Results 81-100 of 346 for speaker:Jim Higgins

Seanad: Book of Estimates 2004: Statements. (26 Nov 2003)

Jim Higgins: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Parlon, to the House. The chickens have come home to roost and the double-digit public spending spree of 2001 has caught up with the Government. An election was just around the corner in 2001 when a reckless Government lashed out public money as if there was no tomorrow. As the Minister of State said, public spending increased by a whopping 20.1% over...

Seanad: Book of Estimates 2004: Statements. (26 Nov 2003)

Jim Higgins: One political certainty is that the Government will pay a high political price in the local and European elections next June.

Seanad: Book of Estimates 2004: Statements. (26 Nov 2003)

Jim Higgins: In the Estimates, the Government has targeted cuts at some of the most vulnerable sectors of society. The Minister of State was not a Member of the Oireachtas when another famous slogan won a general election for Fianna Fáil. I can clearly remember the poster with Charles J. Haughey beckoning in the direction of the slogan, "health cuts hit the old, the sick and the handicapped". The...

Seanad: Book of Estimates 2004: Statements. (26 Nov 2003)

Jim Higgins: Extravagant figures are being agreed county by country and this is from a Government that abolished the first-time buyer's grant of £3,000 or €3,700 last year. I am looking at the figures, for example, on capital expenditure. That is where the money should be going, into capital expenditure, into transport, into infrastructure, into developing the nuts and bolts of the economy to attract...

Seanad: Order of Business. (25 Nov 2003)

Jim Higgins: If we adopt the elaborate programme outlined by Senator Leyden, we will be sitting Saturdays and Sundays as well.

Seanad: Order of Business. (25 Nov 2003)

Jim Higgins: I support the call by the Fine Gael leader, Senator Brian Hayes, and by Senators O'Toole and Norris for an immediate debate on the exemption offered to France and Germany yesterday by their fellow Ministers for Finance, which I cannot understand. France and Germany were supposed to be our role models in terms of our financial and economic performance and of qualifying. I remember representing...

Seanad: Order of Business. (25 Nov 2003)

Jim Higgins: Yet they have been afforded a special concession which will completely derail and disrupt the Stability and Growth Pact with obvious consequences. We need an immediate debate on that. In his budget speech in December 1999 the Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy, promised that by the middle of 2001 an elaborate programme involving the decentralisation of 10,000 jobs to the regions would be...

Seanad: Order of Business. (12 Nov 2003)

Jim Higgins: I fully support the call from all sides of the House regarding the debate on the proposals on prison reform made by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The Minister responded to the gangland murders in Limerick and the collapse of the Limerick murder trial by saying he would not be goaded into a knee-jerk reaction. However, his announcement yesterday is a typical knee-jerk...

Seanad: Courts and Court Officers (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second and Subsequent Stages. - National Drugs Strategy: Motion. (12 Nov 2003)

Jim Higgins: I wish to share time with Senator Finucane and Senator Brian Hayes.

Seanad: Courts and Court Officers (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second and Subsequent Stages. - National Drugs Strategy: Motion. (12 Nov 2003)

Jim Higgins: As has been pointed out forcibly and articulately by my colleague, Senator Feighan, whom I commend on bringing this timely and opportune motion before the House, the twin scourges of modern society in Ireland are alcohol and drugs. The report on the European survey, which I have read in detail, is excellent in its critical analysis and its recommendations. There have been numerous reports,...

Seanad: National Development Plan Mid-Term Evaluation: Statements. (5 Nov 2003)

Jim Higgins: Last week's ESRI's halfway progress report on the NDP is a damning indictment of the management of the biggest investment programme in the history of the State. The ESRI judgment was clinical, crisp and critical. The clear message is that the thrust of the programme of the NDP is sound, but the Government is manifestly incapable of managing a €51 billion programme, designed to create a...

Seanad: National Development Plan Mid-Term Evaluation: Statements. (5 Nov 2003)

Jim Higgins: It is nice.

Seanad: Order of Business. (4 Nov 2003)

Jim Higgins: On 26 January next the blanket ban on smoking in the workplace will come into operation. I have no problem with certain restrictions on smoking. The evidence of the damage that smoking, including passive smoking, does is incontrovertible. However, certain aspects of the regulation are over the top. In particular, in the event of somebody deciding to light up in a pub the publican has the full...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters. - Landslide Relief. (15 Oct 2003)

Jim Higgins: I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach and the Cathaoirleach for choosing this matter for discussion on the Adjournment.

Seanad: Adjournment Matters. - Landslide Relief. (15 Oct 2003)

Jim Higgins: I thank the Minister of State for his reply and for indicating that ex gratia payments will be made on humanitarian grounds. He stated also that it is not intended that there would be compensation for losses. What exactly does he mean? For example, does he mean that in the case of households or dwelling houses which have been destroyed or damaged there will not be compensation? In the case of...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters. - Landslide Relief. (15 Oct 2003)

Jim Higgins: What is the amount of the ex gratia payments?

Seanad: Adjournment Matters. - Landslide Relief. (15 Oct 2003)

Jim Higgins: In the case of uninsured properties will compensation apply?

Seanad: Adjournment Matters. - Landslide Relief. (15 Oct 2003)

Jim Higgins: I thank the Minister of State.

Seanad: Benchmarking: Motion. (8 Oct 2003)

Jim Higgins: I move: That Seanad Éireann resolves that payment of the remaining phases of benchmarking be suspended pending the implementation of a serious reform package which would yield improvements in the quality of services delivered to the public commensurate with the extra cost involved.

Seanad: Benchmarking: Motion. (8 Oct 2003)

Jim Higgins: We did not make the deal.