Results 81-100 of 7,254 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Address to Seanad Éireann by Mr. Manus Cooney (5 Oct 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome Mr. Cooney to the House and thank him for all his advocacy work in the area of emigration. It comes at a time when voices who have the vision to recognise the positive perspective and contribution emigrants can make are more important than ever. I think of Walt Whitman's line, "I hear America singing, the varied carols I can hear", in a poem in which he sets out his vision of and...

Seanad: Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement: Motion (5 Oct 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move:That Seanad Éireann: being concerned:- that the European Commission proposal that EU member states should sign or support, in the coming weeks, an agreement allowing "provisional application" of the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement, CETA, between Canada and the EU; notes: - that the CETA is one of a "new generation" of trade agreements which includes the Transatlantic...

Seanad: Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement: Motion (5 Oct 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We have a healthy trading agreement with Canada, but this is not about Canada. On the balance of trade, we sell €1 billion of services to Canada but get back almost ten times as much. There is a 2:1 ratio in exports. This is not a new market; it is one with which we have a healthy trading relationship and it will be damaged.

Seanad: Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement: Motion (5 Oct 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach. I will return to some of the points I have made in concluding the debate.

Seanad: Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement: Motion (5 Oct 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Minister. Hillary Clinton spoke two months ago in Michigan. She is a former champion of the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, which was in many ways the template for these trade agreements and was one of the first of the new generation of trade agreements to be passed with these types of mechanisms. She has now changed her position. She now opposes TTIP and the...

Seanad: Action Plan for Education: Statements (6 Oct 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome the Minister and thank him for attending. The plan makes for very interesting reading. I will try to confine my remarks to the specific goals. I hope the Minister will respond on a couple of points under each goal. With regard to goals 1 and 2, on the questions of the learning experience and the progress of learners at risk, reference was made previously to the teacher-pupil...

Seanad: Action Plan for Education: Statements (6 Oct 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is important to assert that, especially in light of the constitutional considerations. Schools should not be property to be transferred to trusts to be administered. They are, in fact, an administration of a duty of the State. That has to take primacy. In that regard, I call for a roadmap on the delivery of the 400 multi-denominational and non-denominational schools and also the...

Seanad: Action Plan for Education: Statements (6 Oct 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I apologise. I will be just 30 seconds more. It is my final point. The roadmap, the baptism barrier and the legislation have been mentioned. My key final point is one that Senator Ruane would make if she were here so, in a way, I am using the time she will not be using. If we want a vibrant research community, we need to invest in public research and higher education funding must be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Lone Parents: Department of Social Protection (6 Oct 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome the officials and thank them for their presentation. Previous speakers have highlighted the amazing number of holes and anomalies in this policy approach and it seems that each time the Department attempts to put a patch on one, another issue arises. There is a patchwork of measures in place to cover over a fundamentally flawed approach. I will not touch on them or the many new...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Lone Parents: Department of Social Protection (6 Oct 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will add a line on that anomaly. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul has proposed that people should be able to receive JST and FIS subject to means testing. That would serve as a way of ensuring that people who wanted to access some of the other measures that come with the jobseeker's transitional payment, JST, for example, would be able to benefit from that while still accessing family...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Lone Parents: Department of Social Protection (6 Oct 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The question of both-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Lone Parents: Department of Social Protection (6 Oct 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: However, there are those particular care concerns, which are recognised through JST. It is an issue we need to return to because it is about the valuing of care alongside the valuing of further engagement with the-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Lone Parents: Department of Social Protection (6 Oct 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank Ms Ward for that presentation. Does she have information on where we are in terms of developing, say, quality part-time activation or training and education measures? I know that has been looked at because previously community employment, CE, schemes tended to be examined. I am aware issues arose around the education and training board, ETB, courses. These transitions are very...

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Oct 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Two weeks ago in the Seanad we passed a motion expressing concerns about certain aspects of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA, between Canada and the EU, focusing in particular on the lack of legal clarity surrounding what "provisional application" might mean. These concerns have been echoed and vindicated across Europe in the week since by lawyers who have made it clear...

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Oct 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I would ask the Leader to respect a motion of the House as he would any other such motion.

Seanad: Children and Youth Affairs: Statements (18 Oct 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I join in welcoming the Minister, Deputy Katherine Zappone, and hope we will see her again as there are issues we might want to discuss about child poverty, child protection, parental leave, the provision of mental health supports for young people and youth services which are beyond youth activation and employment services in their more holistic sense. I hope the Minister will be able to...

Seanad: Recognition of Irish Sign Language for the Deaf Community Bill 2016: Second Stage (19 Oct 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am very happy to get an opportunity to speak on this issue. It is an issue of core principle because it is one of equality and justice, and it is important that we underscore that equality. I commend all those who have already been commended, particularly Senator Mark Daly and others who have put this principle on the agenda repeatedly. During times when we have been told to roll back...

Seanad: Judicial Council: Motion (19 Oct 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I welcome the Minister of State and I also welcome the motion. My colleague, Senator Black, is our spokesperson on justice and equality and she would normally have contributed but she is unable to be present. I had the opportunity last week to participate at the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe in the election of new judges to the European Court of Human Rights. It was...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Labour Activation Measures: Department of Social Protection (20 Oct 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will bracket for a moment my own questions because I need to come in on this. I might then come back to my original questions. It is very important that we are clear on that question. Mr. McKeon cites European public procurement rules. While I recognise that there have been some ameliorating attempts in the way the contracts have been designed, there are a couple of fundamental issues....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Labour Activation Measures: Department of Social Protection (20 Oct 2016)

Alice-Mary Higgins: In terms of long-term education, for example, college education, do they get referred back into the system?