Results 161-180 of 538 for long speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...yet the individual may not be aware of that fact. My concerns are not solely confined to whistleblower scenarios but they are a good example whereby we know there are protections. I mean we know that there is a long record of punitive measures, of targeting and other ways that persons may be targeted. If somebody is not even aware of a complaint then he or she is operating blind. Such...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...I recognise there is some necessity for proportionality in subsection (2), but I still have concerns with regard to regulations downstream. Data protection impact assessments are not necessarily long or arduous processes, especially when they are applied regularly in new provisions and regulations. I hope our capacity as a State to use them effectively and regularly will continue. It is...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...directive, with the algorithms, is because there has been a decision that we need to regulate. In the United States and other countries, there has been a self-regulatory approach for a very long time. I refer to anything that gives us a self-regulatory approach, and particularly in relation to commercial communications and interests. I have been speaking on, for example, the marketing...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...that there be a derogation but I believe it should be a time-limited derogation. My concern is licences and derogations could be issued where the full identity of that sound broadcaster for a long period is in no way contributing to the public good. Even the fact it is limited to the listeners of that service is an issue. The duty is not solely to the consumers because there is a duty...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...by comparison with the global average, which is 40%. Globally, the ratio of those who breastfeed to those who do not and may use formula is almost 50:50, but Ireland is only at 6%. In Ireland, we have a long tradition of not promoting or supporting breastfeeding in the way it should be. We are now seeing measures, which are welcome, on lactation, with an increase in the number of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: New National Maternity Hospital: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...not got the necessary focus and it would merit elaboration. While the rent is currently set at €850,000 per year, which is close to €1 million per year, it is waived to be €10 per year, so long as the permitted use, which is subject to the double constraints of being clinically appropriate and legally permissible, continues. The Minister tells us the hospital is only...

Seanad: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Second Stage (10 May 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...clearly should be there. The Minister will understand that while we may have faith in him that he intends to designate all the relevant bodies, as legislators and people who have been waiting a long time, we want to see as much of that as possible in the legislation at the outset, while making it clear that the list is not exclusive or closed. Others have noted that it is good that it...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Apr 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: .... The optional protocol allows for the individual complaints mechanism. That may be one of the reasons we want to get it into legislation early because if we wait a while, we can end up waiting a long time. The optional protocol to it is still to be brought through. The actual articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities are there and have been...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (26 Apr 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...other areas of advertising that are of significant concern. I could list them all but we are going from breast milk substitute advertising to gambling, cryptocurrency advertising and conversion therapy, which I mentioned before. There is a long litany of groups that are concerned about the impacts harmful advertising can have so it would be a disservice to them if this Bill fell short....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: New Retrofitting Plan and the Built Environment: Discussion (26 Apr 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...a theory of sunlight. Sunlight is important concerning energy emissions, because if we have buildings that do not get light, if there are effectively tunnels in the city that are dark all day long, that means electricity will be used for most of the day. I ask Ms Lindblom to comment on the importance of the theory of light and sunlight regarding emissions. Finally, and to follow up...

Seanad: Animal Health and Welfare and Forestry (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021: Report Stage (29 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...widest sense. The definition of "native tree area" relates to spaces of less than 1 ha is one part but also basically just relates to the width of the planting. The concern in this regard is that long, narrow strips could fulfil the criteria of native tree area but cover an area larger than 1 ha and evade the criteria that would normally be applied to them under the forestry legislation....

Seanad: Animal Health and Welfare and Forestry (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021: Report Stage (29 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...and strip planting. The reason it is very important is strip planting, which is at risk of becoming strip farming, should be in native tree areas. We know there is a requirement for it to be long term and permanent but strip planting is more likely than the other part of the native tree area. We know the area of not less than 0.1 ha and not greater 1 ha is a certain kind of area, but...

Seanad: Animal Health and Welfare and Forestry (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021: Report Stage (29 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: .... The concern about willow planting or biofuel planting potentially coming indirectly under this scheme has been mentioned. Moreover, there is concern about the grants being given in respect of long-term forestry projects only. This part of the amendment is a reasonable compromise that addresses both these issues. It addresses thinning, and while thinning can be problematic, there are...

Seanad: Animal Health and Welfare and Forestry (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021: Report Stage (29 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That is not written in the Long Title of the Bill. This is simply an assertion of the Seanad Office. I appreciate the Minister has not made this decision.

Seanad: Housing Policy: Motion (2 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...new contracts being signed again this week with hotels in respect of direct provision. I understand that these are the emergency measures being used, the fig leaves, but they have been used for a long time. If we are to address this, what we need to understand is that the market's goals and the State's goals are not necessarily aligned. The most important line in the motion is an...

Seanad: Situation in the Middle East: Statements (1 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...but what has happened in between is so important. While the world has continued to not act on Israel's breach of international human rights and humanitarian law, while we have continued to play a long waiting game of occasionally expressed disapproval, we have seen a culture of impunity build up. That has reached a level now where evictions are happening almost daily in East Jerusalem....

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Second Stage (22 Feb 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome the Minister to the House. She can hear the interest in this Bill as it is discussed. For a long time there was a little bit of complacency among some of the major players in the tech industry around the idea that they would always be slightly ahead of Government and regulation and that this was an area of such complexity. I remember being in a situation once when I was told that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (22 Feb 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...image and, indeed, to support that across Europe. In respect of the taxonomy piece, if there is dilution, it will not only mean investment going in to gas, gas infrastructure and the prolongation of gas infrastructure, but it is also investment that will go against the truly sustainable future in terms of green hydrogen. There is a tension. I ask the witnesses to comment on whether...

Seanad: Animal Health and Welfare and Forestry (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Feb 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...;Subject to subsection (3), this Act". Amendment No. 1 facilitates amendment No. 2, which proposes the insertion of a substantial new subsection into the Act. The subsection proposed in amendment No. 2 is a longer amendment than I would usually submit. That is because there is a significant and real concern about the way these issues have been addressed and the fact that these...

Seanad: Electricity Costs (Domestic Electricity Accounts) Emergency Measures Bill 2022: Second Stage (15 Feb 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...to do better planning for the next measures we bring in. We are in a climate crisis. The cost-of-living crisis has received a huge amount of attention in recent weeks. It has been felt by people for a long time. The most fundamental distortion in most households' costs is housing but we will put that aside for now. When we talk about the cost-of-living crisis, I sometimes wonder if we...