Results 6,941-6,960 of 8,527 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I think the private pension tax relief was €2.6 billion, from the figure the Minister gave me previously.

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Age of Retirement) Bill 2018: Second Stage (12 Jul 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am supportive of the Bill. I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for bringing it to the Seanad. The Bill is important for several people. I know that some individuals have spoken about the sense that they have been pulled away from work that is important to them through the mandatory retirement age and cut off, in some cases, in terms of their contributions. While I welcome the...

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Age of Retirement) Bill 2018: Second Stage (12 Jul 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I appreciate that. I also appreciate that there is a concern regarding pension payments and superannuation and valid points were made in that regard. My concern basically was that we should not prohibit job-sharing on any basis. For many people it is going to be about finance. Others are really dedicated to their work. They may wish to continue with that work and will want to contribute....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Barnardos and Society of St. Vincent de Paul: Pre-Budget Discussion (12 Jul 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the witnesses for their presentations and for the work both organisations do on an ongoing basis. It is very important, as is their policy engagement. I particularly commend the Vincentian Partnership's minimum essential standards of living work, which has been a service to all of us as policymakers but also right across the sector by itemising the costs of living. What it shows...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Barnardos and Society of St. Vincent de Paul: Pre-Budget Discussion (12 Jul 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: A separate commitment is required in that area.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Barnardos and Society of St. Vincent de Paul: Pre-Budget Discussion (12 Jul 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Does the unavailability of the ECCE scheme during the summer have an impact on families?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Barnardos and Society of St. Vincent de Paul: Pre-Budget Discussion (12 Jul 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the delegates for their excellent and clear answers to questions. They spoke more eloquently than I about extending the jobseeker's transition payment and addressing anomalies in order that people would be given real options in making good choices. Something that crops up repeatedly is a request that people can access good quality employment and avail of back-to-education schemes....

Seanad: Traveller Culture and History in Education Bill 2018: Second Stage (Resumed) (11 Jul 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am very happy to be a member of the Oireachtas Traveller group alongside Senator Kelleher. I commend her for initiating that group and also for this Bill, which is very important. As others have described, the policy of the State for far too long, and made very explicit in the 1963 policies, was a policy of absorption and assimilation - of effectively disappearing Travellers and their...

Seanad: Situation in Palestine: Statements (Resumed) (11 Jul 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I strongly support the Bill, of which I am very proud to be a co-signer. I will address a couple of issues that have arisen. Members referred to the analogy of apartheid in South Africa. In that instance the boycott was led by the demand made by the people. The State then took an important action. I looked back at some of the debates that took place at the time and the arguments made...

Seanad: Heritage Bill 2016: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (11 Jul 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I come with the concerns that have been raised by others. I also have spoken to some of the residents in Grand Canal Dock on whom this is having an impact. This is a one-off situation. It is one where even a simple adjournment of the Bill would suffice. I was hoping that the Government might be amenable even to adjourning these Report and Final Stages to allow for those residents who...

Seanad: Heritage Bill 2016: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (11 Jul 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The text allows for that, unfortunately.

Seanad: Heritage Bill 2016: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (11 Jul 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The text allows for it. I am not saying that-----

Seanad: Heritage Bill 2016: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (11 Jul 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I regret the Minister's response. The proposal is not preposterous. Giving such leeway within the Bill is preposterous.

Seanad: Heritage Bill 2016: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (11 Jul 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am responding to a point the Minister made about the charging and fixing of fees in respect of the use by persons of the canals. That is how wide the provision has been made.

Seanad: Heritage Bill 2016: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (11 Jul 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The way in which it will be applied is to be determined by Waterways Ireland because we have given it that power. I will speak to the second group of amendments because two aspects arise. Amendments Nos. 2 to 4, inclusive, relate to the change in the ministerial title.

Seanad: Heritage Bill 2016: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (11 Jul 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am speaking to the change in the title, which is the subject matter of amendments Nos. 2 to 4, inclusive. When it was first submitted, the Bill was under the remit of the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. It is extraordinary that when the Department was effectively divided in two and responsibility for rural and regional affairs moved into a new...

Seanad: Heritage Bill 2016: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (11 Jul 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am questioning whether the Bill belongs under the title. Given the disregard for heritage, it would seem it should belong under the remit of the Minister for Rural and Regional Affairs if that is the only concern. Am I right that amendment No. 5 is in this grouping also?

Seanad: Heritage Bill 2016: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (11 Jul 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will make a simple and brief point about amendment No. 5, which I support. This is a practical, technical amendment related to subsection (7), which notes that where an offence has been committed by a body corporate and has been committed with the consent, connivance or neglect of a director, manager or secretary, both the person and the body corporate shall be liable for an offence.

Seanad: Heritage Bill 2016: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (11 Jul 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is not a correction. It is an amendment to subsection (7) and in respect of that, I want to-----

Seanad: Heritage Bill 2016: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (11 Jul 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am speaking to it and I will be very brief. I welcome that in this section the Government recognises that a negligent director, manager or secretary-----