Results 5,641-5,660 of 8,212 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Peatlands Restoration and Rehabilitation: Discussion (23 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am not-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Peatlands Restoration and Rehabilitation: Discussion (23 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am saying that a bog-by-bog comparison is the mechanism for determining environmental criteria under the Wildlife Act. That is why it is relevant. I am not asking about something in the past but something proposed for the future.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Peatlands Restoration and Rehabilitation: Discussion (23 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Can I ask a specific question?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Peatlands Restoration and Rehabilitation: Discussion (23 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I apologise but I was not getting the answers I sought.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Peatlands Restoration and Rehabilitation: Discussion (23 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will stick to my questions and list them three or four in a row. The mechanism now for determining which will be included in the list of 46 is a bog-by-bog comparison. Mr. Lucas mentioned restoration potential but rewetting potential and the benefits of potential rewetting were not considered. In response to my colleague, who asked about the SACs, Mr. Lucas was very clear because this...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Peatlands Restoration and Rehabilitation: Discussion (23 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: My final question was addressed to Dr. Renou-Wilson. Can we afford steps backwards with regard to bogs? How do we ensure that we are consistently moving forward? Should we be looking to an expansion of our natural heritage network and perhaps the connectivity with that? Dr. Renou-Wilson mentioned farming. I have heard beekeeping discussed as a potential ecological restoration mechanism...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Peatlands Restoration and Rehabilitation: Discussion (23 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I never suggested that. I said that it is not a virtue that they will not be de-designated.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Peatlands Restoration and Rehabilitation: Discussion (23 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It does allow for that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Peatlands Restoration and Rehabilitation: Discussion (23 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The regulation of turf cutting on smaller sites is something that comes under the remit of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I would add to the concerns expressed earlier in regard to defined benefit schemes in respect of the semi-State companies. In 2016, we proposed an amendment to the Social Welfare Bill which would have addressed some of those anomalies. It was an opportunity to do it in a timely way and it is very regrettable that, for the last three years, we have not seen promised legislation to give...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Yes.

Seanad: Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am pressing it.

Seanad: Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 16:In page 4, between lines 20 and 21, to insert the following:"(c) carry out an assessment, in the area under consideration, of:(i) the scale of biodiversity present; and (ii) the quantity of carbon sequestered.”.

Seanad: Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Are amendments Nos. 16 and 17 being taken separately?

Seanad: Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Minister of State has already recognised the importance of carbon sequestration as a general principle for reviews. This amendment deals, however, with the process involved in the making of particular decisions. It seeks to apply a stronger test to proposals arising from the review process, including an assessment of the "scale of biodiversity present" and the "quantity of carbon...

Seanad: Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 17:In page 4, between lines 20 and 21, to insert the following:“(c) assess the potential for restoration of biodiversity.”.

Seanad: Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Amendment No. 17 concerns the natural heritage areas that are being considered for dedesignation and provides for an assessment of the potential for restoration of biodiversity. There has been an acknowledgement of the need for a new set of actions and perspectives on biodiversity, and I understand that some resources, albeit inadequate, have been allocated to work in respect of...

Seanad: Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 18:In page 4, line 26, after “subsection (4)(b),” to insert “any recommendations as may emerge from any relevant Oireachtas Committee in relation to climate action,”.

Seanad: Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Amendment No. 18 mirrors the previous language by referencing recommendations that may emerge from any relevant Oireachtas committee relating to climate action, and it tries to ensure we have a joined-up approach. I have raised my concerns about this Bill going through today when on Wednesday, the Joint Committee on Climate Action will be discussing peatland strategy. We are putting forward...

Seanad: Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The core problem here is that while any individual can contribute to a public consultation on a specific bog, he or she can only do so after a review and after proposals for specific designations or dedesignations have been made. It fragments the process and does not allow for the policy in respect of natural heritage areas to take people's considerations into account. I accept that my...