Results 3,121-3,140 of 8,196 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Disabled Drivers and Passengers Scheme: Former Members of the Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Turning to risk, part of the responsibility of board members in respect of due diligence, etc., is risk assessment. Regarding the risk potentially created for board members, there is a risk associated with any public body or scheme in respect of the public duties concerning equality and human rights. Equally, the UNCRPD is law. The optional protocol will mean that individuals will be able...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Thank you, very much, Chairman. I apologise for the bells in the background. I am substituting for Senator Black, who would like to be here herself if she could. We have heard from the Minister that the legal advice is that the expected life of a hospital is 50 years to 60 years. There is an embodied emissions concern about such a short lifecycle for a building, but we also heard that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: In terms of what constitutes a breach, I understand that permitted use is one of the grounds under which the landlord may seek a return to the market rent or a forfeiture in relation to the lease.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: As I understand it, much of that conversation related to the financial liability that was being imposed on the State, and it seems that even greater financial liability is now being imposed. I certainly do think that conversation envisaged a market rent of up to €1 million a year to which the State might be liable. In that context, is the plan to build five or six hospitals in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Our guests have not answered my questions about what will happen if the State were to wish to exit. Will it be torn between building multiple maternity hospitals in succession and moving to the market rent? Is that the position the State might face in 70 years, for example?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is very concrete. We need to talk about the 299-year lease.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: This is one example of the potential future issue we are setting up ourselves to have to navigate. On the phrase "clinically appropriate", there are concerns that have not been addressed. Is it to be interpreted case by case by individual doctors? Is "clinically appropriate" subject to clinical direction, and if so, what are the links between the clinical direction at the hospital and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I asked about clinical direction, which will be determined on a case-by-case basis. As Professor Higgins said, very unacceptable practices have happened in the past and many of them did so on a clinical interpretation, because there is a balancing of what might be most important. The question of elective procedures, for example, which may not be clinically necessary but which people may...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: To be clear, we are speaking about the new hospital.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am asking about the new hospital.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: With respect, my question about the links between the St. Vincent's Healthcare Group clinical direction and that from the new body has not been answered. There was also the question relating to interpretation and elective procedures. We have heard that they will be provided if they are clinically necessary, but there is a significant history of issues with that. My final questions relate...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Briefly, on the constitution of St. Vincent's Healthcare Group, "human dignity" was mentioned and we have been told that is just a general lovely phrase. I am curious. It is not a reference to human rights but a reference to dignity. There is an encyclical from 1965 on human dignity. We know the Human Dignity Alliance party was founded in Ireland after 2018 specifically with the goal of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: But effectively they are the only ones whose interpretation matters. I, of course, believe in dignity very passionately but I note that the people for whom the interpretation is relevant are those in the St. Vincent's Healthcare Group. We have not really got clarity on its interpretation. Dignity means different important things to different people. This is not the case with human rights,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: A written note on the clinical direction, having regard to the decision-making mechanism on a case-by-case basis, or general guidelines would be useful.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I would appreciate at least a brief reply on the St. Mary's issue. On the issue of human dignity, I actually wrote to the Minister and did not get a reply. I would like that followed up. I will take a written note on clinical direction because I have not really had an answer on it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: There are multiple things wrong with it. I am sure all of us have plenty of answers to that.

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Second Stage (10 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Others have spoken of how some feel the apology was too soon as it came without sufficient notice. There is also a strong case that it has also come very late from the State. I do not think that this will be the only apology. We are in a period when there cannot only be indications from the Government, the State and its institutions of a message of apology and regret but also a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: New Retrofitting Plan and the Built Environment: Discussion (Resumed) (10 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am in Leinster House. The discussion is very interesting. I was struck by a few matters, one of which relates to the information on the case studies. I am conscious Dr. Daly and Dr. Engel Purcell also mentioned information. In terms of public leadership regarding public buildings, there is perhaps not as much as I would like, but there are conversations about social housing retrofit -...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: New Retrofitting Plan and the Built Environment: Discussion (Resumed) (10 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I wish to mention light. We mentioned how buildings get used. Sometimes a change of light or design can affect energy usage as much as the theoretical energy rating of it as an asset.