Results 8,381-8,400 of 8,768 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (25 Jun 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I wish to follow up on some of the related themes that have been discussed. I was glad the Minister indicated that the intention is to continue and deepen the well-being framework, which previously had been on a pilot basis. I apologise if this may have been discussed already; I was called away for a vote. Will that be extended in the next budget? There was a hearing earlier this...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (25 Jun 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Yes. I had a separate question but I will leave it for now.

Seanad: EU Regulations: Motions (3 Jul 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I share the concern many have expressed about the proposals before us. I echo what we have heard across the House about recognising migration as something that has happened for centuries and millennia and something that is often a net positive for countries. Ireland, with its history of migration in different economic and political circumstances, circumstances of conflict and so on, as well...

Seanad: EU Regulations: Motions (3 Jul 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Let us be clear, however; I do not believe we should join it at all. Let us look at what was in that proposal that has been withdrawn, which comes from the same kind of logic in terms of safe countries. It comes from the same kind of perspective, which is a neocolonial perspective and a colonial perspective in terms of determining or arbitrating the lives of others. The change would mean...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: To pick up on the issue of the mandate, we focused a lot on Russia and Ukraine. I was very struck by the number of missions in Africa, including Mali, Niger, Mozambique and the Sahel region. This is a large number of military actions taken by Europe. We were told that the language in the proposed legislation is directly taken from the Lisbon treaty, which talks about conflict prevention...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Would Ireland be better positioned to do that if we maintained our UN position? Do "interests" potentially include commercial and economic interests?

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: In the 1950s when there was a deployment under the "uniting for peace" resolution, it did not require the Security Council to agree to it. The General Assembly can authorise an international force. Can we have that confirmed? For example, it has been mentioned in relation to a potential force for the delivery of humanitarian aid. It has a higher bar - but is a potential one because it...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I was in the Seanad and missed some of the debate. On Tuesday, retired Major General Maureen O'Brien spoke about the fact that while there are occasions where peacekeeping missions have ended up becoming engaged in armed conflict, it is much harder to move from a situation of military conflict or armed deployment to peacekeeping than the other way around. This comes to a key point. When...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: They have a very different focus.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: My time is limited. I sit on the finance committee. We are currently looking at extraordinarily large requests and proposals in terms of EU spending on the SAFE regulation and military spending.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Will Mr. Andrews answer my question on peacebuilding?

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I raise the "uniting for peace" resolution and the support Ireland has got in the past across the UN. Will Mr. Andrews discuss the "uniting for peace" mechanism?

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: In its current iteration, is Ireland a country that would have good credibility in terms of something like the "uniting for peace" mechanism? For example, the World Food Programme has asked for the "uniting for peace" resolution to be used.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Ireland would be a credible country now in the current situation.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: In fairness, they know what we are not doing-----

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I do not mind.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Like others, I thank the witnesses. I want to pick up on a couple of the points that have come in. The first one is an apples and oranges scenario as the issue is mixed up a little bit. On Deputy Smith's point, the key point is that it is not a question of whether a General Assembly resolution is binding. The question is whether a General Assembly resolution allows us, in terms of our...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Because of time, I was really looking for the General Assembly powers, but we might come back on that.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We will come back to it, but the 2006 Act allows Ireland to act on the basis of the General Assembly.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I want to come in on the other questions if I can.