Results 7,881-7,900 of 8,196 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Knowledge Development Box (Certification of Inventions) Bill 2016: Report Stage (1 Feb 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 13:In page 15, between lines 8 and 9, to insert the following: “Review and scrutiny 19. The Minister shall ensure appropriate annual information exchange between the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and the Office of the Revenue Commissioners in order to facilitate the publication of information on the cost of this initiative, including the cost to...

Seanad: Knowledge Development Box (Certification of Inventions) Bill 2016: Report Stage (1 Feb 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 14:In page 15, between lines 8 and 9, to insert the following: “Committee Scrutiny 19.An annual report on the operation of the KDB including a consideration of the intersection of the KDB with other tax expenditure measures and its impact on the delivery of an effective tax rate for corporations should be presented and discussed by the Joint Oireachtas Committee...

Seanad: Knowledge Development Box (Certification of Inventions) Bill 2016: Report Stage (1 Feb 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 15:In page 15, between lines 15 and 16, to insert the following: “Intersection with wider enterprise and innovation strategy 20.(1) Companies applying for the KDB certificate should be asked to indicate at the time of application whether they are presently or have been previously in receipt of grants, subsidies, tax incentives or other enterprise or research and...

Seanad: Convictions for Certain Sexual Offences (Apology and Exoneration) Bill 2016: Second Stage (1 Feb 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome the Minister of State and commend Senator Gerald Nash and the Labour Party for bringing forward this important Bill which sets an important marker in addressing the wrongs of the past and asserting the importance of the full right to relationships and bodily autonomy, which is crucial. What happened in the past was unjust in the very particular way laws reached into the right to...

Seanad: Order of Business (31 Jan 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I join my colleagues in offering the warmest of congratulations to Martin Groves. He has been exemplary in the support he has given to us all, especially the Senators who are new to the Chamber. I wish him every happiness in and enjoyment of his new role and I know that he will perform it wonderfully. I am not going to reiterate all the points that have been made regarding concerns about...

Seanad: Adoption (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (31 Jan 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I recognise that amendment No. 3 has been ruled out of order. At this point, I would like to reserve the right to reintroduce further amendments in respect of this area on Report Stage. This area touches on and is complementary to some of the other amendments which were raised by Senator Warfield, and I recognise he has withdrawn his amendments. Having campaigned very passionately on the...

Seanad: Adoption (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (31 Jan 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Minister for her response. I acknowledge that one of the strong features of the Bill is that it recognises the family unit as including step-parents, which I very much welcome, and all forms of partnership. Of course, we are moving past recognising civil partnerships now to recognising marriage between same-sex couples and the full diversity of the family unit. My point relates...

Seanad: Adoption (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (31 Jan 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 5:In page 10, between lines 29 and 30, to insert the following:“(8) In circumstances where practicable and possible and where the parties agree, provision for an open adoption should be considered.”. This amendment deals with an open adoption model. In many parts of the world we are seeing a shift towards open adoption and it is something that has been...

Seanad: Adoption (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (31 Jan 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We are legislators and should not be afraid of significant changes in legislative direction. The very fact that we are looking at these amendments now, that we have the Child and Family Relationships Act, we had the marriage equality referendum and the many other changes that we have had, reflect the fact that we do not need to be afraid of significant legislative change when it is moving in...

Seanad: Adoption (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (31 Jan 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am withdrawing but I reserve the right to reintroduce it on Report Stage.

Seanad: Adoption (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (31 Jan 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am going to speak briefly in support of this amendment. I urge the Minister to consider taking it on board and to accept it. I believe it strikes a clear balance. I recognise the importance of security and stability. I recognise the importance of a timeline being set in order that we do not have children in limbo for long periods. I realise much of the positive intent in this section...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Maternity Strategy: Discussion (19 Jan 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am replacing Senator John Dolan today. I thank the speakers very much for their very interesting and comprehensive answers to the questions. I will not ask again many of the questions, including that on fertility asked by Deputy Murphy O'Mahony. I wish to highlight a couple of key points and ask the delegates for their thoughts. In a previous role, I worked with the National Women's...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Maternity Strategy: Discussion (19 Jan 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I also referred to the neonatal and postnatal services, including lactation and psychologists. Does it put pressure on nursing services when those specialist services are not available?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Maternity Strategy: Discussion (19 Jan 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Is there a sense that it is moving now that it has been included in the strategy?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Maternity Strategy: Discussion (19 Jan 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Overall, we welcome the strategy and our questions concern its implementation. The National Women's Council worked with the HSE around some of the consultation on this. One of the strong desires among women was for choice and options. That is set out to an extent in respect of the supported care options as well as assisted and specialised care. The strategy seems to envisage side-by-side...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Maternity Strategy: Discussion (19 Jan 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Will that bring us to the ratio of 29.5? When does Mr. Woods see us arriving at the recommended ratio?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Maternity Strategy: Discussion (19 Jan 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The key point is the ratio. Can we get an up-to-date figure on the ratio so that we can get a sense of that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Maternity Strategy: Discussion (19 Jan 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: With regard to some of the specific issues mentioned such as the release for professional development and the question of progression, what does Ms Fitzgerald see are the gaps in terms of retention and progression?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Maternity Strategy: Discussion (19 Jan 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Before we move on from the capital funding, I am a little concerned. Mr. Woods was mentioning the side-by-side services and it seems that they are now going through capital funding, even though they are described in some cases as new units. However, the low-risk birthing centres are potentially relatively low-cost and I am concerned that they may well fall by the wayside if we are talking...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Maternity Strategy: Discussion (19 Jan 2017)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It might be useful to get a sense of how the model works. A concern has been expressed about accountability in the networks. Is there an accountability structure? Is somebody responsible for the structure? It is important to know this information both in terms of recruitment and giving confidence to people down the line. How does the delegation see this matter impact on accountability?...