Results 701-720 of 8,196 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Domestic Violence Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Jul 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I commend the former Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Fitzgerald, on putting forward what is overall very progressive legislation and legislation which moves us forward. The amendment we were debating when we adjourned was one which is essential if we are to ensure the Bill goes far enough to make a significant difference. I...

Seanad: Domestic Violence Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Jul 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: First, on a point of information to the House, it is important to note that paragraph (c) of amendment No. 1, which is being discussed, is not a prescriptive list. Let us be very clear about that. It explicitly refers, for example, to psychological behaviour and states "but is not limited to" and gives examples. Where we have those examples it is very explicit that it includes what is set...

Seanad: Domestic Violence Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Jul 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I join others in expressing my disappointment. Due to the Minister for Justice and Equality's, and indeed the outgoing Minister's, work and background in this area, I had expected that we would be hearing variations from the Government in terms of the proposals on how this should be dealt with. I am very surprised to hear a message which seems to say that things are working fine, we should...

Seanad: Domestic Violence Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Jul 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: On a point of information, that was not suggested.

Seanad: Domestic Violence Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Jul 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: This is a point of information. I will come in on it.

Seanad: Domestic Violence Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Jul 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: For the purposes of clarification, I have never spoken and I do not think people here are speaking about limiting discretion. It is important to be very clear. We are saying that wide discretion alone does not necessarily always capture some of these issues. When we speak about there being discretion, we can assume that all issues will be captured. The Minister of State referred to...

Seanad: Report on Dying, Death and Bereavement: Statements (4 Jul 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome the Minister, Deputy Regina Doherty, to the House and congratulate her on her appointment. I commend Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell on her report. This is an incredibly important conversation. She is correct to say that the arts have been able to have this conversation in the past, going right back to the ancient Greek writers and to Irish writers such as Michael Longley and...

Seanad: Report on Dying, Death and Bereavement: Statements (4 Jul 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will finish. I wish to refer to public funding support for public research. Very often it is not a case of a product that is going to be on sale but it is a social process we can invest in, and public research can often identify that in a way that perhaps commodity-based research might not. This can transform experiences.

Seanad: Business of Seanad (11 Jul 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am happy to move that on behalf of my colleague.

Seanad: Business of Seanad (11 Jul 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: But I am-----

Seanad: Srebrenica Massacre: Motion (11 Jul 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: On behalf of all my colleagues in the Civil Engagement group, I welcome the motion and congratulate Senators Feighan and Richmond for introducing it to the House. It is in the best spirit of the internationalism of this House that we use this space to acknowledge these issues in this way. I welcome the visitors in the Visitors Gallery, as others have done. The genocide at Srebrenica is...

Seanad: Equality of Access to Education: Motion (12 Jul 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I congratulate the Minister of State on her appointment and look forward to working with her. I welcome all the visitors to the House. I strongly support this motion, but not the amendments. We have heard many nice words and many words about education across the House. Some practical proposals have been made, including on grants, but the nub of the debate today is where we, as public...

Seanad: Naval Service Deployment: Statements (13 Jul 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I regret very much that we did not have the opportunity to debate this before the motion passed in the Dáil. It is a very important discussion and decision. It is also important to be clear that a new decision has been taken today. In case a false impression be given, this is not the continuation of the very important humanitarian...

Seanad: Naval Service Deployment: Statements (13 Jul 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I have two final points. They are very important. There are questions around peace, neutrality and Ireland's role. The Minister of State stated that "Ireland will only participate in those aspects of Operation Sophia which are authorised in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions". Does he anticipate that aspects of Operation Sophia will not be in accordance with UN Security...

Seanad: Naval Service Deployment: Statements (13 Jul 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will finish now. The Libyan coast guard has been mentioned. How can we justify supporting a coast guard which has used military fire against vulnerable people in this project, especially in light of conditions in detention centres? A crisis is not less of a crisis because we seek to hide it on other shores.

Seanad: Naval Service Deployment: Statements (13 Jul 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Irish Naval Service has still performed disproportionately well in terms of rescue.

Seanad: Naval Service Deployment: Statements (13 Jul 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The issue of the Libyan coast guard-----

Seanad: Naval Service Deployment: Statements (13 Jul 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: -----and any aspects of operations that will be beyond the UN mandate.

Seanad: Naval Service Deployment: Statements (13 Jul 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I asked direct questions related to the topic-----

Seanad: Naval Service Deployment: Statements (13 Jul 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: -----and they were not answered.