Results 61-80 of 8,196 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (5 Mar 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Many have spoken about how we will next week see Ministers travelling across the world for St. Patrick's Day. There has been a lot of focus on, and many have spoken about, the visit of Micheál Martin to the President of the United States. There is hope that he would speak against some of the language of raw colonialism and that he would stand up for the importance of climate action....

Seanad: International Women's Day - Women's Health: Statements (5 Mar 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: There is much in the Minister's speech that I welcome, including the focus on women being heard. That has come across again and again. Where endometriosis is concerned, our services are very far behind because there is a need for a culture shift in them. There is also the question of having a voice and choice in respect of maternal health. There is huge pressure on older women to have...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (4 Mar 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I request that we have a debate with the Minister for the environment on a report that Ireland will face fines up to €26 billion if we fail to meet our EU climate targets. That is an extraordinary amount. It is equivalent to all of the money that we might take in corporate tax receipts for one year that we hear of. It is equivalent to the entire health budget. Those are the kinds...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: EU Directives (26 Feb 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I hope the Minister of State will speak to us about a matter of great urgency. My Commencement matter concerns what steps Ireland is taking to ensure there is a proper process for the very alarming proposal by the European Commission for what is called the "omnibus Bill", which has been called the "bonfire of regulation", to open up the corporate sustainability due diligence directive. This...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: EU Directives (26 Feb 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: As the Minister of State can see, I am very concerned. I would like to know what position Ireland is taking. Ireland played a positive role in the original negotiation. What are we doing now about this alarming development?

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: EU Directives (26 Feb 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The alarming thing is that the proposal is to bring this back to level 1. We take a process that took years and go back to the drawing board. Those are years we do not have. We are at the end of the ten hottest years on record. It is frankly patronising to the public that the word “simplification” gets used again and again when what is being done is clearly deregulation and...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: EU Directives (26 Feb 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Will we reward those companies that have been acting responsibly? Will we show leadership by implementing the CSDDD during the period of time before this new version, which may be years?

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: EU Directives (26 Feb 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I would like to know that. That is a direct question to the Minister of State. Will we be going ahead with implementation as planned and promised?

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: EU Directives (26 Feb 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: You have answered about simplification and not about sustainability.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: EU Directives (26 Feb 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Sustainability is the issue, not simplification. We need to hear about that. I understand the Minister of State has been given what he has been given but it does not answer it.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (26 Feb 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: With regard to some of the comments made earlier, the triple lock is actually one of the very important things that link us to the United Nations, which is one of the great prizes we have had in terms of building and maintaining peace on this planet. Far from undermining our capacity to say "No", I would be very worried that without the triple lock those who get so embarrassed that they are...

Seanad: Response to Storm Éowyn: Statements (26 Feb 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will pick up where the previous speaker ended on the warnings we have had from Dr. Tara Shine and others. These extreme weather events are happening more often right across the world. I have spoken about the ten warmest years on record, but right across the world we are seeing an increase in the frequency and intensity of storms, drought, the wildfires that come with drought, of mud...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 Feb 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I want to raise an issue that occurred in the past 24 hours. We heard how a former Member of this House, Lynn Boylan, who is now an MEP, was refused entry and deported when attempting to visit Israel as a part of an official EU delegation in an official capacity on an Irish diplomatic passport. Two Members of the European Parliament and their officials were denied entry to Israel and denied...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 Feb 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will come to my conclusion.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 Feb 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: As I come to it-----

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 Feb 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Okay.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 Feb 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will conclude.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 Feb 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That is fine. I join with what Senator Clonan said. We need policies that are clear and we do not need to dismantle our triple lock if Ireland is going to show leadership. That we are doing it because other countries were embarrassed sends a sign we need a triple lock and we cannot trust our Government to say "No" when it needs to say "No" and to say "Yes" in terms of the implementation of...

Seanad: Election of Leas-Chathaoirleach (19 Feb 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I was not going to speak but I am moved to do so. I am very proud to be supporting Senator Flynn. She is an outstanding candidate. We celebrated during the previous Oireachtas term the centenary of the Seanad. One of the themes was minority voices, major changes, as the Seanad has a record of bringing forward minority and different perspectives. I do not mean in a geographical way, but...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (13 Feb 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I second that it would be useful to have a debate on forestry, which would also look at reforming forestry policies, including the mandates of such organisations as Coillte. We have seen that monoculture does not work and is dangerous. We do not simply want a short-term solution where we replant more of the same. We need to move, within Coillte and our wider subsidised forestry policy,...