Results 1-20 of 40 for going forward speaker:Emer Currie

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2024)

Emer Currie: I thank the Minister for bringing forward this legislation. It is a very important day for women and for women's healthcare to know that people who are going through such a traumatic experience and a difficult decision are now free from intimidation to make those decisions for themselves. It is a momentous day. I also thank the Minister's officials and the Houses of the Oireachtas for...

Seanad: Road Traffic Bill 2024: Second Stage (21 Mar 2024)

Emer Currie: ...km per hour zone. Those are the figures that have been captured because this has been put under the microscope, but it is the longer term trends that are really worrying, if our fatalities have gone backwards to 2013 levels. I have worked in the area of behavioural change and did so for many years. For figures as stark as that, we need consistent change and investment in behavioural...

Seanad: Community Safety and Investment: Motion [Private Members] (28 Feb 2024)

Emer Currie: I thank the Labour Party for bringing forward this motion. We have spent a great deal of time post the events in November focusing on law and order. It is timely that we come back to discussing that issue now in order to ensure that we are still all on the same page. I believe that we are. I thank Members of the Seanad for also putting forward amendments to the motion. I commend the...

Seanad: Situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories: Statements (Resumed) (19 Oct 2023)

Emer Currie: ...Lower House could support last night. It is possible and legitimate to be against terrorism, against the denial of human and civil rights and against apartheid. That is the space we should be moving forward on because, over recent weeks, there has been a rush to create sides, to put people on them and to generate a kind of "gotcha" culture or energy as to who believes what and what...

Seanad: Senior Cycle Reform: Statements (3 Oct 2023)

Emer Currie: ...is very welcome here today. Her timing on this announcement has been very helpful. She will agree that there was concern that progress on leaving certificate reform was lagging. This is a good step forward. It gives confidence that we do not see the leaving certificate as both journey and destination with regard to who a student becomes, an all-or-nothing approach. One of the...

Seanad: Rights-Based Care Economy: Motion (27 Sep 2023)

Emer Currie: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, and thank Senator Fiona O'Loughlin for looking after us today and for driving forward this motion. I am on the working group and I have been involved in this, so I know the work that has gone into it. I was expecting somebody from the Department of Health today, not that I am not delighted to see the Minister of State, as always. When I was...

Seanad: Non-Fatal Offences against the Person (Amendment) (Spiking) Bill 2023: Second Stage (31 May 2023)

Emer Currie: ...last week, and noticed that you can now buy sachets for €4.95 to put into a drink to see whether or not it has been spiked. I have two young daughters, who are eight and ten. The way time goes, it will not be long before they start going out. I am imagining myself as that parent, stuffing those sachets into their purses for fear of something happening to them. I do not want them...

Seanad: 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement: Motion (30 May 2023)

Emer Currie: .... It comes from a genuine place and that comes across. I am appreciative of his work and I am grateful for his kind words and gestures when my father died. This is about the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement and the greatest gift we have is the opportunity to live in peace. When you have experienced the times when we did not have that, you never take it for granted. We...

Seanad: National Parks (23 May 2023)

Emer Currie: ...we have seen over the past couple of years is a single-minded strategy that targets car users. We saw that with the attempted gate closures at strategic traffic points in the park. That did not go ahead, but it was attempted. There were also the introduction of the 30 km/h speed limit, parking restrictions and possible car parking charges. What we see is a focus on curbing use of the...

Seanad: National Parks (23 May 2023)

Emer Currie: ...have said, they do not need to just restrict themselves to that. In fact, using these eco-toilets which are run on a composting basis would fit in with how people use the park, and prevent people going to the same places so they can have the reliability of accessing this essential infrastructure which makes the park a welcoming place. I hoped the Minister of State with responsibility for...

Seanad: Public Water Connection Charges: Motion (26 Apr 2023)

Emer Currie: ...is the practical removal of a barrier and it supports people to produce less waste. We need more of these initiatives. When it comes to waste, I am of the view that we need to think in terms of good, better and best. It is good to recycle but it is much better to not produce the waste in the first place, and that is the aim of this initiative. I have seen the benefit of these fountains...

Seanad: International Women's Day: Statements (8 Mar 2023)

Emer Currie: ...services. It seems very unfair that women who may have left well-paid jobs to do such a great job looking after their children are completely cut off economically. We should focus on that issue going forward. The work we have done collectively on childcare is making a difference for people. I know, however, that the direction of travel must be to increase the supports available and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Architects of the Good Friday Agreement (Resumed): Mr. Wally Kirwan, H.E. Dr. Eamonn McKee and Dr. Martin Mansergh (19 Jan 2023)

Emer Currie: I do not think I will ever forget this project, namely, the report we are producing on the architects of the Good Friday Agreement. It is brilliant to be here talking to people who were such important names at the time - not just today but throughout the whole process. I heard these people's names being spoken about in my own home so getting the opportunity to meet them in this forum is...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (30 Nov 2022)

Emer Currie: ...with special education needs within the mainstream school system for any other reason than to facilitate their effective education constitutes discrimination." That is the bar that we as a Government must set when it comes to special education needs. I know we are trying to do that, but it is going to take resources and ongoing reform.We have a duty to do that. I want to raise on behalf...

Seanad: Gnó an tSeanaid - Business of Seanad: Northern Ireland (24 Nov 2022)

Emer Currie: ...the Second Reading of the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill in the House of Lords. Lord Caine gave an overview of the British Government's amendments that will be brought forward on Committee Stage. As the Minister will be aware, the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, of which I am a member, last week visited Westminster and we...

Seanad Public Consultation Committee: Voices of All Communities on the Constitutional Future of the Island of Ireland: Discussion (30 Sep 2022)

Emer Currie: We are going to have three or four sessions and it is all going to be done relatively quickly. As I said previously, I really want us to produce a report at the end of this process that outlines the options for a pathway to bring this forward. I thank Seamus for his submission. When I read it, it pressed so many buttons for me and it did so again today because it reminds me why the Good...

Seanad: Northern Ireland: Motion (11 May 2022)

Emer Currie: I thank the Sinn Féin team for bringing forward this motion. I support its spirit. I am aware things have moved on. I thank the Minister for outlining the updates, not only regarding the UK Borders and Nationalities Act but also recent developments around the protocol, the election and legacy. The imposition of an electronic travel authorisation scheme on non-Irish and non-British...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Engagement with Truth and Justice Movement (7 Apr 2022)

Emer Currie: It is a pleasure to have our guests here, and it was a pleasure to go to Belfast City Hall to meet them last August to sign their document. It was also a pleasure to put forward the motion in the Seanad that was based on the text of what we signed that day, and to travel to Westminster with our guests, to hear their stories and see the support they got from all the parties, except the...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (24 Feb 2022)

Emer Currie: ...should be getting more supports, similar to the urban regeneration and development fund, the rural regeneration and development fund, town and village schemes and so forth. This weekend, I will be going to Westminster for a meeting of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly.I am very much looking forward to that. This will be the first opportunity for us to meet in person. There will...

Seanad: Maternity-Paternity Leave for County and City Councillors: Motion (7 Dec 2021)

Emer Currie: I commend my colleague, Senator O'Loughlin, on bringing forward the motion, not just in her role on the administrative panel but also as chair of the women's caucus. She does a fabulous job. Politics, as we know, is not a normal job. Public service does not start at nine, finish at six and come with leave entitlements. Our families know and accept that, all too often, politics comes...