Results 4,921-4,940 of 8,445 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 5: In page 3, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 26 of Principal Act 2.Section 26 of the Principal Act is amended— (a) in subsection (2)(c), by the substitution of “€1,500” for “€400”, and (b) in subsection (5)(b)(ii), by the insertion of the following after “child...

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 6: In page 3, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 26 of Principal Act 2.Section 26 of the Principal Act is amended— (a) in subsection (2)(c), by the substitution of “€1,500” for “€400”, and (b) in subsection (5)(b)(ii), by the insertion of “, and the working family...

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: When we talk about creditors it is important to remember that not all creditors are necessarily big banking institutions. Creditors are sometimes businesses, service providers, subcontractors and workers who have been impacted.It is important. I support the concept of a "confirmation of truth", which is being introduced in section 11 of this Bill. It is reasonable that instead of a...

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 8: In page 10, between lines 7 and 8, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 99 of Principal Act 14.Section 99 of the Principal Act is amended— (a) in subsection (2)(b), by the insertion of “in respect of secured debts less than €2,000,000” after “Personal Insolvency Arrangement”, and (b) in subsection 2,...

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: On one level, I agree with the Minister of State that the real concern is bankruptcy. I will be frank in saying that I believe our bankruptcy legislation is too lax for those with very large-scale debts, although not for the majority. I find it difficult to understand situations where people who declare bankruptcy are, a few years later, engaged in multimillion euro property deals and...

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 9: In page 11, between lines 7 and 8, to insert the following: "(e) may only be made in respect of debt not exceeding €1,000,000.". The Bill provides for a confirmation-of-truth mechanism. The confirmation of truth is a little more than a declaration you simply write yourself. At least, it has some consequence if you do not write it. The...

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: Briefly, to be clear, this is not to say that persons with a certain level of debt are dishonest. That would be a wrongful inference for the Minister of State to make. It is to say that where there is a debt of over €1 million it is a significant debt. There are those who are owed up to €1 million so, given the significance of the amount involved, it is appropriate that there...

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: Yes.

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 10: In page 11, between lines 25 and 26, to insert the following: “Report to Oireachtas 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 a comparison of the methodology, calculation and application of— (a) the guidelines on Reasonable Living Expenses as developed...

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...