Results 1,341-1,360 of 8,196 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Climate Action and Biodiversity (Mandates of Certain Organisations) Bill 2023: First Stage (11 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Turf Development Act 1946 and the Forestry Act 1988 in order to reflect obligations regarding climate action and the protection and enhancement of biodiversity in the mandate and functions of the organisations established under those Acts.

Seanad: Climate Action and Biodiversity (Mandates of Certain Organisations) Bill 2023: First Stage (11 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Next Tuesday.

Seanad: Electoral Reform (Amendment) and Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage (10 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I wish to share time with Senator Ruane. I welcome the Minister to the House. We are proposing this legislation today to address a number of the key issues and gaps in terms of our electoral law with an overarching aim of enhancing democratic participation and voting rights. As we celebrated Vótáil 100 only a couple of years...

Seanad: Electoral Reform (Amendment) and Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage (10 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Minister may be looking forward to ongoing discourse. I am quite tired of ongoing discourse because, with respect, the discourse has moved backwards. In the last Oireachtas the Government pretended it wanted to deliver Seanad reform. In the current Oireachtas, the Government has removed it from the programme for Government. It is clear it has taken only the action it has been forced...

Seanad: Electoral Reform (Amendment) and Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage (10 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I say that with absolute personal respect for the Minister. I know the Green Party would have liked this to be in the programme for Government, but frankly that is why we will have to press this. I think an opportunity has been missed to bring light to this issue, and to move it forward. The Minister should bear in mind that every time the public has been asked the question, in 2013 and in...

Seanad: Electoral Reform (Amendment) and Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage (10 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That is what is happening. I welcome the Minister's engagement on the vote at 16. In terms of timelines that is urgent, because we have elections coming in May 2024. As my colleagues have mentioned, this is not just something that has been proven to work. The European Parliament has asked countries to ensure that 16-year-olds can have a say. I was part of the future of Europe process...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Examination of EU Fiscal Rules (Resumed): Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (10 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is a very interesting discussion. I wish to pick up on the discussion of previous fiscal rules. Mr. Barnes mentioned the one-twentieth rule and how poorly thought-out it was. I am concerned that there is not a sufficient evolution from the previous fiscal rules. Regarding consequences, I think Mr. Barnes mentioned the lack of enforceabilty and compliance but the consequences have been...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Examination of EU Fiscal Rules (Resumed): Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (10 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Politically, the assumption should be that major factors can and will change. One such factor, which is not speculation and we know is a major factor, is climate. While Ireland may be in a position to invest in climate, I am very concerned that climate is not something that can be tackled as one country. The EU, for example, needs to tackle it collectively, as indeed does the world. I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Examination of EU Fiscal Rules (Resumed): Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (10 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: In climate, countries are being asked to adjust downwards, potentially year on year, at a time when we know major transitions involved in climate require front-loaded expenditure. Some of that front-loaded expenditure, as we have mentioned, is not going to be reflected in four- or seven-year profit or growth figures. It is going to be preventative in that it will be reflected in the ten- to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Examination of EU Fiscal Rules (Resumed): Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (10 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am looking to the fact that the 60% and the 3% are arbitrary constructs and, while we need to set a construct perhaps somewhere, the climate science is quite clear and is a very hard science in that regard. It is a concern. The fiscal rules have had an impact. I mentioned the example of leasing. If we look forward, another example, which is a consequence of the previous application, is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Examination of EU Fiscal Rules (Resumed): Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (10 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is broadly acknowledged that there have been problems with the rules. To be clear, it is not a simple matter of public expenditure that caused the crisis. It was speculation. Part of it is areas of the economy being left in a space for speculation, which can prove to be expensive and inflationary. We have seen, for example, significant inflation in respect of housing costs that is not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Examination of EU Fiscal Rules (Resumed): Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (10 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That is fine, Chair. I have waited until last. I will outline my points here if I can have answers on two issues in respect of the potential role of the independent fiscal institutions, IFIs. In respect of debt sustainability assessments and the assumptions that go into them, does IFAC see a role for itself in the input of those assumptions and, for example, does the council see that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Examination of EU Fiscal Rules (Resumed): Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (10 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Is that just financial risks, just to clarify the point, or is there a space for incorporating those other risks with regard to preventative risks and spending?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Examination of EU Fiscal Rules (Resumed): Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (10 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Is that within the carbon budgets at an EU and the national level? Do the carbon budgets sit within that or does this budgetary framework sit within the carbon envelope or carbon budget, effectively?

Seanad: Address to Seanad Éireann by Ms Mairead McGuinness, European Commissioner (9 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome the Commissioner to the House on Europe Day, as we are reflecting on the 50th anniversary of Ireland's membership. When we look to what is valued by citizens in Ireland and why there is that trust of Europe, it is that legacy that Europe had in helping create the collective momentum for change in areas such as gender equality, workers' rights, LGBT rights and environmental...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (9 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: There was mention of the administrative error and the issue of the way household customers were being charged to effectively subsidise large energy users. There are two issues in that. There is the Government policy, which Mr. Gannon mentioned, and then there is the administrative error, which was a particularly excessive application of that policy. He mentioned the measures that have been...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (9 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will be very quick with my final point.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (9 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will give two final points, which will add to that very quickly. On the smart meters, I am concerned by the call by the CRU for legislative measures. Does that mean the commission is looking to bypass consent measures in the sharing of data? One of the reasons people do not sign up is there is a lot of ambiguity about how the data will be shared and I am concerned the message today maybe...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (9 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I would like to mention one final issue that is related. There has been an 87% increase in complaints. What issues are those complaints largely relating to? Will Mr. Gannon comment on what measures have been taken to address the fact that Meta was not charged for 18 months?

Seanad: Finance Bill 2023: Committee Stage (4 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move recommendation No. 1: In page 7, between lines 19 and 20, to insert the following: “Report on evidence for special rates of VAT 6. The Minister shall, within three months of the passing of this Act, lay before both Houses of the Oireachtas a report on the evidence base for the extension of the 9 per cent rate of VAT on the supply of certain goods and services in the...