Results 3,041-3,060 of 8,196 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (12 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I would begin by saying I am so sad to hear that last piece. Ms Exton spoke about pleasure. Dancing is one of the great pleasures in life that gives people a sense of their body and enjoying it. For me, it was a really empowering thing to go dancing and raving when I was young, from when I about 15 or 16 years old. It was really important to me because I got a sense of owning and enjoying...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (12 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Mr. Byrne came to it at the end and it is the question of teacher training. There is an emphasis around managing the classroom sometimes. I was in a school that had just become co-educational and I was one of six or seven girls in a class of 35. I am very pushy though. There is the question of not just simply managing the classroom but having the responsibility to elicit and support all...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (12 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I would like to return to the phrase "clinically appropriate". The nub of the term "permitted use" is that we have clinically appropriate and legally permissible services. I thank Mr. McGarr for highlighting the fact that the argument we have heard for "clinically appropriate" is that it would indicate that they should be services appropriate to a maternity hospital but that is, as Mr....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (12 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That is not defined. The Minister's golden share is inferior, as Mr. McGarr said, and does not have-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (12 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It strikes me that the removal of the term "clinically appropriate" would give immense clarity. I am not satisfied with the other aspects of the lease either but that would give significant clarity. I might ask Dr. Boylan about that phrase "clinically appropriate" as a phrase that is not defined and about how it is interpreted. Dr. Boylan had started on that point but he did not have a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (12 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Mr. McGarr might confirm that there are tests for both "clinically appropriate" and "legally permissible". For example, if a service that was legally permissible was being interpreted as not being clinically appropriate it may not be available, given that both tests need to be met.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (12 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I note that Professor Madden and Dr. Sarah McLoughlin, two of the women of the national maternity hospital, have specifically said in their statement that boards: "influence the culture, values, and ethics of the entity they govern, and this gives rise to legitimate concerns". That would clear things up somewhat and would remove an ambiguous phrase from interpretation in that way. I am...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (12 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Similarly, if a building is not replaced the landlord would have the right of forfeiture but am I correct in saying that while the landlord can invoke forfeiture, there is no mechanism for the State to do likewise? Perhaps in 70 years’ time, a different generation of women might have concerns, and I speak as somebody who has not campaigned for as long as many others here but who first...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (12 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It moves then to a market rent if the permitted use is not continued annually.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (12 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I know I am running out of time, but I might ask Dr. Boylan-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (12 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: -----to address two other points. Will he also address the question of the constitution of the national maternity Hospital DAC? As I understand it, this can be changed without any reference to a Minister or Oireachtas oversight, but simply by a change to the Charities Regulator. Will Dr. Boylan address that question and also the business case issue, as he highlighted earlier?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (12 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Okay. I asked also about changes to the constitution of the NMH DAC.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (12 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Exactly.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (12 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It would be good to just correct the record. Ms Murphy referred to the land being given to the State, but it is clearly not being given in the context mentioned. I wish to be clear about this point.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (12 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The rent is €850,000, which will be waived to €10 annually, as Ms Murphy has elaborated on.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (12 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I wish to be clear on this aspect. Ms Murphy mentioned the fact of the hospital clause. Again, actually, nobody has disputed that as the permitted use. I refer to a maternity, gynaecological and obstetrical municipal hospital. The particular issue highlighted was the phrase "clinically appropriate". I would appreciate our guests commenting on this aspect, in respect of their preference...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (12 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Are we therefore discussing four to five hospitals being built on this site over time?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (12 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: As I understand it, the National Maternity Hospital has the option to sell and move on from its leasehold, but that may not be an option in this-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (Resumed) (12 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will just ask if the legal question I have asked-----