our higher education institutions and universities, which Senators McDowell and Mullen and I represent. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, to the House. I...

Seanad: Academic Precarity: Motion (24 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Minister of State. I am glad the Government is not opposing this motion and I hope many of the points will be taken up in the coming period. He has indicated that some will be taken up and others may be followed up further. I know those in the Gallery will also be watching that with interest. I will address a few of the points. On the question of there being many different...

Seanad: Academic Precarity: Motion (24 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: For example, persons have been told in Galway recently, I think, that they will be described as tutors and even when they are delivering lectures that they will be paid at a tutor rate. It is really important that we knock that on the head and that the Government leads in this. The Universities Act is very clear about the role of the HEA and the Government in terms of guiding and setting...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Citizens' Assembly Report on Biodiversity Loss: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Nov 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the witnesses for all of their work in the assembly and for presenting today. To give a short answer to their question to us, we need to look at the detail of all of the recommendations because they are very solid. Two recommendations in the governance section have struck me, with regard to making sure there are regulations that business and industry must work in a green way, and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Citizens' Assembly Report on Biodiversity Loss: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Nov 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: To answer David's question, he might be talking about one of the marine protected areas. There are very few in Ireland. However, one of the tasks Ireland has, and it is an international obligation, is that we have to meet many more marine protected area targets. As well as the biodiversity action plan, it is hoped there will also soon be legislation around marine protected areas and a...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 Dec 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I join Senators in thanking Thomas Hickey for all he has done to make this institution run as it does. I wish him every happiness and enjoyment in his retirement. I know that Senator Black will thank everybody else who must be thanked and who make this institution possible. I am happy and honoured to continue to serve here and to be back. Last night, I was lying awake between about 3 a.m....

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 Jan 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Cathaoirleach. I am delighted to rise on behalf of all my colleagues in the Civil Engagement group to pay tribute to our colleague and friend, Senator David Norris. There has been some discussion of his extraordinary achievements, such as his landmark case on the decriminalisation of homosexuality. Something I think is really important was his battle to establish the Oireachtas...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 Jan 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Yes, exactly, with other representatives at the time. I was thinking about how to capture a sense of what an extraordinary honour it has been to serve in the Seanad alongside Senator Norris. I thought of the legacy and the extraordinary heritage work he has done, along with the work he has done in dragging and pushing Ireland to be a more just, equal and modern place that reflects more of...

Seanad: An Bille um an Naoú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (An Teaghlach), 2023: An Dara Céim - Thirty-ninth Amendment of the Constitution (The Family) Bill 2023: Second Stage (22 Jan 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will pick up where Senator Sherlock left off. It is important to emphasise that there is no change to the definition of marriage in this proposal. It does nothing to change the definition of marriage. The language, that the State pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of marriage and to protect it against attack, will still be there. Regarding some of the language on...

Seanad: An Bille um an Daicheadú Leasú ar an mBunreacht (Cúram), 2023: An Dara Céim - Fortieth Amendment of the Constitution (Care) Bill 2023: Second Stage (22 Jan 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will begin with one word that relates and will relate to this. I will comment on the question of family. I find quite extraordinary the idea that marriage is considered valuable only if other people's families are not recognised. That is what is being talked about here. Being very clear, there is no change to the definition of "marriage" in any of what has been proposed. It reminds me...

Seanad: An Bille um an Daicheadú Leasú ar an mBunreacht (Cúram), 2023: An Dara Céim - Fortieth Amendment of the Constitution (Care) Bill 2023: Second Stage (22 Jan 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I come to this Bill now because what I have said relates to one of the aspects of the article we are discussing. It should be borne in mind that the clauses in it applied only to the family, so if there were any positive social policy implications at all, they applied only to women who were married. There was nothing for one-parent families in any of the social policy measures we have had...

Seanad: An Bille um an Naoú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (An Teaghlach), 2023: Céim an Choiste agus na Céimeanna a bheidh Fágtha - Thirty-ninth Amendment of the Constitution (The Family) Bill 2023: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Jan 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We have heard quite lengthy journeys through different aspects of the law across the course of the debate. One part of the summary of what we have heard is that families are complicated, and that it is possible to legislate. It is possible to legislate before the referendum and it will be possible to legislate after the referendum. We could improve a lot of our legislation with regard to...

Seanad: An Bille um an Naoú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (An Teaghlach), 2023: Céim an Choiste agus na Céimeanna a bheidh Fágtha - Thirty-ninth Amendment of the Constitution (The Family) Bill 2023: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Jan 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It does not relate to the amendments.

Seanad: An Bille um an Daicheadú Leasú ar an mBunreacht (Cúram), 2023: Céim an Choiste (Atógáil) agus na Céimeanna a bheidh Fágtha - Fortieth Amendment of the Constitution (Care) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (23 Jan 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: To follow up on a point made by an earlier speaker, we need to do this but the wording should be better. We have been waiting for it for a long time and it has been coming for a long time. I started campaigning for this change in the Constitution long before I entered the Oireachtas. It has been campaigned for and pushed for a very long time. During that journey, the understanding of what...

Seanad: An Bille um an Daicheadú Leasú ar an mBunreacht (Cúram), 2023: Céim an Choiste (Atógáil) agus na Céimeanna a bheidh Fágtha - Fortieth Amendment of the Constitution (Care) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (23 Jan 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Minister. It is good that hopefully before the referendum we should have the result of the roadmap and dates for the optional protocol. That would be something very substantial that would send a really positive signal. I look forward to the outcome in the next number of weeks. Perhaps this might accelerate it. The Minister mentioned a number of areas in which the State needs...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Large Energy Users Rebalancing Subvention: Discussion (23 Jan 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That is absolutely fine. I apologise for coming in remotely. A lot of the focus has been on the subvention, specifically the detail of the financial aspects of it but perhaps it needs to be looked at in a wider policy context. Could the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, specifically address these issues? If we look to the wider set of policy decisions that have really incentivised the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Large Energy Users Rebalancing Subvention: Discussion (23 Jan 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am conscious of the limited time remaining. We have spent a lot of time looking back to 2009. I would like if we could address the current situation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Large Energy Users Rebalancing Subvention: Discussion (23 Jan 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I have a question for the witnesses from the CRU. I made a submission to its previous consultation in which it chose not to take a strong regulatory approach in regard to data centres. That review of data centres and their energy usage took place just a couple of years ago. Was that not the point at which there should been a question about the subvention? I point out to the Minister of...