Senator Alice-Mary Higgins Advocates for Seanad Reform

27 February 2020

Since introducing her Seanad Reform bill on the first sitting day of the Seanad in 2016, Senator Alice-Mary Higgins has consistently called for the implementation of Seanad Reform. She participated in the Seanad Reform Implementation Group which produced a report and recommendations in December 2018. In September 2019, she called on the Minister for Local Government and Electoral Reform to implement the recommendations in full.

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Cross-party cooperation makes significant progress on domestic violence legislation

29 November 2017

The Civil Engagement Group in Seanad Éireann welcomes that the critically important Domestic Violence Bill 2017 has today passed committee stage in the upper house. Among the amendments agreed at committee stage today were the creation of the offence of coercive control, and the acceptance that the closer the abuser is to the abused, the more serious that offence is. This was achieved thanks to the close cooperation of Senators from Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, Labour, the Civil Engagement Group, and independent senators, as well as constructive engagement from Minister David Stanton and his officials in the Department of Justice and Equality.

Senator Higgins participates in IPU delegation

10 April 2017

In April 2017, Senator Alice-Mary Higgins joined an Irish delegation to the Interparliamentary Union General Assembly in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The IPU provides an opportunity for parliamentarians from around the world to dialogue and debate on issues of peace, cooperation and democracy. This session of the General Assembly focused on issues of international security, the Sustainable Development Goals and global economic inequality.

Senator Alice-Mary Higgins joins demonstration demanding the ratification of the UNCRPD

5 April 2017

The Irish government signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in March 2007. Ten years later, the government still hasn't ratified this convention. I joined the crowds outside Leinster House to demand no more delays to the ratification of this convention. The incredible Joanne O'Riordan delivered a very powerful speech calling on Ireland to ratify the convention and to deliver equal rights for people living with a disability here.

I continue to work with my colleague in the Civil Engagement Group, Senator John Dolan of the Disability Federation of Ireland to advocate for the rights of persons with disabilities in the Seanad.