Senator Alice-Mary Higgins speaking on the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes Bill

In the Seanad, Senator Higgins spoke at length at Committee Stage against the most harmful provisions contained in this Bill. She argued that it undermines the ability of adoptees and surviviors of institutional abuse to access justice.

Specifically at this point of the debate the Senator urged the Minister and other Senators to ensure that the rights of the individual to have their experiences acknowledged is essential if there is to be any form of justice for adoptees and survivors.


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Senator Higgins joins Oireachtas colleagues in calling for more effective health and safety protocols

As we enter Phase One and the reopening of certain sectors, the safety of society and workers has to remain paramount. I have joined  Joan Collins T.D, Senator Lynn Ruane and number of other Oireachtas colleagues, in supporting proposals put forward by Unite and other unions to ensure that health and safety protocols in the workplace are effective and enforced and that that trade unions have an active role in monitoring worker safety. 

We called on the Government to update the Return to Work Safety Protocol document and give inspectors the resources to conduct unannounced health and safety inspections of sites and issue on the spot fines. I have personally highlighted the need for more robust inspections on building sites where, as we heard in the Employment and Social Protection Committee last year, there is an excessive reliance on false or pressured ‘self-employment'.