Results 4,281-4,300 of 8,212 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Banking Matters: AIB (30 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Apologies if I have misrepresented anything----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Banking Matters: AIB (30 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That is fine. I will ask a general question. I apologise, as I certainly did not mean to cast aspersions on anybody. I would like to specifically comment on the wider question of the senior executive accountability regime, SEAR. This comes up a lot in this committee. This relates to general financial best practices. There is a political commitment to introduce a senior executive...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Banking Matters: AIB (30 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: In terms of the preparations that are under way internally-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Banking Matters: AIB (30 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Are others indicating?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Banking Matters: AIB (30 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Considering the senior manager regime in the UK, what preparations might be under way here? We as a committee are keen to see this regime introduced. We have discussed it before. Are there preparations on that? Could Dr. Hunt comment on an issue that arose not in relation to AIB but in a wider discussion? This arose, for example, in the tracker mortgage scandal and others, in terms of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Banking Matters: AIB (30 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Has the “good conduct” been in connection with the union? Has there been strong union engagement around the development of that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Banking Matters: AIB (30 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I think we are finishing up. We spoke about walking down the different main streets and the many actors. There is significant concern regarding Ulster Bank and Bank of Ireland branch closures. I know the witnesses mentioned that they see it as key. I am a bit concerned by the references to customer preference because I think during Covid, it might not be a fully accurate measure because...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Banking Matters: AIB (30 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Could the witnesses respond to that point?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Reduction of Carbon Emissions of 51% by 2030: Discussion (Resumed). (29 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the witnesses for the report, which is most interesting. I am very struck by Ms Finegan's point that you cannot derive the savings while you are also in an expansion phase. There is an element of that in terms of agriculture but also, perhaps, in energy production. We have talked about the share of energy that is renewable. A concern is arising, however, in respect of data...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Reduction of Carbon Emissions of 51% by 2030: Discussion (Resumed). (29 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: May I make a final point?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Reduction of Carbon Emissions of 51% by 2030: Discussion (Resumed). (29 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I would also welcome a comment on embodied energy in buildings.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Reduction of Carbon Emissions of 51% by 2030: Discussion (Resumed). (29 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ETS reform will be part of that. If, at a future point, there is information on the ETS reform, it would be great to have it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Reduction of Carbon Emissions of 51% by 2030: Discussion (Resumed). (29 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I note that the emissions-----

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I would like a lot more clarification from the Minister of State in respect of these amendments. I have a number of amendments, to which I will come later, around strengthening the provisions that are currently in section 11D. Given that so many of the amendments refer to section 11D, I am quite concerned about whether this implies that the consideration of the factors within section 11D is...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: To clarify, this section of the Bill, which provides for the proposed new section 9A, refers to "Modification to operation of section 9". I see that the proposed new section 11D refers back to section 9. Section 9A refers to section 11D. Section 11D(2) provides that "Before making a decision under subsection (9), the planning authority shall be satisfied that ... the effect of the proposed...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I would reserve the right to challenge it on Report Stage but we will not have the opportunity, unfortunately. I would want to have had clarity on exactly how these provisions will unfold. Perhaps we will get to hear that at a later stage.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I strongly agree with the importance of local authorities and their members and the fact that they should have more power and more reserved functions. I also very much agree that they should be supported to get independent legal and planning advice. In that sense, I am very happy to support amendment No. 6, which clarifies that it is the members of the local authority making a key decision....

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is a delay, and the delay may well be justified in order to produce a good plan.However, it is a delay. To be clear, there is a difference in the date on which a new plan will start. It is an extension at a point at which we face multiple crises. We face the Covid-19 crisis, but we also face other crises, such as climate, for example. In that context, this has been brought through as...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Some parts of this have been made somewhat redundant, by the previous amendments that were passed. The concern is that this three-quarter threshold, which is an appropriately high threshold for these decisions, might not be applied to all of the extensions that might be made consequentially in this Act. Now that the threshold has been lowered, the bar has dipped backwards. This was a...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: One part of the amendment has been partially addressed by amendment No. 6, which I supported. It clarifies that it is the members of a planning authority. That was one part. The concern about the two points of initiation is to be clear where the decision would sit. There is still a concern. The Minister of State mentioned some parts, like section 11D(10), not being a concern. However,...