Results 121-140 of 538 for long speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (7 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...we are not having cake and also not eating it whereby it is not on the electoral commission's agenda because the Government chose not to put it on the electoral commission's agenda and it will also no longer be on the Government’s agenda. I am not okay with the idea that I will be sitting here hearing Ministers say they will not say anything about Seanad reform forever because we...

Seanad: Circular Economy, Waste Management (Amendment) and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (7 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: .... Amendment No. 14 seeks to ensure that sectoral arrangements that may be made under this Act are not voluntary but, in fact, mandatory. That is probably one of the most important amendments of all. Having a long statement about all of the circular economy strategy and all of these matters, the idea of having "on a voluntary basis" attached to all of that for every sector - leaving...

Seanad: Circular Economy, Waste Management (Amendment) and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (7 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...what might happen. Anything that is responding to climate change is effectively emergency legislation, in that it is taking place within a very narrow emergency time period. We did not have such long periods of review in respect of our Covid-19 legislation because it was dealing with an emergency situation and we should not have such long periods of review in respect of our climate...

Seanad: Circular Economy, Waste Management (Amendment) and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (7 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...is through the reuse and best possible resource management of precious metals. We should be looking at centuries of use for any precious metals that have been extracted, because they last that long. There are vast amounts of precious metals - in fact you can mine more gold from discarded tech than you can from a relative volume of mineral ore. Instead, we have continued with an infinite...

Seanad: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...things like preparing the register and preparing measures around nominations. At a very minimum, amendment No. 54 simply asks that we would have, within 12 months, a report outlining exactly how long-promised Seanad reform was going to come about. I sometimes get tired of people saying the Seanad will not reform because it cannot reform. The Seanad is very willing to reform itself and...

Seanad: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...was "Open it, Don't close it". Every Seanad since has been in place on sufferance of the fact that the public gave a mandate for reform. To move past that, glibly dismiss it, put it on the long finger and say the Government has loads of issues to deal with when all kinds of other issues have been added to the electoral commission’s work, including the running of lotteries, is...

Seanad: Higher Education Authority Bill 2022: Committee Stage (6 Jul 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...it is foundational legislation that will change the agenda for the next 50 years. If it is significant legislation that has significant repercussions and we should be allowed to debate it for as long as is required, with that debate to continue in autumn if necessary. I ask the Minister to be clear on whether he is opposing the introduction of a guillotine on Report Stage of the Bill...

Seanad: Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (23 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ..., but not for the period of time within which resolution or a response is to be given or in which redress should be provided. People who have made a whistleblowing complaint often wait a very long time, as the Minister has heard. I am glad he gave some acknowledgement in his earlier amendment. Some people who made a complaint many years ago are still awaiting the information on what...

Seanad: Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (23 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...about concerns with other articles of the directive and there will be further discussion later. We will press the amendment. The Minister has given his reasons but for those waiting for very long time and for the kind of culture shift that we want to see happen, time is really important. We hope that even on the back of this legislation happening, a strong signal for early action is...

Seanad: Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (23 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...must establish, maintain and operate internal reporting channels and procedures. It proposes a shift in the timeline from 17 December 2023 to 30 June 2023. It just shifts the time because we have waited a very long time for this. Something that is 18 months away feels too long and 12 months is more than adequate. These are companies with 250 or more employees, so they are quite large....

Seanad: Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (23 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...would be regressive. I know that is not in any way the intention of the Minister. I am sorry to go to a bad case scenario but, unfortunately, we have to do so. In general, this is part of the long legacy of whistleblowing in Ireland, from which I hope we are moving forward. The Minister is aware, however, that if all the significant energy the State and various entities and private...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Service Performance Report: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...to balance sheets. I am adding these questions in for whomever can answer them. Has there been an examination in terms of a cost-benefit analysis of leasing versus capital expenditure versus long-term ownership? I would also like to hear about the EU semester process and the kinds of indicators on performance we might be integrating into that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Service Performance Report: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...perhaps do not have thoughts on it for now and nobody is really engaged, perhaps they could follow in up writing. The semester process became very much about the annual indicators and the long-term timeframe was lost. As a result, I believe Europe lost a decade when it should have been investing heavily in the green transition and, indeed, areas like the digital transition. That is one...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...environmental and other standards that were needed. That was a crucial power local authorities had to require a developer to seek substitute consent to regularise the position. This measure, along with a long series of decisions made in this House during the past two years, signifies yet another power of local authorities that is being eroded. Many of us are sick of hearing things...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...important amendment in terms of the implications of the Act. We have heard different opinions on what unfolds and again, the period is six months. Perhaps, as Senator Boyhan has suggested, that should be longer. It could be ten months, 18 months or two years but I think it is better to catch problems quickly rather than letting them run and repairing them afterwards. This amendment...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Vaccination Programme (15 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...that it looks like diagnostics and therapeutics, which are the crucial other part for those who have suffered from Covid-19 due to the neglect of the global north, are still being put on the long finger. We need to do more and better. Is Ireland taking the side of those seeking to strengthen these proposals in the negotiations, or is it joining the voices seeking to weaken them?

Seanad: Address to Seanad Éireann by Members of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (14 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...the 13-25 principle. We know that is what makes peace negotiations work They must be strongly in it. President Zelenskyy mentioned community development when he addressed the Oireachtas. That long work of peacebuilding is there. We will be there to support Ukraine in all of that and look forward to a future where children will be laughing and there will be a strong, independent...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...created whereby a good financial case outweighs concerns around the environmental impact. A compelling environmental case has been put and we should consider looking at one environmental impact alongside another environmental impact. However, when financial impacts are added in, there is the creation of a situation where like is not compared with like. There is a financial benefit,...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...what the big wind energy producers told us in the committee what they want to see, which is a better process into the future - not just a quicker process but a better process because that is quicker in the long run.

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Report Stage (14 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...way to achieve that necessary goal. Amendment No. 2 puts "illegal birth registration" within the definition of "incorrect". Amendment No. 25 is another attempt to do this. I am conscious of how long and arduous this process is so these amendments have all sought to find the most efficient possible way to achieve the desired change. Amendment No. 25 simply suggests that everywhere...