Results 8,261-8,280 of 8,768 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Israeli Bond Programme: Central Bank of Ireland (11 Jun 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: -----of Israel is being used in occupied territories.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Israeli Bond Programme: Central Bank of Ireland (11 Jun 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: No, the fundamental question is whether there are risks to investors, including financial and other risks.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Israeli Bond Programme: Central Bank of Ireland (11 Jun 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Yes, but is it not the case-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Israeli Bond Programme: Central Bank of Ireland (11 Jun 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: So, Mr. Makhlouf does not regard potential prosecution in respect of money laundering to be a risk to an investor?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Israeli Bond Programme: Central Bank of Ireland (11 Jun 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Let us talk about it because when Mr. Makhlouf appeared before the committee last autumn, he was not prepared. Money laundering is extremely relevant in this context. The Central Bank was the competent authority.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Israeli Bond Programme: Central Bank of Ireland (11 Jun 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Is not the case, nonetheless,-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Israeli Bond Programme: Central Bank of Ireland (11 Jun 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Central Bank believed it was complete.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Israeli Bond Programme: Central Bank of Ireland (11 Jun 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is for the competent authority to assess the risks and ensure appropriate information. That is clearly what the prospectus is for. It is a duty to investors.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Israeli Bond Programme: Central Bank of Ireland (11 Jun 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Article 10 has a list of things that need to be there but the preamble requires that it all be considered in the context of the rule of law. So that was my question. On some of the other elements within the prospectus regulation, it has a number of powers. I am curious as to whether consideration has been given to any of the powers. I am surprised that some of the powers have not been...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jun 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will wait until after the permanent members.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jun 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Yes, thank you.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jun 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach. I want to go back into the text of the Bill before us. There are a number of aspects of how it is framed that are quite concerning and I would like to unpick some of them. I might begin with Professor Murphy who is also a former peacekeeper of some standing, since we are mentioning that.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jun 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Professor Murphy mentioned the ambiguous language around the kind of force to which we might be deployed. We heard terms like not just EU-led and NATO-led but coalition of the willing from the Department of Defence in its testimony last week. Will he comment on the concerns about the kind of force and the lack of any clear guardrails about what kind of force or who we may partner with?...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jun 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The testimony from Dr. Devine is very clear. If the primary rationale being presented for the removal of the triple lock is that we are being limited in our capacity to engage in peacekeeping and being blocked at the UN in that UN peacekeeping is being hamstrung or limited, is there a danger that by removing the triple lock, we move to a point where Ireland is less engaged in UN...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jun 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It was on monitoring. There is a monitoring structure within the UN.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jun 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: This is a related question. In that section of that Bill, head 6, there is reference to the principles of the UN Charter and the principles of justice and international law but there does not seem to be a mechanism as to who will interpret them, how they will be interpreted or applied, and even for a member of the public, recourse in relation to those matters. That seems to be a very woolly-----

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jun 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: A related piece, which comes back to the disarmament piece, is that Ireland negotiated the global ban on cluster munitions. We have seen now that Lithuania has exited it. Two EU countries are planning on leave the convention related to the use of landmines. We are looking at situations where, potentially, we could be involved. Am I correct? There is nothing in the legislation that seeks...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jun 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I wish to clarify something quickly-----

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jun 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I just did a fact-check. Regarding emissions, Dr. Devine is right and it is 5.5% of carbon emissions internationally, at a minimum. She said that the EU said it will not seek a UN mandate.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jun 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It does not need to seek a UN mandate for battlegroup deployment.