Results 8,661-8,680 of 8,768 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Artificial Intelligence and Older People: Discussion (30 Sep 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That follows on perfectly because Senator Ruane had asked me to put forward one question in particular. In the AI governance structure, we know there is an AI advisory committee, which is largely drawn from people who are experts academically or from the industry and technology side. This is the “who you are led by” piece. Do the witnesses think there should be a civil...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Artificial Intelligence and Older People: Discussion (30 Sep 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That is a very good point. It is a widening of the advisory group.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Artificial Intelligence and Older People: Discussion (30 Sep 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: So there will be an ongoing cost benefit.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Artificial Intelligence and Older People: Discussion (30 Sep 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We heard about the bias. We know that is around how it is designed in terms of who uses it, but there is also bias in what it presents. There is a single individual photograph of a very old pair of hands that I complained about to newspapers for about eight years. The same photo was used every time an older person was mentioned in an article. That, of course, has been turbo-charged. The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Update on Current Situation in Ukraine: H.E. Larysa Gerasko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland (14 Oct 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the ambassador for the detailed presentation she gave. I particularly appreciate that she outlined the impact of the war on civilians and framed it as a colonial war. Of course, colonialism, in all of its forms, is one of the greatest threats to the fundamental principles we have in the UN Charter, including the right to self-determination and other related international principles....

Seanad: Gnó an tSeanaid - Business of Seanad: Trade Agreements (14 Oct 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Minister of State for coming in to deal with this very important question. I put it originally on the day before the decision was to be made. Now I am merely asking what decision has been made and for further details in relation to it. In October 2024, the Court of Justice of the European Union, CJEU, annulled the application of the EU-Morocco trade deal in relation to Western...

Seanad: Gnó an tSeanaid - Business of Seanad: Trade Agreements (14 Oct 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The issue is that what remained was the vote. The content had been determined at the time I was speaking, so I was asking specifically what position Ireland would be taking. I am disappointed to hear that Ireland did not take a stronger position. This goes absolutely against the position that the Attorney General and the International Court of Justice have taken on the occupied territories...

Seanad: Gnó an tSeanaid - Business of Seanad: Trade Agreements (14 Oct 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: They did not get negotiated with at all.

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Oct 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 6: In page 7, line 27, to delete “, or is likely to cause,”. Last week, when we discussed Senator McDowell's amendment on raising the threshold in the definition of "defamatory statement" to serious harm, the Minister responded to the effect that it is more difficult to ascertain that a person has sustained serious harm than it is to ascertain that a...

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Oct 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Exactly. I wanted to provide a few of the examples of how the abuse of defamation cases can happen - sometimes even before a case comes to court.The threat of legal action has a chilling effect that suppresses the publication of information that may be in the public interest. Examples published by the International Press Institute in a story in 2023, entitled “Ireland: How the...

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Oct 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: One of the concerns I have relating to what we have heard from Senator McDowell is that the word "likely" is very amorphous. The language is still not clear. I suggest that even if the legislation used the word "probable" that would be the case. I know we are using these hypothetical examples of a large corporation suing a small corporation and that perhaps speaks to a different issue....

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Oct 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I acknowledged in my opening remarks that it is an improvement on what was there. I have acknowledged that. It is clear that it narrows it into this area of financial harm. However, the language is still ambiguous and "likely to cause" can be parsed in different ways. Those who are in a large body corporate will be very willing to take multiple case examples until they get the precedent...

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Oct 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: There is a whole question of whether the injury is done by the fact or by the fact being stated. That all has to be argued out in the courts. Truth is available as a defence but that is far down the line and some of these cases have been hanging around for years. The Minister talked about the vexatious piece and he might elaborate on how exactly he sees that playing out in way at an...

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Oct 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 7: In page 7, line 31, to delete “, or is likely to cause,”.

Seanad: Statement by the Taoiseach (16 Oct 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: When the Taoiseach is addressing the Seanad, I usually take the opportunity to speak about Seanad reform. I have usually referred to Seanad reform when I speaking to taoisigh over the past eight years. I am waiting for progress on Seanad reform. On this occasion, there is a need to talk about leadership. That word gets thrown around a lot, but, sadly, what we have heard in recent months...

Seanad: Statement by the Taoiseach (16 Oct 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Taoiseach is quoted as stating: I don’t think we can mitigate for climate change ... if we get into a position where we are going to challenge every single thing, saying it is against the climate, we are going to divide society fairly fast. The Taoiseach spoke about progressiveness. He did not mention climate earlier, but I look forward to him speaking more on it. He stated...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (15 Oct 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I remind members who are participating remotely to use the raised hand feature and to cancel it when they have spoken. If a vote is called in the Dáil, as we believe it may be, the committee will continue with Senators and will suspend temporarily, if necessary. Given that the vote in the Dáil is pending, I am going to take the opportunity, as a Senator, to begin the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (15 Oct 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: With absolute respect, and we very much appreciate the overview, much of this ground has been covered in the statement which has been shared with all the members. While I appreciate this detail, time is limited and we have very specific questions. We may come back to the escape clause from the Stability and Growth Pact if we have an opportunity later. The focus really is on the two COMs at...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (15 Oct 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: And landmines.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (15 Oct 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I think that answers the question. We have confirmed that if that is the national policy of a country, it can choose to spend this money on cluster munitions and landmines. Of course, the key concern in the case of Ireland is the investment piece. We will be asked to collectively contribute to the guarantee. If one of these countries that chooses to invest heavily in landmines or cluster...