Results 1,341-1,360 of 8,768 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Protection of Private Residencies (Against Targeted Picketing) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: These are issues I hope the Joint Committee on Justice will be able to engage with. I do not think that any of us wants to see canvassing outlawed and this might have been one of the unintended consequences in relation to approaching a residence with the intention of influencing a person. Canvassing is probably one of the greatest protections we have, indeed, against the kind of...

Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (23 May 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: First of all, I welcome the Minister of State to the committee and it is good to see her in her new role and capacity. I also thank her, in particular, for opening up and talking about the journey of decisions. I think it is an area which is outside the remit of this committee but I feel that it is very complementary to it and could be strengthened in some of its earlier parts in the...

Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (23 May 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: First, Senator O'Reilly is right on the actual fundamental reason for this. I focused on it because you get better legislation. The actual fundamental piece as well - this was clear, coming from the Future of Europe process - is the connect with the public that people see, and the decisions that affect them. They really do affect them. These are very significant. Every decision about...

Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (23 May 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: -----but there are going to be areas where people will have an expertise that they want to bring in. It is important that it is there because members of the public give us our mandate and they are the ones who are going to be affected by the decisions. I think the fact that they would have sight of the legislation that shapes their lives is really appropriate.

Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (23 May 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I have specific questions but I do not know if this is the context-----

Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (23 May 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Sure. I am just saying that we could signal, for example, the kinds of issues. We do not need an answer now perhaps, but we could signal the issues. For example, there is the equal pay for equal work. That is pending very soon. There is the question of the directive on the adequate minimum wage. Will that be done by primary or secondary legislation? These are a few of the kinds of...

Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (23 May 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I have two very short points. One is that it is important we focus a lot on subsidarity. However, it is not only about subsidiarity. It is also a matter of at all stages, including when we get a communication and when there is transposition, what the best practice and best idea is for Europe. We are transposing at one level but there are also other parts in the process in terms of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Scrutiny of EU Proposals (22 May 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Professor Maguire might do so via the clerk.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Scrutiny of EU Proposals (22 May 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: On the question of exports, and without naming any companies, we know that arms exports from Germany to Israel have increased since last year from €30 million to over €300 million. That is a tenfold increase in the number of arms being exported from Germany. I believe German companies are among those that will potentially benefit from the arms and ammunition schemes. We do not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Scrutiny of EU Proposals (22 May 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: With regard to the transit of weapons, which is a separate issue that we definitely do not have time to discuss today, the Civil Engagement Group is bringing our arms embargo Bill through the Seanad next week. It is explicitly on the question of the transfer of weapons and the need to look at stopping the practice of exemptions for weaponry, which we have at present, and ensure we have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Scrutiny of EU Proposals (22 May 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: On the Act.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Scrutiny of EU Proposals (22 May 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will put the question directly to the Commission. As I understand it, there was a qualified majority vote. There are two elements. There is Article 42.1 of the treaty potentially being breached by the very point the Act very clearly has military or defence implications. Ammunition manufacture has military and defence implications. Even if it were legal under EU law, which is very...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Scrutiny of EU Proposals (22 May 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: And our neutrality, of course.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Scrutiny of EU Proposals (22 May 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: A large number of academics, their representative organisations and others made submissions in respect of the Horizon proposals in the context of being explicitly clear that they support the retention of a civil focus.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Scrutiny of EU Proposals (22 May 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank everyone for those answers. Cluster munitions are one thing; nuclear non-proliferation is also relevant, as is the general question of arms manufacture. I do not know if Mr. Fairmichael was there at the time, but I think Mr. Murray was. Will Mr. Murray comment on the treaty negotiation and the particular role Ireland was able to play? That gives the context for the cluster...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Scrutiny of EU Proposals (22 May 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I cannot speak for everyone. We will have a private session afterwards, during which we will discuss everything. I can highlight that these hearings come in the context of a communication that came to us. The money had already been allocated. I understand contracts are going to be signed in respect of the €500 million. I have a breakdown showing a figure of €124 million for...