Results 7,441-7,460 of 8,196 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Oct 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will be contributing to them. The fifth principle is that budget 2018 should meet international standards and commitments, not just our fiscal targets but our commitments to the convention on disability and to climate change. We need to resource those areas as well as delivering rhetoric. I look forward to the budget debate and to teasing these issues out and testing budget 2018 against...

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Oct 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I join others who have spoken of their regrets about the failure of politics in the US in terms of gun control, but the issue that I wish to focus on is one in which politics must not be allowed to fail. It pertains to the scenes that we saw in Catalonia over the weekend. The response from the Taoiseach has not been adequate. He stated that he would not recognise the result, and so be it,...

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Oct 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We need to address both concerns. That requires active engagement. It is not sufficient that Europe has said that it trusts the leadership of Prime Minister Rajoy, who has praised the "serenity" of riot police, who injured 900 people and used rubber bullets. We need to ask about the role of EU mediation. The Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, has called for EU mediation. Where does...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection Remit and Legislative Agenda: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (28 Sep 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome the Minister and offer my congratulations to Mr. McKeon on his appointment as Secretary General. I apologise for my croaky voice. I thank the Minister for her presentation and authentic engagement with the reports produced by the committee. I will not go over the ground again in terms of pensions but perhaps it is not an adequate solution to talk about the non-contributory...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection Remit and Legislative Agenda: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (28 Sep 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome some of the signals the Minister has given in respect of employment. It is very clear that poor employment practices create a cost for the State. Not only do they deny revenue but they also create huge pressure in respect of supplementary payments. I understand she is addressing those. I urge her to engage with the ideas that come from many other Opposition groups, which have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection Remit and Legislative Agenda: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (28 Sep 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Will the Minister give one overall comment on gender and equality proofing? I recognise that the Department, and Ms Sen, who has worked in these areas before also, has given a lead in the past in areas such as poverty proofing. Does the Department intend to have clear gender equality proofing?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection Remit and Legislative Agenda: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (28 Sep 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It was a five year process, with respect to the Minister, rather than a five year consultation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection Remit and Legislative Agenda: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (28 Sep 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I believe it is important to simply correct the record, that no evidence has been produced that a majority of people are satisfied in that regard.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection Remit and Legislative Agenda: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (28 Sep 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Is this accepting also the decision of-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection Remit and Legislative Agenda: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (28 Sep 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Through the Chair, will the Minister comment on the concern that this is not a routine and operational matter and that it is a matter of policy direction? If it is a disagreement, so be it. The concerns of the Comptroller and Auditor General were also looked at in our report and the concerns do not direct towards this particular restructuring option, as expressed by the Comptroller and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection Remit and Legislative Agenda: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (28 Sep 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I agree with the Minister that we need a joined-up approach and I hope we will move towards ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCPRD. That is crucial. I note that the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection has access to very important research that it has supported around those costs and that information could be shared with other...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (27 Sep 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I support Senator Boyhan. Training so that the practice that we have matches the policy is crucial. We have already heard today about how sometimes something in policy seems fine and clear if one reads it but that the experience victims have is that the interpretation and understanding of those who enact that policy is perhaps not what it could be and should be. All of those involved...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (27 Sep 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: My colleague, Senator Kelleher, had hoped to speak on this area and I will be very brief. Some concern has been expressed. Most of the amendments are very practical and make a lot of sense and I am very happy to support them. However, perhaps the Minister of State could elaborate on the change in language in amendment No. 31 because concerns have been expressed that there may have been...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (27 Sep 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That is fine and it is a positive amendment. However, based on feedback Senator Kelleher and I received I understood that the original formulation was perhaps a little better. In the absence of Senator Kelleher, I will not oppose the amendment.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (27 Sep 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Unless another Senator wishes to do so, I will speak to it because Senator Kelleher hoped to speak on it but is not in the Chamber. I have not co-signed the amendment and, therefore, do not feel I can speak to it.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (27 Sep 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: With due respect, these amendments do affect children because if people are children when they go to make a complaint to An Garda Síochána, that is when they are initiating their concern around a potential criminal action against them. In respect of the experience of children as they seek to navigate our legal system and our courts, we see a huge fall-off where people drop out of...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (27 Sep 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: With respect to the Minister of State, there is a blurring of lines in that what he has described is not what the amendment is putting forward. It is very clear in the amendment that it is a question of the outcome rather than the reasons for the assessment, about which we have just had a debate. It is simply a matter of whether the person needs protection. The decision is made by a...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (27 Sep 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Minister of State for his last response in which he looked a little more deeply at this. He said he would expect people to get the information they need, but what we hear is that people do not. We must listen to the voices of victims who say that the letters they receive are generic. We are happy to try to find a legislative approach on that and a wording that will work but...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (27 Sep 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: This amendment relates to the satisfaction with section 6, as it stands. If the amendment proposing that deletion of the word "may" and its substitution with the word "shall" is not made, we have a concern this section would only provide that the victims may be referred to appropriate supports. While we do not want to have a lengthy debate on this, perhaps at the next interval when the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (27 Sep 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I understand but the Minister of State can perhaps still address the concern that is at the heart of the amendment even if the amendment cannot be debated. Perhaps he can do that briefly, as I appreciate we do not have much time.