Results 6,381-6,400 of 8,196 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Both can surely be accommodated.

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We can engage further on it.

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will not press the amendment at this point.

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 3:In page 17, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 263 of Principal Act 27. Section 263 of the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (3):"(3) A person shall produce his or her public service card or other appropriate form of identification at the request of a specified body for...

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is important to be clear because people might get the impression there was large-scale fraud whereas the figures have shown it is, in fact, at a low level. In fact, according to the figures last year, the amount of money lost internally through error was been higher than the amount of money lost through fraud. It is important to be clear about that.

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The public service card scheme has been very high and that has been an issue of concern for the Committee of Public Accounts in terms of excess. As such, I question whether there have been savings. It is also the case that the roll-out of public service cards was intensified during the period in which it was under review by the Data Protection Commissioner. There have been concerns about...

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I want to accept one point, which is that I am sorry if I used the words "grave concern" with regard to a body. It is a section 10 investigation on the issue but I would not want to quote or appear to be quoting somebody in respect of grave concerns. The grave concerns are perhaps mine. One thing which I think is important to be clear on is this being compulsory or mandatory. While we may...

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is not simply a voluntary measure. This has been made a requirement. That is why I focused on those other bodies. It has been made a requirement of engagement in society. A photograph is taken which is accessible by 40 or more specified bodies. There is very wide access to that database and I think we will end up returning to it in the future.

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 6:In page 22, after line 33, to insert the following: “Report on jobseeker’s transitional payment supports 32.The Minister shall, within six months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before the Houses of the Oireachtas a report on employment, training and educational opportunities and supports for those on jobseeker’s transitional payment...

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will suggest something that does not necessarily come with a high cost to the State. Income disregard might continue to apply but besides that cost, it does not come with a high cost to the State. It would simply allow the flexibility for an authentic engagement between case workers and lone parents, who are predominantly women, to ensure they do not find themselves on JobPath being told...

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Minister. There was the question of the extension of the jobseeker's transitional payment.

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: With regard to the jobseeker's transitional payment, at the moment when the youngest child is 14 one moves from jobseeker's transitional payment to the live register and jobseeker's allowance. The problem is this does not deal with many of the issues of balancing care with the bureaucracy that comes with having a child for any family, but especially for a one-parent family given there is...

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Every other point has been addressed by the Minister.

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am asking the Minister to respond to that point. This has been debated within committee rules.

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: They will be on jobseeker's transitional so they will still be encouraged into work. When the changes came in, many people landed directly into that space of jobseeker's allowance or into the-----

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The full-time availability waiver element could perhaps be taken forward or made an option. I believe it would help a large cohort of persons, including qualified adults, and encourage them onto the live register. That is something we can debate.

Seanad: Irish Film Board (Amendment) Bill 2018: Second Stage (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome the Minister to the House. I also welcome the Bill which I will be supporting through the various stages. It has been shown clearly that huge dividends come from investment in film and the wider audiovisual sector and not only in terms of the employment created and the money generated. The sector has grown substantially and even when other sectors were shrinking, Irish film...

Seanad: Criminal Law (Extraterritorial Jurisdiction) Bill 2018: Second Stage (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome the Minister. He is advancing a very important and long-awaited Bill that will allow for individuals committing particular offences abroad to be liable to prosecution under Irish law. This legislation is important in itself in the spirit of international co-operation, but it is also very important as it is the final step Ireland needs to take to allow us to ratify the Council of...

Seanad: Criminal Law (Extraterritorial Jurisdiction) Bill 2018: Second Stage (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Minister. I look forward to engaging with him on that matter.

Seanad: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (13 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Senator Kelleher has thanked everybody so perfectly that I will not attempt to match her, but I want to thank my colleagues in the House, the Minister and all of those in the other House and all the people who have championed this issue, but particularly those who have done so in very difficult times and in the streets. I thank those who campaigned in 1983 and those who campaigned, not only...