Results 21-40 of 44 for mother and baby speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

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Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 1: In page 8, line 15, after “State” to insert “and placed for adoption outside the State”. In the context of amendments Nos. 1 and 2, the concern is that, as currently constructed in the Bill, the definition of "adopted person" under the section seems to only include persons whose adoptions were facilitated by the Adoption Board, a...

Seanad: International Women's Day 2022: Statements (9 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Just to follow a brilliant speech from Senator Hoey, I always say it is not about getting to the table, it is about shaping the agenda and changing what is being discussed at the table. However, I think Senator Hoey’s smash-up-the-table-altogether-and-repurpose-it is taking it perhaps the necessary step forward. I think the Minister is hearing that it is about power when we talk...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Jul 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ..., I believe the Minister of State has made the case for these changes to be necessary. We are talking about Ministers retiring as if we are chasing. I am reminded of when people are talking about mother and baby homes. They say the nuns are all gone and ask who we are chasing after. The point is not whether Ministers have come and gone and have retired or were in government. Many of...

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (Non-Disclosure Agreements) Bill 2021: Second Stage (14 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am very proud to second this Bill introduced by my colleague, Senator Ruane. I commend her and her assistant, Sebastian McAteer, on the work they have done in introducing an important piece of legislation, one that is needed internationally. It has been really remarkable to note the level of distress caused by them and the concern around the abuse of NDAs internationally that has arisen...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: National Maternity Hospital (8 Mar 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...'s Day. Later today, the Seanad will honour nurse Elizabeth O'Farrell who served much of her life in the national maternity hospital. It is perhaps fitting that I now ask the Minister of State and the Minister for Health to review plans for the national maternity hospital, take steps to ensure the hospital has full public ownership and accountability, and ensure the land it is built on...

Seanad: Children (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (15 Feb 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome the Minister and I commend Senator McDowell and the Independent Group on bringing this Bill forward. It is good to see the Government supporting constructive legislation from the Opposition benches. One of the ways we can most effectively make good legislation is when we take good ideas, regardless of where they come from. As other Members said, the legislation follows the Court...

Seanad: Report of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation: Statements (Resumed) (26 Jan 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: As we all know, the State and the church are responsible, and must be accountable, for the mother and baby homes and county homes spoken about in this report and beyond it. I join in the rejection of any attempts to minimise that. It is simply not credible or acceptable for the commission to claim there is no evidence that women were forced to enter mother and baby homes due to the church...

Seanad: Commission of Investigation (Mother and Baby Homes and certain related Matters) Records, and another Matter, Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 1: In page 3, between lines 20 and 21, to insert the following:“ “Authority” means the Adoption Authority of Ireland;”. I am speaking to amendments Nos. 1 to 6, inclusive, and several others. My contribution will be lengthier than I would like because this is such a large grouping. Amendment No. 1 is simply around ensuring the Bill would...

Seanad: Commission of Investigation (Mother and Baby Homes and certain related Matters) Records, and another Matter, Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...are some of the most important amendments of the day. Amendment No. 12 explicitly refers to "providing information about a deceased person to a brother, sister, son, daughter, nephew, niece, grandson, granddaughter, grandnephew or grandniece of the deceased person". One of the greatest sources of distress for families concerns the information about their siblings. For those who have...

Seanad: Commission of Investigation (Mother and Baby Homes and certain related Matters) Records, and another Matter, Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 19: In page 5, between lines 4 and 5, to insert the following: “(2) The provisions set out in this section shall apply as if the specified Minister were a reference to the Minister and the Agency and the Authority.” I regret that last amendment. It was unfortunate that the Minister did not agree to it. Amendments Nos. 19 and 20 are related and both...

Seanad: Commission of Investigation (Mother and Baby Homes and certain related Matters) Records, and another Matter, Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I support the amendment and the idea of a legislative review as it would be appropriate. From the first part of our discussions today the Minister will have heard the concerns and context for the creation of the 2004 Act. It came from a situation where there were legitimate concerns about the former mechanisms. Equally true is the fact that the world has moved on substantially since 2004....

Seanad: Commission of Investigation (Mother and Baby Homes and certain related Matters) Records, and another Matter, Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 30: In page 5, between lines 35 and 36, to insert the following: “8. The Minister, within 8 months of the passing of this Act, shall publish legislation on the right to information in respect of Mother and Baby Homes, including measures to support access to information on birth, early life, health or family death.”. I want to speak to the wider theme...

Seanad: Commission of Investigation (Mother and Baby Homes and certain related Matters) Records, and another Matter, Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...amendment No. 30, a Leas-Chathaoirligh. Amendment No. 30 asks that the Minister, within eight months of the passing of this Act, would publish legislation on the right to information in respect of mother and baby homes, including measures to support access to information on birth, early life, health or family death. Others have spoken very eloquently on this issue of family death....

Seanad: Commission of Investigation (Mother and Baby Homes and certain related Matters) Records, and another Matter, Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I understand that. I agree that it is a wider issue. I also understand that the timeframe may need to be wider again. My amendment No. 34, for example, which set a 12-month timeline and dealt with the wider area of information and tracing, might have been something that was more achievable. Although I cannot put that amendment to the Minister because it is not eligible within the rules of...

Seanad: Commission of Investigation (Mother and Baby Homes and certain related Matters) Records, and another Matter, Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Minister knows my views and all Members have articulated theirs. The Minister has engaged on a number of issues and I urge him to continue to engage in a similar constructive manner with both Deputies and Senators, because when the Minister amends the Bill in the Dáil he will return with it to the Seanad. It would be useful to continue that dialogue to ensure that when he returns,...

Seanad: CervicalCheck Tribunal Bill 2019: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Jul 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 5:In page 13, line 31, to delete “and the Tribunal agrees that it would be appropriate to do so,”. The Minister and others have spoken very eloquently in this House and elsewhere about the contribution made by many of the women affected by the CervicalCheck scandal. It has had very deep and personal effects on their lives, in some cases causing the loss of...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (4 Apr 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: All sides of this House have pride in the role the Irish Naval Service has played in the past in search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean. Since 2015, the Naval Service has been involved in rescuing over 18,000 people from the Mediterranean. Some 16,800 of them were rescued when Ireland had a bilateral arrangement directly focused on search and rescue. In 2017, the Minister of...

Seanad: Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Statements (6 Feb 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Minister for coming to the House.While the extension of the investigation can, in some senses, be understood, the Minister will appreciate that it has caused deep disappointment and upset for many. Survivors have been waiting, planning and living their lives in the expectation that a resolution would be arrived at this spring. They were very shocked and disappointed coming into...

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: Céim an Choiste agus na Céimeanna a bheidh Fágtha - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Mar 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...prohibited to do so. Senator Michael McDowell eloquently cited the possibility that the Director of Public Prosecutions could show mercy. Leaving aside that women need rights, rather than charity, and that the mother and baby homes were considered mercy in their time, this is not at the discretion of the policing service in many cases. If we think about the difficult cases, including...

Seanad: Second Interim Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and Certain Related Matters: Statements (17 May 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...one of her previous appearances in the Seanad, we discussed the issue of a former home in Tuam. I welcome her acknowledgement that the information that emerged in the Tuam case was not a surprise and the issues were known. It is, therefore, somewhat disappointing that the Government, including the Minister in her statement, is rowing back in respect of this issue. I refer specifically...