Results 5,541-5,560 of 8,196 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: One third of those who participated in the survey were not happy.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Chair.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: In terms of misinformation, the advertisement for the childcare scheme said that a MyGovID was required and this was not helpful. The Minister has just stated that people need PPS numbers, obtained through the Minister's Department, in order to access the scheme. A PPS number can only be issued by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, but it is very clear in the Data...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is a finding with which the Minister does not agree. I would question that the 3.2 million people who have the cards are all delighted and happy about it. While they already have the cards, it does not justify the retention of their data after the fact. If the Minister complied with the commissioner's third finding tomorrow, a person could still use his or her PSC, with the signature...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Perhaps the Minister can clarify that this is not the case.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: There is a woman with a disability-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: A woman with a disability is this week being denied services because she will not get that card.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: To avail of the means of living people have to get the card. Let us be clear. This is legal.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Except social welfare.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The issues around privacy and data retention were my actual questions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Services could continue tomorrow if the Department did not retain the background documentation. Is that the case? I am asking. It is my straightforward question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Supporting a Just Transition: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank and commend ICTU on its presentation and for its work on just transition. What is really notable is the thinking is in that big picture. It is about recognising that this is not a piecemeal set of consequences that happen sector by sector. If we are recognising the massive transition involved in climate action, we need to be planning and reworking our employment, educational and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Supporting a Just Transition: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Just to be clear, it is key that it is in terms of collective solutions rather than simply the individualised solutions typically through the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. I am looking to how we bring back the remaking of our employment support systems in transition for a huge number of sectors. Could the witnesses just comment on the level to which we need to be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Supporting a Just Transition: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank Deputy Bríd Smith for swapping with me as our Private Members' business slot is just beginning in the Seanad. Specifically around a just transition forum, the actual proposal for such a forum that we heard from ICTU was that the Workplace Relations Commission would act as chair to a stakeholder forum that would allow for addressing these issues. Potentially this could act as a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Supporting a Just Transition: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I have limited time, so perhaps Mr. Donnellan could answer it tightly, because I do have a lot of follow-up questions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Supporting a Just Transition: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: A case was made quite strongly for this. We have just transition funds. This is in a just transition frame, regardless of whether Bord na Móna and ESB like to be at the forefront. They are at the forefront of how we model this as a State. From my perspective it is something we need to look at beyond the existing industrial relations framework. I ask the Department, if it comes in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Supporting a Just Transition: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: As to those new jobs that people are going into at the moment, some of which are internal, are those jobs with commensurate rights and experience? We have concerns that people will be transitioning to short-term contracts from what were previously long-term contracts or long-term employment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Supporting a Just Transition: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: No, I am not talking about redeployment, but those who have gone into, as Mr Donnellan has described them, new jobs.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Supporting a Just Transition: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Of the 210 redeployment opportunities in rewetting and rehabilitation of Bord na Móna lands at the moment, we have heard that there are negotiations ongoing with the European Commission. That is around an enhancement beyond what the company needs to do as per the Environment Protection Agency, EPA, baseline. Is it the intention that regardless of how protracted the European Commission...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Supporting a Just Transition: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: There is a concern in relation to that. The other thing mentioned by Mr. Donnellan was a limited number of new applications for the voluntary redundancy scheme. We have heard a concern that all older workers have had difficulty in being allowed to take voluntary redundancy. If we are looking at this collectively, which is our job as a committee, we have to look at the overall workplace....