Results 3,481-3,500 of 8,482 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Apr 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 40: In page 22, between lines 9 and 10, to insert the following: “(3A) In performing their functions under subsection (3), the Public Appointments Service and the Minister shall have due regard to obligations under section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014 and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Apr 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 42: In page 23, between lines 3 and 4, to insert the following: “(ba) the Commissioner has breached section 37 of this Act,”. This relates to the declaration of interests. The amendment provides that one of the grounds on which a commissioner may be removed from office would be if he or she had breached section 37 of the Act. Section 37 relates to...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Apr 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is clear that the basic architecture is there, and I accept that the declaration of interests indicates that action may be taken, but there is a very different level of seriousness in respect of these measures in terms of removal. It is not enough to simply say there may be provision that appropriate action may be taken. Again, we must bear in mind that many of these actors will...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Apr 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 43: In page 23, line 38, after “Oireachtas” to insert “and the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media”. Where the Minister has decided to remove a commissioner from office, as well as laying before the Houses of the Oireachtas a statement on the decision and the reasons for it, and given that so many documents...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Apr 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I appreciate that the statement may be laid before the Houses. Perhaps what Senator Carrigy said that rather than the laying of a statement in front of the committee, simply a notification to the Chair of the committee that such a statement has been laid, might suffice. I will not press the amendment at this point. However, as the Minister said, there is quite a seriousness and a gravity...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Apr 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: This provision comes through so much legislation and it probably merits a general examination because it has come through as a concern repeatedly. We know the phenomenon where many people are leaving their roles in local authorities. We also know the wages for those on local authorities are not enough that people can continue in their role. People have to choose between progression in...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Apr 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 45: In page 24, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following: “(ha) is found to have breached section 37 of this Act,”.

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Apr 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The amendment builds on the concern that this regulator will be under significant scrutiny. It will have an incredibly important role in the State, Europe and internationally. These provisions are borrowed from other areas. There is a concern here. I am struck by the figure of €13,000 because I think it has been regarded as a tiny figure. However, it is a significant figure for...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Apr 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Senator Byrne makes a fair point in relation to the gifts. It is quite a low amount and it is often very hard to determine the value of something that one is given and it might create an unnecessary concern as to whether an ornamental paperclip is worth-----

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Apr 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Exactly, and I take that on board. It is a fair point. The issue on shares is important, though, especially in some of the more fast-moving providers. How many times have these companies split? How many times have the value of shares changed, with companies splitting four, five or six times? That question of what gets boosted in its potential, or the early actor, is a concern. We should...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Apr 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: This came up in the climate Bill and the change was made in respect of that Bill. There is capacity to take on board persons who are not part of the commission for consultation. It is important that those persons on a sub-committee who may not go through the rigorous process commissioners go through also make a declaration of interest. This is so someone with strong interests in a...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (26 Apr 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: First, on the general points, the Minister will see there are really strong feelings across this House with regard to this Bill. It is a little bit unfortunate that it is coming slightly prematurely when we had the digital services directive pretty much agreed yesterday. We know there are major areas of policy on which the expert group has not come back and, of course, it is a concern that...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (26 Apr 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I have two really quick points. The Minister mentioned the online safety commissioner but, of course, there is not an online safety commissioner in the Bill as it stands. Again, that is the headline. That is what everybody goes out with. That is why we are being told we need to pass it. However, it is not there. I just need to be very clear. There should be, and will have to be, an...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (26 Apr 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I have a one-liner comment because, in fact, we did not actually speak to it yet, but we will come to it in a minute. In terms of the differences in advertising, one of the concerns is some of the things that are pushed out are included in this, even when looking at what has and has not been covered. The religious issue is included in this section, the way we discussed it in terms of...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (26 Apr 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 3: In page 9, to delete line 2 and substitute “ ‘commercial communication’ shall be interpreted as including advertisement;”. This is a concerning factor and leaving aside what areas we believe should be regulated the question is advertisement itself being regulated. Section 2 is clearly about advertisements yet the other sections we will...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (26 Apr 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Minister. I ask that we might have an opportunity to engage between Committee Stage and Report Stage because I want to know what is going to come in that regard. Let us have a conversation rather than just picking it up on Report Stage. I believe we could probably have some useful conversation in between. In that context I will not press amendment No. 3 at this point. I will...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (26 Apr 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: This is a key concern. While it is not the Minister's concern, I will certainly be raising it with the Committee on Parliamentary Privileges and Oversight and others. It is pretty wild that amendments calling for definitions were ruled as a cost to the State. It is the case that the insertion of three definitions, including in one case a definition of something that is already referred to...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (26 Apr 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: With that consequence again. That is a very slippery slope in that context.

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (26 Apr 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It has been the practice that the functions can be addressed. There is no additional resource requirement or suggestion in our pieces. We will come back to this discussion but this is a really dangerous direction.

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (26 Apr 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That needs to be reviewed.