Results 3,481-3,500 of 8,196 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021: Committee Stage (14 Dec 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Coastwatch Ireland would not be excluded by the text of the amendment. That text simply says "shall include". It does not say it shall not include any others.

Seanad: Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021: Committee Stage (14 Dec 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 6: In page 20, line 3, after “record” to insert the following: “, but a record shall not be confused with information held, particularly for the purposes of Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2003 on public access to environmental information and repealing Council Directive 90/313/EEC or the...

Seanad: Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021: Committee Stage (14 Dec 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Minister of State will be aware there is consideration regarding the issues of rights of way and the foreshore. That area will be considered by another Department next year. I want to signal the issue of the nearshore and how it relates to access to the foreshore, which is a key consideration under the review of conveyancing legislation under the question of prescriptive and other...

Seanad: Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021: Committee Stage (14 Dec 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 9: In page 24, between lines 24 and 25, to insert the following: “(j) any interim measures to protect areas of the marine environment as agreed by Government.”.

Seanad: Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021: Committee Stage (14 Dec 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Minister said these are high-level principles. Surely if high-level principles are revoked or modified, it merits the same kind of process and scrutiny given that Ministers change. We do not want to have lots of debate and discussion around what those high-level principles should be in terms of marine policy planning, be it the precautionary principle, and then for that policy statement...

Seanad: Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021: Committee Stage (14 Dec 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: What about the Oireachtas?

Seanad: Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021: Committee Stage (14 Dec 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: As I understand it, the approval of the Oireachtas is required regarding a marine planning policy statement so, again, there is a difference between being able to give a submission as a member of the public and having that agreement between the Parliament and the Executive. Could the Minister of State provide some clarification? I believe it is the case that the approval of the Oireachtas...

Seanad: Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021: Committee Stage (14 Dec 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 13: In page 25, line 9, to delete “four weeks” and substitute “sixteen weeks”.

Seanad: Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021: Committee Stage (14 Dec 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 18: In page 25, between lines 37 and 38, to insert the following: “(9) Subsections (5), (6), (7) and (8)shall, with all necessary modifications, apply to an amendment made to or a revocation of a Ministerial Guidelines issued under this section as those subsections apply to Ministerial Guidelines issued under this section.”.

Seanad: Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021: Committee Stage (14 Dec 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 19: In page 26, between lines 3 and 4, to insert the following: “(3) The Minister shall ensure any new policy directives, or revocation or amendment of policy directives made under this section, shall first be subject to a screening determination for both Strategic Environmental Assessment and Appropriate Assessment, and such assessments shall be...

Seanad: Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021: Committee Stage (14 Dec 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will withdraw it but may follow up with the Minister of State directly on the matter.

Seanad: Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021: Committee Stage (14 Dec 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 21: In page 27, to delete lines 27 to 36. I am open to clarification on this. I had a concern that, where approvals were granted for applications before new subsections were in place, some such approvals may have been granted under previous regimes which did not have many of the considerations we are putting into place in this regime. I understand there is a desire to...

Seanad: Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021: Committee Stage (14 Dec 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will not press the amendment but suggest it is important there might need to be a review of some of them. I appreciate we do not want approvals falling off a cliff but we also might need to ensure, as part of that engagement with local authorities we have discussed at other points, that there is a review. Something that might have responded to a need identified by a local authority now...

Seanad: Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021: Committee Stage (14 Dec 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 22: In page 29, between lines 8 and 9, to insert the following: “(b) to contribute to the preservation, protection and improvement of the environment, including resilience to climate change impacts,”. There is a real omission here. I do not really understand why these factors are not reflected in the objectives of marine spatial plans. I propose...

Seanad: Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021: Committee Stage (14 Dec 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Again, I would note the subtle difference between maritime activities and maritime usages. The Minister of State read from the directive itself and maritime activity is a bit different from maritime usages. I appreciate his engagement on this and his good faith on the matter but I will press this amendment because it is important to put down a marker. Again, I thank the Minister of State...

Seanad: Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021: Committee Stage (14 Dec 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 25: In page 29, line 34, after “Articles” to insert “7, 8, 9,” Again, I was just trying things down with regard to Articles 7, 8 and 9 of the Maritime Spatial Planning Directive but we have had a good engagement on that matter and in that context, I will withdraw amendment No. 25.

Seanad: Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021: Committee Stage (14 Dec 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: This is the question of the review which we discussed earlier. Six years is too far away for a review. The Minister of State indicated, and maybe he will confirm, that his intention is to have a review within two years. This amendment is saying that, ideally, it should be sooner than two years and it should be as soon as possible. This is the precautionary principle and the idea that...

Seanad: Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021: Committee Stage (14 Dec 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am not going to move amendments Nos. 27 or 28.