Results 301-320 of 346 for speaker:Jim Higgins

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage. (4 Mar 2003)

Jim Higgins: —in order to check its constitutionality.

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage. (4 Mar 2003)

Jim Higgins: I would imagine in the case of Deputy Ring there will be many bodies willing to throw in their few euro to build up a fund to challenge this sinister legislation.

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage. (4 Mar 2003)

Jim Higgins: One has to ask what the Government is up to. What is the reason for all the urgency and panic? What is the Government afraid of that it publishes draconian legislation at such short notice and proposes to bulldoze it through in such an unseemly fashion?

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage. (4 Mar 2003)

Jim Higgins: What would be wrong with having these revealed? Is it not the most natural thing in the world that in any organisation, Government or otherwise, individuals will hold opinions that differ, often widely? Is it not in the public interest to enable people to see the different perspectives from which individual members of Cabinet come and to have such differences ultimately resolved in a process...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage. (4 Mar 2003)

Jim Higgins: Our problem is with the way the Leader has dealt with this Bill.

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage. (4 Mar 2003)

Jim Higgins: We know.

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage. (4 Mar 2003)

Jim Higgins: He would get a second wind in this House.

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (4 Mar 2003)

Jim Higgins: Why was the Ombudsman excluded?

Seanad: Finance and Related Matters: Statements. (18 Feb 2003)

Jim Higgins: This self-congratulatory motion lauding the Government's management of the public finances is typical of the mechanical phraseology one would expect from the technocrats in the Department of Finance and not from someone with political know-how and experience or with a sense of everyday reality. It refers to the Government's determination and its commitment to keep a tight rein and keen eye on...

Seanad: Finance and Related Matters: Statements. (18 Feb 2003)

Jim Higgins: I am young at heart.

Seanad: Order of Business. (6 Feb 2003)

Jim Higgins: It was only when I rang the Department of Social and Family Affairs on behalf of my local GAA club that I discovered that the student summer job scheme had been abolished. This has come as a thunderbolt. Community organisations have their projects and schemes in place and there was an anticipation that a good scheme offering 200 hours of community work at the princely sum of €770 would be...

Seanad: Order of Business. (6 Feb 2003)

Jim Higgins: I am seeking a debate on the issue as a matter of urgency. This is a retrograde step considering the small amount of money involved.

Seanad: Adjournment Matters. - Morris Tribunal. (6 Feb 2003)

Jim Higgins: The Morris tribunal will shortly commence its public hearing of what exactly the Garda was up to in relation to the deliberate and wrongful attribution of blame to the immediate and extended McBrearty family in the matter of the death of Richie Barron. It will also investigate the planting of explosive devices across the Border in Northern Ireland, the planting of an explosive substance on...

Seanad: Order of Business. (19 Dec 2002)

Jim Higgins: I fully endorse the call by the leader of the Fine Gael group for the presence of a Minister in the House to explain exactly what is the Government's position in response to the breakdown in the partnership talks. It is a tragedy that they have broken down as we are watching the dismantlement of one of the cornerstones of the Celtic tiger. Extrapolating from what was said by Senator O'Toole,...

Seanad: Appropriation Bill, 2002 [Certified Money Bill]: Second and Subsequent Stages. (12 Dec 2002)

Jim Higgins: I welcome the Minister of State. The convention is that the Appropriation Bill is nodded through the Dáil and debated in the Seanad, but a debate is needed this year more than ever on the state of the public finances and the expenditure of public funds over the past 12 months. That is the reason I am glad we have a brief opportunity to debate the legislation. It should have been entitled the...

Seanad: Alcohol Consumption by Young People: Statements. (11 Dec 2002)

Jim Higgins: I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this very important debate, probably one of the most important that we have had in this House in its short time or in the previous Seanad. We are talking about something that goes to the very heart and fabric of society. The Minister of State delivered an extremely good speech which was very good and crisp in its analysis. The reality is that we have...

Seanad: Order of Business. (5 Dec 2002)

Jim Higgins: I raised a very important issue four weeks ago and it has remained unresolved in the interim. The Revenue Commissioners have refused to implement a recommendation of the ombudsman regarding the discrimination in taxation against two widows. The matter is of such importance that the ombudsman deemed it necessary to commission a special report and to set it before the Oireachtas, yet four weeks...

Seanad: National Spatial Strategy: Statements. (5 Dec 2002)

Jim Higgins: When is it proposed to sit again?

Seanad: Budget Statement: Motion. (4 Dec 2002)

Jim Higgins: I move amendment No. 1: After "Budgetary Statement" to add the following: "and deplores the mismanagement of the public finances by the Minister for Finance which will lead to unprecedented cutbacks across every Government Department." This is not a good budget. I listened to the Minister for Finance recite his old mantra this afternoon, when he said that international factors can be blamed...

Seanad: Budget Statement: Motion. (4 Dec 2002)

Jim Higgins: It is well known that small cars generate far fewer greenhouse gas emissions. In doing this we are flouting clear directives from Europe. This is a failed budget and one that the Minister will rue.