Results 4,681-4,700 of 8,196 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am delighted to hear of that engagement and not surprised because I see many of the same principles reflected. The concern is not the impact of the minimum essential standards of living in respect of the ISI's calculations, but in the other direction - not on the Vincentian partnership but in respect of our social protection system. There is a conversation I am hoping to start and I am...

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That is absolutely fine.

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 11: In page 11, between lines 25 and 26, to insert the following: “Report to Oireachtas on secured debt 18.Within 12 months of the passing of this Act, the Minister shall prepare and lay before each House of the Oireachtas a report to include statistical analysis of: (a) the use of the Principal Act in respect of secured debt; (b) the extent to which it has...

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am happy with the Minister of State's reply but it is important that we have a sense of this. It is not personally identifying information. It is literally a question of how many people are using this legislation to deal with debt of over €1 million or €2 million. Do 40% of cases relate to small debt or do 70% of cases involve debt of more than €2 million? I doubt...

Seanad: Future of Gambling Regulation: Statements (23 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will start by addressing the question of the horse racing industry and, particularly, the greyhound racing industry.While we are not a party, the Civil Engagement Group has been active in challenging some of the practices related to the funding of that industry and the animal welfare issues in the industry. Some have been addressed by rehoming but there are substantial issues with...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: National Disability Inclusion Strategy: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the witnesses for the great presentations. Many issues were raised. I will put aside the congregated settings. I was very interested to hear what Ms Dempsey had to say around digital empowerment, the web accessibility directive and assistive technology. I would be very interested if Ms Dempsey had something in writing on that, as my time is limited. I want to talk about the big...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Impact of the Comprehensive Trade and Economic Agreement on Irish-Canadian Trade and Relations: Discussion (13 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: To do the preliminaries, I have also spoken at the Thomas D'Arcy McGee Summer School. I am very interested in our common and shared democratic values. However, the fact is that the values that Canada and Ireland, or indeed the EU, might share are not values that need to be shared by corporations. They have different sets of values. That is why in general, globally, we have seen a shift...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Impact of the Comprehensive Trade and Economic Agreement on Irish-Canadian Trade and Relations: Discussion (13 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: However, if there is a change in law and it impacts on the fair and equitable treatment of a company and its reasonable expectations under Article 8.10, it is entitled to seek compensation. I imagine that Mr. Collenette might have that view. He certainly seems to have it. I refer to the diplomatic work that we are doing together on things such as sustainable development goals and climate...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Impact of the Comprehensive Trade and Economic Agreement on Irish-Canadian Trade and Relations: Discussion (13 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I have a question on the consultation and mediation aspect. Does Mr. Collenette feel it is a tool that will be used when there is a threat of the ICS in respect of the chilling effect by, potentially, members of his association?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement: Discussion (Resumed) (6 Apr 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I have two questions. The first is for Dr. Ankersmit. There is a different treatment of regulation in Article 8.9.2 of CETA versus the treatment of removal of subsidy in Article 8.9.4. It is notable that Article 8.9.2 states that the "mere fact" of regulation is not a breach. That has been dealt with very well, whereas Article 8.9.4 states that the removal of a subsidy should not be seen...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Housing Policy and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (30 Mar 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Minister of State and Ms Feeney. While the 12% may be ahead of the 8% demand, a concern we have and we have seen in submissions to the committee is that a number of people who have a disability and are in need of independent housing are not, in fact, even on the housing list. What work can go into identifying those who may be housed per sebut are not housed in accordance with...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Housing Policy and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (30 Mar 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: This is not a slight on the Minister of State. He answered a number of my questions but there were a few others, specifically around Traveller accommodation, that might be followed up in writing.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Housing Policy and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (30 Mar 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Minister of State might follow up in writing.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Engagement on the Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement: Mr. David O'Sullivan (30 Mar 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Chairman for accommodating me and I thank the presenter. I have two sets of questions. The first is on this question of renegotiation. Mr. O'Sullivan mentioned that CETA was a test, and things do seem to have moved in a different direction since then. When we talk about an example, he referred to the EU-China deal and the EU-UK deal. All of those have maintained dispute...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Engagement on the Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement: Mr. David O'Sullivan (30 Mar 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I was not suggesting that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Engagement on the Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement: Mr. David O'Sullivan (30 Mar 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Whether Governments regard it as a chill, we know that it is regarded as a chill by legal companies because they talk about it assisting lobbying efforts to prevent regulatory change. So there is a chill effect. We know that the Morris case did not just have an impact on the Australian Government as it eventually won. The case was used as an example of expensive litigation in a number of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Engagement on the Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement: Mr. David O'Sullivan (30 Mar 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Renegotiation is surely difficult once we have agreed to ratification with 20 years of the existing law set in stone.

Seanad: Covid-19 Vaccination Programme: Statements (29 Mar 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Minister is welcome. It is important to emphasise that vaccination cannot be our only plan. I worry that so much now is focused on the end goal of vaccination that we do not have as much emphasis as we need on the many preventative and other measures we will need to use in the months ahead. With all due respect to the Minister, it was unhelpful for the Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar,...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Mar 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I have tabled a number of amendments to this section. I am happy to yield my amendments, which seek an extension to October, in favour of the amendments put forward by Senator Warfield, which seek an extension to December. There are three key points on this. One key concern I have in terms of timing is that this is the fourth Bill in this regard, again rushed through the House in an hour...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Mar 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 2: In page 4, line 5, to delete “12 July 2021” and substitute “13 October 2021”.