Results 1-20 of 41 for mother and baby homes speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

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Seanad: An Bille um an Naoú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (An Teaghlach), 2023: Céim an Choiste agus na Céimeanna a bheidh Fágtha - Thirty-ninth Amendment of the Constitution (The Family) Bill 2023: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Jan 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We have heard quite lengthy journeys through different aspects of the law across the course of the debate. One part of the summary of what we have heard is that families are complicated, and that it is possible to legislate. It is possible to legislate before the referendum and it will be possible to legislate after the referendum. We could improve a lot of our legislation with regard to...

Seanad: An Bille um an Daicheadú Leasú ar an mBunreacht (Cúram), 2023: Céim an Choiste (Atógáil) agus na Céimeanna a bheidh Fágtha - Fortieth Amendment of the Constitution (Care) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (23 Jan 2024)

Alice-Mary Higgins: To follow up on a point made by an earlier speaker, we need to do this but the wording should be better. We have been waiting for it for a long time and it has been coming for a long time. I started campaigning for this change in the Constitution long before I entered the Oireachtas. It has been campaigned for and pushed for a very long time. During that journey, the understanding of what...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 39: In page 14, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following: “Report on extension of eligibility for provision without charge of health services under Scheme 19.(1) The Minister shall, within 6 months of the passing of this Act, lay a report before both Houses of the Oireachtas on the potential to extend eligibility under section 18(4)for provision without...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Let us not refer to what is being offered as a "common experience payment". That is what was given in Australia and it had a different set of parameters. The offer under this scheme is not a payment based on experience; it is a general payment based on days of residency. That is what is in the Bill and what is being given. I spoke yesterday about references to an all-encompassing general...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 42: In page 14, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following: “Report on provision of additional payments to those who experienced medical experimentation 19. The Minister shall, within 6 months of the passing of this Act, lay a report before both Houses of the Oireachtas on the potential to make provision for supplementary payments, in addition to any...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I note that the pharmaceutical giant, GlaxoSmithKline, which still operates in Ireland, has declined to apologise for its vaccine trials in mother and baby homes between the 1930s and 1970s, despite the company's own documents showing it conducted seven trials at homes during these four decades. It is unacceptable that the scheme does not provide redress for the medical abuse of persons...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (23 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 33: In page 14, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following: “Report on adequacy of payment for health services to relevant persons not ordinarily resident in the State 19. The Minister shall, within 6 months of the passing of this Act, lay a report before both Houses of the Oireachtas on the adequacy of the payment to relevant persons referred to in...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (23 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...period, it may be, of course, for this reason the amendments do not get accepted. I am sure others in the House may wish to seek to bring forth reports after 12 months, or another period, and this may prove more acceptable. I am sure this is something we may see proposed on Report Stage. I refer to amendments looking to different periods of time, if this is the problem. Again, I...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (16 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...need answering. I have been informed that amendments Nos. 8 to 10, inclusive, which were on the definition of "relevant person", have been ruled out of order. That makes these amendments, Nos. 1 and 15, which try to address who is included as a relevant person, all the more important in reviewing it. I have some questions for the Minister because these are the choices that are being...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (16 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I have the same question. We still have not received any justification. The justification has simply been that we can look back and see a worse proposal made by someone else and a worse decision before that as regards the failure of the commission to properly acknowledge the damage and abuse. We can look at worse decisions. We can go back to all the original decisions about the mother and...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (16 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...It is where the definitions for the phrases used later in the Bill are set. The Opposition has made some constructive proposals about how those definitions could be improved. I ask that thought and consideration are given to strengthening and improving those definitions between now and Report Stage. I do not think we got a response about the scope for looking for wider definitions....

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (16 May 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am sorry we have to press the Minister so on this. I have been paying attention and we have been listening closely to his responses on other sections. What he did was outline in some detail the process whereby the decision on the six months was reached, including the facts that the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation made even worse recommendations and would have excluded...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Second Stage (19 Apr 2023)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Minister will have heard from all sides of the House our expectation that he will engage on and improve the Bill. In regard to the wider picture, he will recall that following the publication of the report of the mother and baby homes commission, points that had been made in the Seanad led to a slightly better approach to the access to records. As was outlined by others, however, that...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Mother and Baby Homes (14 Dec 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: As the Minister of State will be aware, a new planning application was recently lodged for an apartment scheme on the former Bessborough mother and baby home site in Cork city. This application is one of a number of live planning applications for developments across this estate. This recently lodged application for a 92-unit scheme was lodged by the same developer who had previously been...

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...that the provision of counselling support should commence not later than 90 days after it is requested by a relevant person or parent. This amendment seeks to ensure the provision of counselling support to parents and relevant persons is not subject to inappropriate delays. This is important because these periods of time will involve extraordinary pressures for individuals who may be...

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: I do not believe our amendment is prescriptive in terms of what persons would need. In fact, it is the opposite. We have indicated, and Senator Boyhan has indicated very eloquently, that people may need longer periods of time. The key point is that if a person is requesting counselling, he or she should be provided with that counselling within 90 days of such a request. To be clear, and...

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 24: In page 12, line 21, to delete “Regulation;” and substitute the following: “Regulation. For the avoidance of doubt, personal data as defined under the Regulation includes, in relation to a relevant person under this Act, all records relating to the adoption or informal care arrangement of a relevant person, regardless of whether that data is...

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: ...religious orders or psychiatric institutions. I am concerned that the tone of the Minister's response seems to suggest a kind of prioritisation with regard to the sources we know are relevant and so forth. There is going to be a large volume to deal with and it may well be the case that there is so much to be engaged with in respect of the secondary information sources named that those...

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

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 1: In page 8, line 15, after “State” to insert “and placed for adoption outside the State”. In the context of amendments Nos. 1 and 2, the concern is that, as currently constructed in the Bill, the definition of "adopted person" under the section seems to only include persons whose adoptions were facilitated by the Adoption Board, a...

Seanad: International Women's Day 2022: Statements (9 Mar 2022)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Just to follow a brilliant speech from Senator Hoey, I always say it is not about getting to the table, it is about shaping the agenda and changing what is being discussed at the table. However, I think Senator Hoey’s smash-up-the-table-altogether-and-repurpose-it is taking it perhaps the necessary step forward. I think the Minister is hearing that it is about power when we talk...