Results 141-160 of 539 for long speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

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...

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...". I do not know why we should not insert a more expansive framework to give us that scope. The layers of the architecture involved are only coming out into the light now. They were around for a long time. Consider how long it took us from the point that cases of illegal adoptions from St. Patrick's Guild were flagged to when we began dealing with the issue. Neither the Minister nor I...

Seanad: Protection of the Native Irish Honey Bee Bill 2021: Second Stage (2 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...by the importation of diseases and pathogens for the horticultural industry as well. The law is very clear on this. It should not be an obstacle. I say this as somebody who spent way too long deep in EU trade law. The law is not an obstacle in this regard. We are empowered to take the actions that have been outlined by Senator Martin in this regard. I think it will be followed...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with the EU Commissioner for Energy (2 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...on the LNG market will lead to an acceleration in methane emissions. There are concerns about that. I also know that - and this relates to the substitutions and the dangers of tying ourselves long term to fossil fuel infrastructure and new fossil fuel - Qatar, for example, about which Human Rights Watch has raised very significant concerns, is one of the major producers of LNG and one...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Jun 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...involve extraordinary pressures for individuals who may be affected by the measures in this Bill. We need to recognise that timeliness has an impact in this regard. This is not about people choosing to address a long-standing issue but persons who are reaching out during a time of significant pressure or difficulty for them. In that regard, they should not simply have an entitlement to...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ..." on amendment No. 196 but I disagree on the Minister's points relating to amendments Nos. 197 and 198. There is a very large discretionary power being given to the authorised officer for as long as he or she reasonably believes necessary. There must be some form of time limit. I am not necessarily suggesting this should be every eight weeks but I am saying if it is longer than eight...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...of the moneys recovered from financial sanction to enhance people's participation in digital spaces and to be empowered in their engagement in the media. This comes from something I have pushed for a very long time, namely, that a portion of fines under GDPR should be reserved to be used to give people an understanding of their data rights and to give them the skills and abilities to...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...Their amendments talk to the need for this to be a substantive area, be it 3% to 5% or more, of expenditure. My amendments are a whole series of little ones and are around that diversity piece, along with a few others. I will go through them quite quickly now. I will not be moving my amendment No. 211 when it comes up because I do not believe it is correctly placed and we have already...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (26 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...spend 30 years working in the sector, for example. I was really interested in Dr. Barry's comments around value and how value is calculated. We did not have a survey on wealth information for a long time but the deprivation index was a reverse way to see who did not have wealth, namely, lone parents among whom there were extraordinarily high levels of deprivation. Similarly, there is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (26 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I have one supplementary question which I forgot to mention when talking about the cost of care. I used to sit on the Joint Committee on Disability Matters and it was a long battle to get that cost of disability report by Indecon published. It is being looked at now with regard to those invisible costs that get carried by people who have a disability. It might be interesting for us to get...

Seanad: Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage (25 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...there is a blurring of the line. Yes, of course, we need to guard against the blurring of the line but we also know there are situations where people who complain, and who many times will complain long before they make a protected disclosure, can be targeted within their workplaces. Therefore, they may well have interpersonal grievances or be subject to grievance procedures or other...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ..., it is not simply to kind of cheerlead the report; it is to ensure that everything has happened as we all hope it will and that it is working well. I subsequently suggest that every three years thereafter is too long and propose that it be done every year. I am more flexible on that. I know it may be unduly onerous to report every year. I was seeking to be consistent. The important...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...wayside or is there on the player for a while or wherever else or in the archives, effectively much of what is broadcast online remains very much effectively current, searchable and findable for a very long time. Presumably it is not a vexatious situation. If somebody is going to complain about everything, they will complain when it first happens. However, they may also not be aware of...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...proposal put forward by Sinn Féin colleagues, I explained the understanding and reason people have for not wanting it to be limited, but wanting to name many forms of personal data. It is from a long record of a minimalist approach to what gets shared, and that is where that very long and comprehensive definition comes in. I would perhaps urge the Minister, if he is not accepting...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...of a statement. The Minister might clarify why that is. In general, our preference is for the use of the word "shall" throughout the Bill, wherever that is possible. I apologise that my contribution is long, but this is a large grouping of amendments. Amendment No. 43 is another consequential amendment to amendment No. 69. There are numerous references to this "information session"...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...or wrongful expectations in relation to a child when he or she was being boarded out or fostered out. That kind of mechanical information about where a person went, when they went and for how long is present. However, I included that amendment around issues like correspondence to give texture to why this happened and what the experience was. That is what I was looking for. The Minister...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...do not mind the word being in the Bill. Some of the amendments suggest the removal of all references to "incorrect". I do not mind "incorrect" being there, but it needs to have "illegal" placed alongside it. That is very important because, as Senator Boyhan says, many of the illegal registrations are known about and that has been the case for a long period without being properly...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...to it and I appreciate the nuances of investigations and the patterns. In cases such as those that were revealed in relation to St. Patrick’s Guild, it is questionable that the State had to go on a long fishing expedition to look at potential patterns, rather than doing what it should be doing - investigating evidence of illegality and pursuing it in a proper way. The State should...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...had lengthy discussions on the general data protection regulation. Some of my very first discussions on this were back in 2018 when that regulation had come into effect. There has been a very long journey of understanding the implications of the GDPR within all of the relevant bodies, including Tusla, the Adoption Authority of Ireland and the Department. The GDPR changed things and...

Seanad: Quality in Public Procurement (Contract Preparation and Award Criteria) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (18 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...the line arising from supplementary claims. We could list examples, from CervicalCheck to Carillion and others, where taking the lowest price approach has ended up costing the State more in the long run. My Bill does not remove the existing discretion. That was an option when the directive was originally being transposed. The 2014 directive encouraged states to use procurement as an...