Results 4,481-4,500 of 8,212 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 48: In page 14, between lines 16 and 17, to insert the following: “(5) For the avoidance of doubt, no affordable dwelling contributions shall be required from a local authority in respect of an affordable dwelling made available for sale under a Part V agreement as specified in section 5(b)or section 7(2).”.

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am happy to yield to Senator Warfield if he wants to reply to that point.

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will be brief. Of course there need to be building regulations and things need to be done properly but the concern is that certain structural changes are discretionary and do not require planning permission. Small changes can be made. There is a certain square footage of glass one can add to one's kitchen or whatever. There are things that do not require planning permission. I am all...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: This amendment is grouped with No. 59, so all of the amendments get spoken to before the Minister of State speaks to all of them together.

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: They are grouped.

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am glad that the Minister of State accepted amendment No. 58. I refrained from engaging on that amendment, which touched on one part of cost rental. In his answer, the Minister of State spoke to the other concern about cost rental. It is a fundamental concern, unfortunately, about how this Bill approaches cost rental in terms of the role of what are referred to as non-Exchequer backed...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thought it was grouped.

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 61: In page 32, line 12, after “dwelling” to insert the following: “, which in any case where a loan is or has been granted by the housing agency shall be not less than 90 years,”.

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will not speak for very long because I thought this amendment was grouped with a previous one so I spoke to it then. The core issue is still my concern about the motivation of the State, local authorities and approved housing bodies in engaging in cost rental as a vehicle for the provision of housing in the long term. It is a totally legitimate motivation, but it is based on returns for...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 63: In page 32, line 19, before “management” to insert “necessary and appropriate”. I am discussing two things here and we can come back to them on Report Stage. The management should be necessary and appropriate management. One of the problems with social housing and the Part V social housing that has been offered in the kinds of mega...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I withdraw in the hope that some version of these may come from the Government on Report Stage.

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 64: In page 32, line 21, after “maintenance” to insert “or adaptation”. I withdraw this on the same basis as the preceding amendment.

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 65: In page 32, line 28, after “a” to insert “binding”. It is to insert "binding" and is about strengthening the agreements that might be there. I will withdraw this one and hopefully have a discussion on it within the same suite of discussions. This is around the detail of how the costs and the agreements might operate over a lifetime.

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I withdraw it and reserve the right to bring it back on Report Stage.

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: This is kind of fundamental. We talked about not having a commercial director involved, and certainly not the commercial director of a real estate investment trust. That is why they want a model wherein, after a period of 40 years, they get an asset in addition to the cash-out and the money along the way. The key thing is that a local authority can have that flexibility. What I like about...

Seanad: Right to Housing: Motion (4 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome the motion and the fact that a Bill to address this issue was introduced in the Dáil. This is a sign of the momentum and demand that is there in respect of housing. However, I will not deal with the initial parts of the motion. There are counter-motions on the different parts of housing policy, but I will focus primarily on the constitutional referendum. We know the UN...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Accessibility in Planning and Delivery of Transport Projects: Discussion (3 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the witnesses for their presentations and the supplementary documents, which have been useful in detailing different aspects of the programme. My questions will build on what has already been asked. If we look at what is already there, what is coming next and the new plans, is universal design part of what the NTA and TII are planning? I know it was referred to as being a part of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Accessibility in Planning and Delivery of Transport Projects: Discussion (3 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I know that. It is part of the Local Link service.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Accessibility in Planning and Delivery of Transport Projects: Discussion (3 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: My final point was about the staffing of stations. It would make an immediate difference if we had staff in stations on a busy DART line, rather than phoning to arrange the attendance of staff.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Jun 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Chair for allowing me to join the meeting. When we speak of the years that have gone past in developing this, we know that our responsibility is to the years of the future. It was the European Commission's decision to try to incorporate these elements on a combined basis, which was then challenged and overturned in the ECJ in 2017. The combination of investor court systems and...