Results 2,261-2,280 of 8,768 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Feb 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I want to speak in support of Senator Boyhan's amendment. I will pick up on a couple of points the Minister made. His position needs re-evaluation. He mentioned that the penalty point system is designed to tackle dangerous driving. He said the parking offence is dangerous parking. The Minister described dangerous parking as parking that is a danger to vehicles. Dangerous parking is...

Seanad: Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Feb 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I have an amendment in this grouping. With respect to the Minister, the definition that has been put forward in terms of PPTs is not necessarily clear that it is solely designed in terms of e-scooters. My concern relates to cargo bikes, such as those that may be used by families, as well as the definition of pedal bicycles here. Where do cargo bikes fit in? I have sought to include them...

Seanad: Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Feb 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is not clear because there is no reference to the carriage of goods. The only reference to the carriage of goods is a prohibitive reference that is attached to the PPT. There is no positive reference to the carriage of goods in the definition relating to bicycles. It is unclear. It is sometimes the case that if one kind of vehicle is prohibited from carrying goods but it is not made...

Seanad: Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Feb 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 26: In page 44, line 32, after “goods,” to insert “except for pedal cargo bicycles,”.

Seanad: Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Feb 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: This is the wrong direction of travel. It is literally saying any tool can be used for any kind of data. It does not clarify. The definition for cameras has been extended to include "other data-gathering devices" The definition of "data-gathering device" proposed by amendment No. 36 is extraordinarily vague, wide and dangerous: "‘data-gathering device’ means any device,...

Seanad: Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Feb 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We could all come up with many forms of data-gathering devices. If toll tag readers or speed guns are needed, then specify them. To say technology evolves all the time and moves so fast that we might need to use it before we have time to legislate for it is a very dangerous message to send. The Minister has recognised the concerns about artificial intelligence, the use of algorithms and...

Seanad: Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Feb 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is the same thing. It is not simply a matter of saying we do not want to use the facial recognition technology on all this data that we gathered for whatever reasons. This is the thing with data. One does not get to gather data, potentially any kind of data, without having clear purposes as to why it is being gathered and what is being done with it. Again, we do not have the mechanisms...

Seanad: Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Feb 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will be very brief. The Minister is the one seeking to expand the scope of this Bill. This is us responding to the expansion he has proposed. Frankly, his expansion includes every single thing. That is what the definition he is proposing effectively is. One could argue we should not try to have to name every single thing but the answer is also not to use every single device which is...

Seanad: Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Feb 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Data Protection Act.

Seanad: Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Feb 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Minister might wish to respond to Senator Ruane's proposal. It is a really good compromise. It is not as strong as my proposal of naming each device but it is making it very clear that it is only to devices attached to a very particular and explicit purpose, namely, the investigation and prosecution of particular offences under the Road Traffic Act. That does not tie it to the device...

Seanad: Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Feb 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I think we just have a fundamental disagreement. I hope there can be conversations between this Stage and Report Stage but this definition is extraordinarily wide and there does not seem to be a willingness to look to narrow it in an effective way.

Seanad: Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Feb 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The issue is the data is being gathered. People will not be aware. This legislation creates a circumstance where persons may have large amounts of data gathered around and about them of which they will not even be aware. Their consent will not have been sought. A legislative basis will be used as the rationale, namely, we are gathering data about you based on the Road Traffic Act but...

Seanad: Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Feb 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Under the GDPR, there is a need for a legislative basis or a consent basis for the gathering of data. The concern here is we have legislation being proposed that will give a very much wider permission for the gathering of data and that creates that dynamic. There are questions about the compatibility of the legislation with the GDPR in that context but we can come to that.

Seanad: Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Feb 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: To identify each device was one solution. Two solutions were put to the Minister. There is no amendment which states that each device should be identified. We have clarified that the problem is the Minister's proposal that all devices of any kind that gather data should be allowed and included under the definition of "camera". We have suggested two solutions. One is that we specify only...

Seanad: Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 Jan 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 1: In page 7, line 12, after “child,” to insert “foster parent,”. Amendments No. 1 and 12 deal with the same issue, which is the concern that some of those who are providing parental care may accidentally or inadvertently fall outside the remit of the Bill. Amendment No. 1 seeks to include foster parents within the definition of...

Seanad: Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 Jan 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I would appreciate that clarification between Committee and Report Stages. I am not going to press my amendment at this point but, because there is concern, it would be useful for us to be made absolutely certain that there is no inadvertent effect.

Seanad: Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 Jan 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I support the amendment. I have similar amendments, relating to another Part of the Bill, on the six-month criterion. The six-month requirement makes it less likely that people will be able to enter employment in the first place because requiring full-time availability for six months with no flexibility is exactly the obstacle for those who are parenting alone or returning to the workforce....

Seanad: Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 Jan 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Senator Seery Kearney might be correct. My amendment on the six-month period is coming later, so I am glad there is support for that principle.

Seanad: Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 Jan 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We will have a chance to discuss it later.

Seanad: Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 Jan 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 3: In page 9, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following: "(2A) Subsection (1) shall also apply to the following persons where a person is in need of significant care or support for a serious medical reason and no persons prescribed under subsection (2) have applied for medical leave for that case— (a) a niece or nephew of the employee, (b) an aunt or...