Results 2,161-2,180 of 8,196 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Report of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Sep 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank Dr. Russell.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It was interesting to hear the issue Deputy O’Callaghan raised of the renewed concerns on the tracker mortgages. We saw in June the concerns around the question of compound versus simple interest. It is worth noting that those concerns were raised in this committee in June 2021. Yet, they were still having to be unpacked going into the summer of 2022. This is a question of what is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Again, the policy decisions at the macro level, whatever way they are identified, do not seem to have really reflected those concerns. I am concerned. The same figures are being cited again around what can be done digitally. It is not a matter of what can be done digitally, but of who can do that and who will be working in that digital space. I have highlighted that just over 40% of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The question relates to the letter and to the spirit in that regard. I have one last question. The question relates to non-performing loans and AIB mentioned that it has reduced its exposure to bad loans and non-performing loans. Many people are concerned that we are going to see a lot of people facing temporary financial challenges. What mechanisms or other measures are in place to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Some people have needed a period of support during Covid and now might need an additional period of support building on that, as they adapt to a very different inflationary and supply chain context. Is consideration being given to specific measures to support them and allow for those stressors so that we do not have people falling out of-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Sectoral Emissions Ceilings: Engagement with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (13 Sep 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I want to follow up on some of the concerns raised by the experts who have been spoken about: Professor McMullin, Professor Sweeney and Dr. Jackson. I am also raising a couple of concerns I would have highlighted to the Minister back when we were setting the carbon budgets. I am worried we are seeing dilution and further dilution in ambition at each point. The Minister mentioned...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Sectoral Emissions Ceilings: Engagement with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (13 Sep 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am not suggesting that Minister. We have targeted discussions on many different policy areas, but what we are discussing here now is the sectoral emissions ceilings. Will the Minister address the fact that he has proposed sectoral emissions ceilings for the 2026-2030 period, that exceeds the carbon budget of 200 megatonnes? The fact of how we get there-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Sectoral Emissions Ceilings: Engagement with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (13 Sep 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Sure, will the Minister answer that question?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Sectoral Emissions Ceilings: Engagement with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (13 Sep 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: There is a problem Minister as I said-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Sectoral Emissions Ceilings: Engagement with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (13 Sep 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Actually Chair, my question has not been answered. I am asking specifically about the legal compliance of having 213 megatonnes of emissions planned for during a period which has a budget of 200 megatonnes. I also asked if the Minister was confident that Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry, LULUCF, emissions will be less than the 200 megatonnes and if so, how does he plan-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Sectoral Emissions Ceilings: Engagement with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (13 Sep 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I would like to come back in again around this. We are asking questions about the topic at hand, not on any other topics.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Sectoral Emissions Ceilings: Engagement with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (13 Sep 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will ask a couple of specific questions, after which I will return to one of the wider ones. On the reporting mechanisms, Ministers previously had to report individually to the Oireachtas on how they were achieving their targets. This seems to have been amalgamated into a single session. Are there plans to return to a position where each Minister reported? This would allow for more...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Sectoral Emissions Ceilings: Engagement with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (13 Sep 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I would like to ask for two tiny clarifications.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Sectoral Emissions Ceilings: Engagement with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (13 Sep 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome the Minister's comments on embodied emissions. Which of the sectoral emissions in the breakdown we have do those come under?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Sectoral Emissions Ceilings: Engagement with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (13 Sep 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Will the Minister confirm that emission savings planned for after 2030 will not be used in these two budget periods?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Sectoral Emissions Ceilings: Engagement with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (13 Sep 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: To be clear, the legislation does not allow for future counting.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Energy Supply and Security: Discussion (30 Aug 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Minister identified the wider factor. The energy crisis is taking place inside a climate crisis, which has not gone away and which is intensifying. He mentioned dependence on fossil fuels, which, of course, includes gas, with the single exception of green hydrogen, which is a minority option. Gas is a fossil fuel and one that is extremely volatile in terms of pricing as well as being...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Energy Supply and Security: Discussion (30 Aug 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Minister mentioned local authorities. Why, when they have taken the initiative, such as South Dublin County Council, for example, which has said concerning data centres that it wants a pause to get things in terms of its concerns, has the Government pressed against that rather than supporting it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Energy Supply and Security: Discussion (30 Aug 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Is there analysis of the kinds of data processing? When it comes to the crunch, are we talking what gets prioritised? Is it Amazon Web Services, for example? I do not mean any one company. Is it around a commercial profiteering? Where is the analysis on that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Energy Supply and Security: Discussion (30 Aug 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Just because of my time constraint, I would like the Minister to address the position that Ireland will take at the meeting on 9 September.