Results 6,201-6,220 of 8,212 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Indecon Reports on Job Clubs and Local Employment Services: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (4 Apr 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I apologise for arriving late to the meeting but I had to attend a debate in the Seanad. There is much that is very positive in the Indecon report and there is a detailed breakdown of what we already know from the different testimonies to the committee. I wish to focus on the benefits of the LES. I might mention JobPath but I will focus on the schemes we are reviewing. The Minister will be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Indecon Reports on Job Clubs and Local Employment Services: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (4 Apr 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will return to the procurement question. There is a case to be made for alternatives but I accept this is the route the Minister is looking at. The social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP, was restricted to not-for-profit and other similar services. Is that a capacity within the tendering process? I am serious when I say that there are spaces for human services where...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Indecon Reports on Job Clubs and Local Employment Services: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (4 Apr 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Quality and responsiveness are important. The scaling moved up quickly with JobPath. There would be space and freedom from the European procurement directives if tendering was not pursued and Intreo's internal capacity was looked at instead. Is there potential for, or are there plans for, increasing Intreo's staffing levels and perhaps, in some of the ongoing work, increasing the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Indecon Reports on Job Clubs and Local Employment Services: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (4 Apr 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: What about the quality weighting I referred to and will education be a recognised outcome?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Indecon Reports on Job Clubs and Local Employment Services: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (4 Apr 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I concur with the Chairman's request that the committee have an input in the process because it is very important that we do so. We have already made a case in respect of services of general interest. One of the issues was outcomes, specifically educational outcomes. The Minister outlined how it may take people five or six years to move through a service. Let us say there is a two-year or...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Indecon Reports on Job Clubs and Local Employment Services: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (4 Apr 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We must recognise any movement out of the remit of the Department and into long-term education, a primary degree or whatever. This should be recognised and it would be very useful for the committee to have an input. Just transition and multi-annual contracts are very important but they must be flexible and able to respond, for example, to the collapse of an industry caused by Brexit,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Indecon Reports on Job Clubs and Local Employment Services: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (4 Apr 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Indecon Reports on Job Clubs and Local Employment Services: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (4 Apr 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We may have to discuss the issue of just transition separately. It will become an issue in the next decade.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Indecon Reports on Job Clubs and Local Employment Services: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (4 Apr 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We can plan for that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Indecon Reports on Job Clubs and Local Employment Services: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (4 Apr 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Sure.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Indecon Reports on Job Clubs and Local Employment Services: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (4 Apr 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Indecon Reports on Job Clubs and Local Employment Services: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (4 Apr 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Indecon Reports on Job Clubs and Local Employment Services: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (4 Apr 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It will not be a payment-by-results dynamic.

Seanad: Public Authorities and Utility Undertakings (Contract Preparation and Award Criteria) Bill 2019: Second Stage (3 Apr 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I thank all those who contributed to the drafting of this Bill, especially David Dodd, Kate Butler and Kieran Mooney, and others associated with the Office of the Parliamentary Legal Advisers, who contributed to its drafting and ensured its legality in every line and letter. I thank the academics who have worked with me, particularly...

Seanad: Public Authorities and Utility Undertakings (Contract Preparation and Award Criteria) Bill 2019: Second Stage (3 Apr 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Minister of State and all other contributors for their engagement. I am grateful for the support many have given to the Bill. I wish to address a few of the points that arose. I appreciate that if the Bill passes today we will have further opportunities to engage on it. It is important to be clear that quality is not balanced against value for money. Rather, it is a part of...

Seanad: Public Authorities and Utility Undertakings (Contract Preparation and Award Criteria) Bill 2019: Second Stage (3 Apr 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Next Tuesday.

Seanad: Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (2 Apr 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 1:In page 3, between lines 14 and 15, to insert the following: “(2) Section 16(6) of the Act of 2000 is amended by the insertion of “for its role in carbon sequestration, or in respect of pollination” after “features” where it first occurs.”. Amendments Nos.1, 5 and 7 relate to the amendment of the Wildlife (Amendment) Act of...

Seanad: Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (2 Apr 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Minister of State for his engagement and I look forward to engaging with him further between Committee and Report Stages. In respect of that, I will not press all of these amendments.I will not press all of my amendments but will possibly press one or two. Amendment No. 1 is probably the most comprehensive and represents the preferable way to move forward in terms of engaging...

Seanad: Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (2 Apr 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: From my perspective, I am not looking for a laborious process but feel that the same kinds of considerations should apply. Perhaps this could be addressed on Report Stage by way of amendments from me or from the Minister of State, whereby size limits could be set on the spaces that can be de-designated. That may be a way of tackling this issue. I am very aware of the issues involved here....

Seanad: Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (2 Apr 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I could speak forever but will not. I could list all of the species affected but will not do so. However, it is very important that the national pollinator plan be factored into the equation here. I know that the plan exists but we are in a crisis situation in terms of our pollinators. When we spoke about these issues three years ago, the beekeepers of Ireland sounded the alarm bells. We...