Results 81-100 of 8,196 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries and Ministerial, Parliamentary, Judicial and Court Offices (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage (13 Feb 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I just want to check something.

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries and Ministerial, Parliamentary, Judicial and Court Offices (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage (13 Feb 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Okay, so my colleagues will both get to speak.

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries and Ministerial, Parliamentary, Judicial and Court Offices (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage (13 Feb 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Maybe I can give two minutes to my colleagues as I am not going to be very long, and then the others can share the ten minutes between them, if that is okay.

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries and Ministerial, Parliamentary, Judicial and Court Offices (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage (13 Feb 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will be very brief because I do not have amendments in this and those who do have amendments will be speaking and putting forward very good cases for why we need very good cases when making such a decision and, given, in fairness, some of what has been put forward by some of the Members regarding the arguments for why we need the Ministers of State, the importance of us actually having and...

Seanad: Cathaoirleach a Thoghadh - Election of Cathaoirleach (12 Feb 2025)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I join in congratulating everybody who has been elected and re-elected. Specifically, I congratulate the Cathaoirleach. He understands very well, of course, that the mandate as Cathaoirleach is not a mandate from Government but a mandate from the House and from all across the Seanad. In his previous term as Cathaoirleach, he showed that he understood very well that responsibility to the...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Air Navigation Orders (7 Nov 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: What inspections have taken place under the Air Navigation (Carriage of Munitions of War, Weapons and Dangerous Goods) Order since May 2024 to enforce the prohibition of the use of Irish airspace for the carriage of munitions of war, weapons, ammunition and dangerous goods, including dual-use goods? What exemptions have been granted under that order? This is important. I have included...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Air Navigation Orders (7 Nov 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: What I am hearing is that the "eyes wide shut" approach is continuing.There is a suggestion there has been no inspection despite the litany of reports we have seen. We are not calling for random inspections, we are calling for very real and reasonably targeted inspections of flights coming from countries such as the US and Germany in particular, which have been shown to be carrying arms. We...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Air Navigation Orders (7 Nov 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It would be more credible if the Government took the powers it has and used them to the fullest extent. That the legislation is from the 1970s and 1980s does not tell us anything. I have explicitly read into the record the powers that are there at present. Obviously we should have stronger powers but we should certainly have a first step which not only looks at the legislation but begins...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (7 Nov 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I join my colleague Senator Flynn, who mentioned everyone who works in these Houses, the many people who make what we do possible and support it, in thanking all of them. I also thank my staff, Ciara, Georgia, Robbie and Sebastian and the wonderful Saran Fogarty who recently moved on to new exciting jobs but who was a great partner in the work in the past few years. I thank my colleagues in...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Second Stage (6 Nov 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: First, I welcome the Minister to the House. I look forward to engaging with him within the same period of time. It is always unfortunate when Bills are pushed through on all Stages, but hopefully we will get to Committee Stage this afternoon. I hope to have the opportunity to engage with the Minister on a number of amendments, one or two of which are recommendations regarding procurement....

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Second Stage (6 Nov 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That is no problem. As I said, gender- and equality-proofing of pensions are particularly crucial when we consider the very worrying proposal on the social protection side to potentially extend the requirement from 20 years' worth of contributions to 40 years' worth will leave many people, particularly women, on reduced-rate pensions because they will not have 40 years of contributions in...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will speak a little further to recommendation No. 36, which is in this group. The purpose of this recommendation is to seek a report. The Minister mentioned the issue for report and the many reports that have been compiled, but the issues I am asking to be properly reported on and examined are those in respect of which there is a real lacuna. My proposed report would look to an...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome that those factors will be considered. It is in line with what we saw in terms of equality budgeting in Scotland, where there was a move from original expenditure to looking to tax expenditures in terms of tax reliefs and so forth. Will there be an explicit gender disaggregation in the context of that equality analysis?

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I would appreciate any correspondence in that regard.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Minister.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will not go over these aspects in detail again. I had some discussion in this regard with the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, when he was in. I just wish to signal this issue again in response to his response. I refer to the auto-enrolment retirement savings system. I am significantly concerned regarding what I believe is a lacuna concerning ethical oversight in respect of those...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: No. I was speaking to the section. I think the Minister was remarking on Senator Gavan's recommendation.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I believe a mistake has been made and I have signalled this very clearly to the Minister, Deputy Humphreys. I am now signalling it to the Minister and his Department. This scheme is not the same as a private or occupational pension scheme in that the State is determining, in effect, the eligible vehicles in this regard. The State is contributing a great deal of the money in this context...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will speak briefly in support of this recommendation. As a member of the finance committee, I know it is an issue we have examined. This backlog has caused considerable distress both for those who work for the Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal and, crucially, for the disabled drivers who have found themselves in limbo waiting for their appeals to be addressed. I endorse this...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: These recommendations are very much related to my own recommendation No. 42, which I thought might be grouped with these recommendations, although it is fine that it is not. We know that a huge amount of expenditure goes into the research and development tax relief but we do not have the information on how that is being done. I support the recommendations. While my own recommendation,...