Results 2,641-2,660 of 8,196 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 14: In page 14, between lines 34 and 35, to insert the following: “Report on implications of Act 23. The Minister shall, within 6 months of the passing of this Act, lay a report before both Houses of the Oireachtas outlining the implications or impact of this legislation in respect of: (a) the powers of local authorities in respect of the substitute consent...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I would like to respond very quickly. It would be useful to have, between now and Report Stage, a note on the normal enforcement powers. Local authorities can give an input into An Bord Pleanála, but they will not get to start the process of a substitute consent application in the same way they will have been able to. That is the key concern here. In terms of local development plans,...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Bill is not reported. I wanted to have a vote.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Built Heritage Protection) Bill 2022: Second Stage (16 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome the Minister of State. I know that this is an area of great personal interest to him. I join others in complimenting Senator Norris. Today is Bloomsday. One of the lines in Ulyssesreads: "The supreme question about a work of art is out of how deep a life does it spring." The work of art that is the portrait of Senator Norris springs from a very deep life, and this legislation,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Report of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I have been following the debate with interest. I had planned to come in remotely but that did not work out. I am torn because I have two separate sets of questions that seem contradictory, which is the nature of these issues. One set of questions intends to move away from the money; the other intends to look in great detail at the money. There must be an acknowledgement that care...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Report of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We were meant to have a statutory entitlement to home care but it was not delivered. I used to sit on the disability committee, which I had to give up to come to this committee. It seems the debate has moved on from personal needs assistants. That was in the recommendations of the citizens' assembly, which referred to that choice of care.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Report of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: My question was about the lack of individualisation, for the record.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Report of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I would add a note of optimism because I think you can in fact measure quality, but it has to be done in a different way. It cannot been done through a grid. There are the technical specifications or requirements and then it is just done on price. That is the lowest-price approach. The model in the Netherlands, which is the model I am trying to bring in in Ireland, uses price and quality...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Report of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am looking at the 2016-2017 system, which there are attempts to commercially undermine.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Report of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That would be useful.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Report of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That is definitely 100% the better, and this is also what citizens are looking for with public provision. Professor Lynch is right.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Report of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I like what the Professor has said about it being relational rather than transactional. With regard to nursing homes, there is an issue that has not been raised but it did come up with the Committee on Disability Matters. If we do bring in these rights to care, it is important that when we start providing personal needs assistants, home care or community care that those who are in nursing...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Report of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We should follow up on the algorithm because there are new EU directives around automated decision-making and artificial intelligence. It is really important that we try to push back on that point. If Mr. Dunne wanted to provide something in writing, that would be useful.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Vaccination Programme (15 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: In December 2020, we had a moment of optimism when, following a massive global effort and up to €93 billion in public funding, we heard about vaccines that had been developed and were going to address and alleviate the devastating impact of Covid-19. There was also knowledge at that point about how we could work collectively to address this as a global health crisis. There was the...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Vaccination Programme (15 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I reject the suggestion that vaccine hesitancy and distribution mechanisms are the main obstacles here. The fact that these countries have not been able to have public heath vaccine programmes has been a key obstacle and they have not been able to have public health programmes on an organised basis because they have not had a reliable supply of vaccines. I reject the Minister of State's...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Vaccination Programme (15 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: To frame this as a demand issue, after artificially delaying supply for 18 months, adds insult to injury.

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (15 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Senator Ruane has outlined the details of each amendment. I will make an overall point. I feel strongly about these amendments because they are about the idea of what family and relationships mean, which is something that we have discussed at length. Ireland, as part of its evolution in this area, is trying to move away from a very patriarchal and hierarchical version of the family that...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (15 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I second the amendment.

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (15 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I second the amendment.

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (15 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I second the amendment.