Results 341-360 of 8,553 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Dissolution of National Asset Management Agency: Discussion (21 May 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will pick up on a couple points related to time and value for money, and how they intersect. When we examined this issue in the previous finance committee, there was much discussion. One of the key issues was we were waiting for the publication of the report of the commission of investigation. One area that surprised me when Mr. Des Carville was speaking to us was that there seemed to be...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Dissolution of National Asset Management Agency: Discussion (21 May 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Mr. McDonagh mentioned the target was 25% by 2013. Is that correct?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Dissolution of National Asset Management Agency: Discussion (21 May 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That is relevant in the context of policy decisions from the ECB. We can look to sales in some other areas, such as in Greece and so forth where ports were sold in a way that may be considered ill-advised now. That is relevant when we look to Ukraine, for example, which is getting substantial loans, now that it is not placed into an ill-advised position with regard to the long-term...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Dissolution of National Asset Management Agency: Discussion (21 May 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will come back to that. I have a couple more questions and I am conscious of time. My core question does not solely relate to the outcomes that may be on the records, but rather about the materials. What will be transferred and where will those records be stored? Before Mr. McDonagh replies, I wish to add in another issue which comes back to that question of protecting or enhancing...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Dissolution of National Asset Management Agency: Discussion (21 May 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am going to come to develop that point. We know leasing is poor value for money for the State. Given that a key responsibility of NAMA is to work in the interests of the State - not to work solely in the interests of NAMA but rather for those interests of the State - does Mr. McDonagh think it may have been a poor decision to allow a situation in which the State continues to lease...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Dissolution of National Asset Management Agency: Discussion (21 May 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The capacity of local authorities is diminished if they are paying for leasing.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Dissolution of National Asset Management Agency: Discussion (21 May 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: If they had been sold to the local authorities-----

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Dissolution of National Asset Management Agency: Discussion (21 May 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: How many of those leases have been renewed in the past five years?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Dissolution of National Asset Management Agency: Discussion (21 May 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: All of these leases are for 20 years. There have been no renewals.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Dissolution of National Asset Management Agency: Discussion (21 May 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The value will be substantially more than it cost to purchase them, however.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Dissolution of National Asset Management Agency: Discussion (21 May 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: If a local authority purchases now, it gets a 10% discount but it still has paid for 15 years of leasing.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Dissolution of National Asset Management Agency: Discussion (21 May 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is just that more money is moving around single properties when we want to see all engines and measures. I am coming to the end of my time. One concern I had when the LDA was being set up was that we were still waiting for commissions of investigations into NAMA. Where will accountability lie with regard to future records when they are transferred? As Mr. McDonagh said, he is...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Dissolution of National Asset Management Agency: Discussion (21 May 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I suggest it is not solely around individuals but also looking to what the mandates and priorities are within the bodies.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Dissolution of National Asset Management Agency: Discussion (21 May 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Infrastructure associated with the delivery of housing is an area Mr. McDonagh mentioned in regard to schooling and so forth. It that one-----

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Dissolution of National Asset Management Agency: Discussion (21 May 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank Mr. McDonagh.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (1 May 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We will have statements on Europe Day later and I am looking forward to making a contribution. However, I have checked and Europe Day is usually celebrated on 9 May by the European Parliament and on 5 May by the European Council. While I am of course delighted we are going to have the opportunity to speak about Europe Day, I am a little puzzled as to why we are not doing so next week...

Seanad: Europe Day 2025: Statements (1 May 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I also welcome his commitment to engaging with the Seanad committee on the scrutiny of statutory instruments. It is an important part of how we play our role in ensuring we not only look at the EU laws and directives coming through but also contribute to ensure we have the best laws and decisions coming out of Europe. It is an important part of...

Seanad: Europe Day 2025: Statements (1 May 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Fearing for your lives is exactly when you need to have standards in wars. It is why we have the Geneva Conventions.