Results 781-800 of 8,768 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: With regard to energy choice, for example, surely we should not be connecting anything to gas at this point.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I do not want to pre-empt our report but I will just mention it. The recertification of materials – Mr. O’Brien mentioned certification – is a matter that the committee looked into. It would be of great assistance if there were a recertification mechanism.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It strikes me that there is potentially a role for in-house skill development as well. It is not just a case of the public sector being a customer but we need to build in-house skills within that area whereby people could even be employed by the State. Expertise could then be transferred from project to project. It sounds like that might be another way this could be addressed. My last...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Excellent. I asked Mr. O'Sullivan about the potential for a State body which would ensure that we have in-house skills available for some of those areas in which we are going to need people for the next 30 years.

Seanad: Seanad Electoral (University Members) (Amendment) Bill 2024: Second Stage (10 Oct 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We need to be clear about what is in front of us. It would be misrepresentative to present it either as the reform we need of the Seanad or even as a first step towards that reform. What we have now is not the beginning of a path to reform; rather, it is the latest play in what has been a litany of blocks, delays and obstructions put in the way of Seanad reform by governments for a long...

Seanad: Seanad Electoral (University Members) (Amendment) Bill 2024: Second Stage (10 Oct 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Exactly. I am aware of that. That is why I am acknowledging that. The public said they care about the Seanad and want a say in the Seanad. That was the mandate from 2013. As a result of that, there was a brief acknowledgment. There was the Manning report, which was initiated to look to the ways in which we can widen and open the Seanad, make it more inclusive and ensure that people...

Seanad: Seanad Electoral (University Members) (Amendment) Bill 2024: Second Stage (10 Oct 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Seanad Bill 2020 is also before the House. I want it acknowledged that it is on the Order Paper and in front of the Houses.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Central Bank of Ireland (9 Oct 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I begin by saying I share the regret that others have expressed regarding the Central Bank's poor decision to remove its unit of consumer protection and regulation. I understand the functions. I do not need to have the elaboration again. The functions are taken up across different areas. However, very often in this committee, key issues of financial regulation that need to be highlighted,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Central Bank of Ireland (9 Oct 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: At any point in the past few years there is a question as to whether the prospectus assessing risks and offering issues of bonds from Israel, in asking that its bonds be carried, included assessments of the risks in terms of geopolitical risk, which Mr. Makhlouf mentioned we should all be thinking about. It seems to be a clear area. Leave aside the risks in terms of international law,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Central Bank of Ireland (9 Oct 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am explicitly going into the parameters, with respect.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Central Bank of Ireland (9 Oct 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Sometimes the three words we are told are, "Don't go here", where we are told these are the three parameters. Let us go within them. I am explicitly speaking to the powers and responsibilities that, as a competent authority, the Central Bank had and has. I am not looking at what the Central Bank can do now solely. It would useful, in the analysis, to look to and examine the question as...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Central Bank of Ireland (9 Oct 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Is there a proper examination of human rights, international law and geopolitical risks in answering the request - and it is a request - for Ireland through the Central Bank to facilitate the sale of Israeli state bonds? Was the information examined? Was it appropriately examined? These are clear powers. If the information fell short, was further information sought? If not, why was...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Central Bank of Ireland (9 Oct 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I want to have a set of six pieces, because I know the response will be, "We will review it."

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Central Bank of Ireland (9 Oct 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: With respect, Chair, I want to be clear on it, others have-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Central Bank of Ireland (9 Oct 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: With respect Chair, I have also listened to others and I am within my timeframe.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with the Central Bank of Ireland (9 Oct 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I have a whole separate set of questions on a different issue.