Results 8,541-8,560 of 8,768 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report and Final Stages (13 Dec 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: There will be a board meeting, and there are meetings happening now and I also urge there would be meaningful engagement with the trustees and the Pensions Authority, not simply a fait accompli.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report and Final Stages (13 Dec 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: This is a plea to the Independent News and Media board. I will conclude. I am moving away from that issue. This is my point, and it is the point we made extensively on Committee Stage - and I will come back to those point - which is pensions should not be a crisis, this is the most predictable issue. We know that people grow older. It is even more predictable than people being born and...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report and Final Stages (13 Dec 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: -----in relation to it. I ask the Minister to introduce those measures on the public contributory pension and I ask him to champion the kind of long-term thinking, shared responsibility, planning and trust with regard to the other areas. That would be fundamental to the introduction of any universal supplementary scheme in the future. We need to rebuild trust in this area. I urge the...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I understand my amendment has been ruled out of order but I would appreciate it if the Minister would address the concerns highlighted in the amendment. We will come later to an issue about which concern has been expressed on all sides of the House. It relates, in particular, to older women and the gender pension gap but this issue-----

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: -----is specifically related to the making of voluntary contributions. In this House last week, the Minister spoke about his concern to ensure that contributions are being made, that he wants to encourage the making of contributions, and that he wants to increase the fund that is available. I do not believe that our pay related insurance fund will ever be adequate in terms of our pension...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: First, I thank the Minister for taking on board the proposal in respect of five years. It is constructive and it will make a difference to people.I understand that the Minister indicated at the Oireachtas joint committee that he intends to look at a wider level at the contributions and the contribution system. I encourage the Minister to take this issue on board and to look to it. While...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is great to see paternity leave increasing and moving through legislation. I want to give a compliment because it is something we campaigned for in the National Women's Council in the past. I want to note it as a positive move.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will be very brief. This is the complimentary bit. The extension of dental treatment is a very positive measure. For those working in the area of heart disease, this is an example of something thoughtful happening because the provision of dental treatment leads to significant savings on heart treatment at a later date.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I wish to speak briefly on section 12.I am happy there will be a report on the changes to the one parent family payment, OPFP. In preparing the report on the financial and social effects of the amendments, reference is made to taking into account the effect on welfare dependency and the poverty rates of those in receipt. I would like to be clear that in looking at the financial and social...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: As well as examining the issue highlighted by my colleague, there were considerable impacts when people moved from the OPFP to individually having to seek maintenance payments. The Department has figures on this and it is an important financial and social effect, which has had an economic impact. It would be important to capture that. Perhaps it is a corollary effect but it will feed into...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 4:In page 8, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following:"13. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 178F:"178G.(1)The Minister shall, not later than 9 months of the passing after theSocial Welfare Act 2016, cause to be produced a report in respect of the gender pension gap in the first tier and second tier of the pension...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is a question of the marginal rate point rather than standard taxation.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: On the question of pre-1995 public servants, quite a lot of women re-enter the system. That is a common situation which has arisen whereby people have come back into the system, perhaps after a period of ten or 20 years raising children. It is also the case that many women, having left, return to work in their late 40s or 50s. During the recession, a number of women who were not working...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: My colleague is being reasonable, more reasonable than I would be regarding this amendment. She has brought forward an amendment that looks to the various circumstances as outlined by the Minister regarding accessing the information. From my perspective, I have to oppose this section of the Bill because opening that dialogue regarding child benefit is an issue of serious concern. A couple...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I wish to register my opposition to this section.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I would like to speak in favour of this amendment, particularly in so far as it relates to the homemaker scheme. The discussion on amendment No. 4, in my name, reflected the need for the first, second and third tiers of our pension system to be repaired in the long term. This amendment relates to a more urgent issue. The Minister has acknowledged that the current position is unequal....

Seanad: Finance Bill 2016: Second Stage (1 Dec 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome the Minister to the House and thank him for presenting the Bill. I will highlight a couple of areas which are very positive. I recognise the home carer tax credit is a positive move. I echo the comments on the Living City initiative. It is important and could with merit be expanded to towns in the country because a number of towns could benefit from a similar initiative. To...

Seanad: Knowledge Development Box (Certification of Inventions) Bill 2016: Second Stage (30 Nov 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome the Minister back to the House. I thank her for bringing this Bill through the House. The Bill proposes to expand access to the preferential tax rate for income generated on intellectual property and patents under the premise of nurturing innovation, encouraging companies to locate high-value jobs in Ireland, and promoting economic growth. I accept that the development of...

Seanad: Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign: Motion (30 Nov 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: In respect of Fianna Fáil's amendment, if there is a desire to put forward a motion at the finance committee, I urge the party to do that in addition to supporting the very necessary motion put forward by Senator Norris.

Seanad: Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign: Motion (30 Nov 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That would be an addition we could support. In terms of the question of Bank of Ireland not showing up and that we would respond at that point, I note that it has already not shown up because it has failed to provide any satisfactory explanation for the closure of the bank account. We have already arrived at the point where it has failed to account notwithstanding that it has had the...