Results 3,841-3,860 of 8,196 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: For clarification, perhaps it was not clear for Senator Ward. I am happy to try to tighten the language if that helps him. Under this amendment, the Minister would be able to delegate operational control but simply not for a period longer than eight months without coming back to the Oireachtas. It was, therefore, specifically trying to address that issue of the emergency action of June or...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Yes, I know there are time restraints.

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That is not what is opposed.

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will certainly be happy to bring one but perhaps the Minister would like to bring forward an amendment that clarifies matters with regard to UN missions. I do not believe that is the concern and the Minister will see from my many other amendments that UN missions are not the main concern. I accept that we seek to influence them and we have sought to influence UNIFIL. I believe that...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The concern we have is not what we have currently but what we might have. There is a new element in this, which is that the Minister can delegate to any force. It goes back to that phrase "any force", and it is not any force as constrained even by the definition of international organisation in the Defence (Amendment) Act 2006, although I personally think that is quite wide. It is any...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We had a bilateral arrangement with Italy. It was an Irish command and it was not delegating command to the Italian coast guard but working in collaboration with it.

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I know that, but that mission was under our direct command, whereas we delegated operational control under Operation Sophia. The nature of the mission changed and that is where circumstances changed. It is good that when it was decided under Operation Sophia to stop doing search and rescue completely, we withdrew ships. However, this amendment would mean that if we had a situation such as...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 3: In page 12, between lines 22 and 23, to insert the following: "Amendment of section 1 of Act of 2006 17. Section 1 of the Act of 2006 is amended by the deletion of ", or has participated,".". The Minister has usefully read the definition of "international organisation" into the record, which saves me having to do so. I would note that in the Bill in front of...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Amendment No. 4 also relates to section 3(1)(a) of the 2006 Act which lists the different kinds of purposes for which people may be seconded. Section 3(1)(f) refers to humanitarian tasks and I have no problem with that. Many of the others are also very appropriate although "reconnaissance or fact-finding" could be problematic, depending on what we are doing them for and for whom we are...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I appreciate the secondment of individuals and I am very aware that there are some individuals from the Irish armed forces who play very important roles internationally and in some cases have gone on to take on significant UN roles. John Ging is one such individual who has contributed very much in the international sphere. The concern, however, relates to contingents. The Minister referred...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: But nonetheless, we need to be very clear on where and how we engage. Of course the UN has to engage with NATO, because NATO involves many of the military actors in the world. If Ireland is going to be a champion of peace-building and peacekeeping involving NATO, which is ultimately an alliance of interests and like-minded countries in a particular military pact, we must be clear on the...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Nothing in my proposed amendment about the removal of "or has participated" would have precluded the example the Minister gave of Afghanistan. There is a big difference between working with NATO under a UN mandate, which again, would still be allowed under my proposed change. That would be then a regional force that was operating or participating under a UN mandated mission. That would be...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: No, it was in the context that we have worked with NATO under a UN mandate. That does not simply mean that it is always fine to work with NATO.

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: This is my concern. My concern is with the way this is worded and framed at the moment. It suggests that any organisation that has worked under a UN mandate could become an organisation to which we could second staff, or to which we could second a contingent of the Irish Defence Forces. Moreover, with this new legislation, it could be an organisation to which we could delegate command. In...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That is what I am suggesting.

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It makes sense because we are militarily non-aligned. We should not be working with a military bloc, a military contigent, and a regional grouping that is aligned, that acts on the basis of interests, and that acts on a completely different mandate to us, except in situations where we share a common mandate in a United Nations activity. That is appropriate-----

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Yes, I am talking about seconding people in that context. I have taken on board the Minister's point about the difference between seconding individuals and seconding contingents. However, the legislation as it stands allows for the seconding of a contingent - a whole group of Irish military forces - to an international organisation. These international organisations could, as has been...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Can the Minister respond so we can put the question?

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That is not the effect I meant, because it said "any European agency". I did change that.

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 4: In page 12, between lines 22 and 23, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 3 of Act of 2006 17. Section 3 of the Act of 2006 is amended— (a) in subsection (1)(a) by the substitution of “an” for “any”, and (b) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (2): “(3) In exercising its...