Results 2,181-2,200 of 8,196 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: And the Energy Charter Treaty?

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: Will the Minister ask for a risk analysis to be done on the Energy Charter Treaty and exiting from it? I ask because Ireland has not conducted one in terms of our own context.

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: I note we still do not have a risk analysis for Ireland, and that is an issue. We should not have a situation where an area that has been identified very strongly as a risk is without a risk analysis, even though such an analysis has been requested repeatedly over recent years.

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: We have had this conversation a number of times during previous appearances by the CRU at this committee. I am not looking for a response on a surge or on a particular day when we need emergency back up. I am looking for a response on the general issue of demand reduction, not demand flexibility.

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: Again, those measures addressed issues of surge or security of supply during a particularly difficult time but there were no measures relating to general demand reduction. Having back-up generators, for example, was one of the measures.

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: I ask Mr. Gannon to confirm that gas is not considered within that frame of renewables, when we are discussing it-----

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: Apologies but it was just a little bit of a blurring of the lines.

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: We have seen it on sustainability.

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: I would like an answer from Mr. Foley.

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: The question is on the issue of demand and the expansion of demand. Mr. Foley mentioned that he thought 9% was a reasonable level of expansion for a prosperous, growing, sophisticated western economy even though we have heard that this increase in demand is entailing the continuation, sustaining and bringing back online of fossil fuel generators. It also involves back-up generators,...

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: Yes, but my specific question is whether it is acceptable that we would continue to seek to meet an increase in energy demand. Mr. Foley is saying he is okay with a 9% increase in energy demand even though the kinds of measures that are meeting that involve fossil fuels. I am placing that in the global context. Mr. Foley said that because we are a prosperous western economy, it is okay but...

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: On retrofitting of social housing, what measures will be taken to expand and bring forward the 30,000 ambition, which was quite low, within the Government retrofitting scheme? Rather than looking to loans and the market development, there is an opportunity and need this year to ensure the most vulnerable users, namely those in social housing, have retrofitting accelerated this winter. ...

Seanad: Planning and Development, Maritime and Valuation (Amendment) Bill 2022: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (14 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Minister of State is speaking to the amendments made in the Dáil. Senator Boylan is referring to our proposed Seanad amendments. There are two sets of amendments being discussed.

Seanad: Planning and Development, Maritime and Valuation (Amendment) Bill 2022: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (14 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Amendment No. 1 seeks the deletion of the new subsection (6) inserted via the Dáil amendments into section 32B of the principal Act. That subsection inserted by the Minister provides that a request from a large-scale residential development applicant may include a request that the meeting be treated as a meeting for the purposes of an application under a section 32I. Amendment No. 2...

Seanad: Planning and Development, Maritime and Valuation (Amendment) Bill 2022: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (14 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That is why I must speak to the full grouping now.

Seanad: Planning and Development, Maritime and Valuation (Amendment) Bill 2022: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (14 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Yes. I was making the point that it would have been useful to have the Minister of State rather than me outlining what is happening with the sections to be inserted, and where our permission for them to be inserted has been requested. We would have been clear about what they were doing.

Seanad: Planning and Development, Maritime and Valuation (Amendment) Bill 2022: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (14 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Yes. That is what I spoke to in outlining the amendments.

Seanad: Planning and Development, Maritime and Valuation (Amendment) Bill 2022: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (14 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: As I understand it, my amendments Nos. 1 and 2 seek the removal of measures to be inserted by the Minister in group 3. Is that correct? I am not using my speaking slot now but seeking clarification in respect of the grouping. It is the problem and may be why what the Minister of State outlined is disjointed compared with the grouped amendments. My amendments respond to the principle on...

Seanad: Planning and Development, Maritime and Valuation (Amendment) Bill 2022: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (14 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Should I be speaking to amendments Nos. 1 and 2 within the discussion on group 3? Is that the case? Will we agree that I can discuss them then?

Seanad: Planning and Development, Maritime and Valuation (Amendment) Bill 2022: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (14 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Regarding the amendments in group 2, then, these relate to the provisions in the Planning and Development Acts and the idea of the ministerial directions regarding statutory plans. I will be brief. As part of a topic we will discuss in more detail later, namely, what has been an extraordinary, relentless and systematic removal and diminution of power at local level, one of the major...