Results 5,921-5,940 of 8,196 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Statements (1 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: There is a responsibility for us to ensure this, and an assurance is needed by the public that Ireland will do everything it can from its side to avoid, even in a no-deal scenario, anything that looks like the borders of the past or the borders in other parts of Europe at this time.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (26 Sep 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Mr. White and Mr. Reid may be aware that we held a joint sitting of this committee and the education and health committees during which we discussed the obstacles for persons with a disability in accessing employment. The workplace adaptation grant was raised and the Department referred to it. I was quite shocked at the low allocation to the workplace adaptation grant. Is there a large...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (26 Sep 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The exclusion of not-for-profits is discriminatory to the organisations themselves but also to the individuals, such as Mr. Reid, who want to work in social care by finding employment in the not-for-profit sector.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (26 Sep 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Mr. Reid is locked out in terms of his choice of how he wishes to contribute. Is the application from the potential employer or does it come from the individual? If I apply to three, four or five companies in a particular area, is there anything that would allow me to say I had received sanction for a workplace adaptation grant, which I could bring with me to the job?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (26 Sep 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The employer has to apply in respect of a particular individual.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (26 Sep 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: An employer could not apply on the basis of wanting to adapt their workplace. The way it is done, which I imagine adds pressure, is that it only comes into play if an employer advertises a role. Employers generally want somebody to start within a month or two, but there is effectively a delay which makes it difficult for the applicant and creates a reluctance. I wanted to tease out that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (26 Sep 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will take the concern on board. It is an extraordinarily low allocation for something I have heard trumpeted as a wonderful solution which is available to both persons and organisations.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (26 Sep 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I have a final question about an issue on which the committee has placed a strong focus before and which is worth teasing out. As the delegates will be aware, my colleague in the Civil Engagement group, Senator John Dolan, works with the Disability Federation of Ireland; therefore, there is an overlap. As we push forward and make a case, it would be useful for us to have a sense of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (26 Sep 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I read the Society of St. Vincent de Paul's budget submission with great interest, as it includes a number of strong proposals. I was glad to see a focus on private rental accommodation and particularly those who are dependent on either rent allowance or the housing assistance payment, because there is huge vulnerability. A few issues were mentioned in that regard, including energy poverty....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (26 Sep 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Before we move to the issue of lone parents, I completely agree with Dr. Keilthy that the idea of undertaking the work needed on every property that the State owns incrementally seems foolish, as we pay for it in our carbon fines. The refurbishment of local authority housing seems to be extraordinarily slow.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (26 Sep 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is not something that should be done as part of a ten-year plan, rather it should be done in the next two to three years. We should look at the entire stock of housing. Is Dr. Keilthy proposing or outlining the possibility of a carrot and stick approach being taken, whereby there would be an incentive for those who offer long-term tenancy security, that, in effect, there would be a stick...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (26 Sep 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Will Dr. Keilthy, please, follow-up on the lone parents issue?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (26 Sep 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will ask my last question and then pass over to the Chairman or anyone else who wishes to ask questions. I concur on the issue of income adequacy. I would have preferred to have seen the word "adequacy" included in the terms and conditions of the Low Pay Commission. I regret that it was not. It is the fundamental test of pay. On the working family payment, under the early...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (26 Sep 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank Dr. Keilthy.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (26 Sep 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Mr. White has put it very strongly, in terms of the large companies coming in, that this could be one of the conditions attached. I just want to ask a really specific question on the issue around workplace adaptation grants. As well as the increase in budget for workplace adaptation grants, is there a difference to be made in policy whereby somebody can hold provisional approval for a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (26 Sep 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: You are satisfied with that.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 Sep 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I echo that request. If the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, is to be invited here, he might also address the issue of Ireland needing a new national action plan against racism. We used to have one as part of our infrastructure of equality and inclusion. Indeed, we used to have a national body to address the issue. I would like the Minister of State to address those topics when he...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 Sep 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I hope the Leader will consider my points regardless.

Seanad: Blasphemy (Abolition of Offences and Related Matters) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: In naming different discriminations, it is not necessarily useful to go to anything that might be construed as a hierarchy of who should be considered, and so forth. There are different debates on which groups are targeted or persecuted at different times, in different areas and in different ways, be it by the law or in other different forms of oppression. In different places, different...

Seanad: Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2016: Report Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Pardon me?