Results 3,401-3,420 of 8,483 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 102: In page 51, between lines 21 and 22, to insert the following: “(2A) A broadcaster shall not broadcast, and a relevant media service provider shall not make available in a catalogue of the relevant service, an advertisement which seeks to promote gambling or other speculative financial activities which pose a risk to a person, including the trading of...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: There are different issues here and I can sense some of them have stronger support than others. I will give the reason while I have both of them. I am very happy for them to be dealt with separately. I am not happy for it to solely rely on engaging with the future commission because I do think gambling is one of the key examples of that harmful content and harmful conduct piece that needs...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: While I am looking forward to the Minister's engagement with others on the intersections, I will still press the amendment.

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 103: In page 51, between lines 21 and 22, to insert the following: "(2A) A broadcaster shall not broadcast, and a relevant media service provider shall not make available in a catalogue of the relevant service, an advertisement which seeks to promote breast milk substitutes.". These amendments relate to a really important set of measures on the advertising of...

Seanad: Northern Ireland: Motion (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I want to add my support and that of the Civil Engagement Group to this motion. My colleague, Senator Black, who would have loved to be here is, of course, a member of the Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, which has also very clearly communicated its serious concerns. In this debate, a suite of extraordinarily aggressive steps in policy by the UK regarding the...

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: I thank those who have given testimony on this issue. I should mention I am a former member of the committee on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD. This is an issue that was also discussed there. There are a number of key decision points that are extraordinary to me, including the decision to appeal to the Supreme Court. There is a...

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: The interim scheme was an extraordinary decision. It was something that had already been found to be inadequate after the UNCRPD was ratified. Will the witnesses comment on this? It strikes me that the six criteria laid out had come from a very paternalistic and narrow interpretation of disability and the needs of persons with disabilities. The witnesses have spoken about this. While I...

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...