Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would like two words to guide the new Government and my work as a new TD over the term of the 34th Dáil, namely "reform" and "delivery". We have much to be optimistic about, such as full employment, budget surpluses and putting money aside for two long term funds to future-proof growth and investment. However, we would be foolish to take this position for granted. Brexit and Covid showed that our strengths lie in being prepared, united, well funded and capable of agility in confronting crises and challenges.

We need to remember those qualities and the fact that stability is not a cover for stasis.

Over the next five years, we have to address the public service and infrastructural deficits that already undermine our standard of living, limit opportunities for our young people and threaten our competitiveness in the areas of housing, transport and essential services that we depend on like education, disability and childcare. In Dublin West, we feel the cost of delay every day.

We must tackle deeply-set barriers, whether they are systemic, structural or simply bureaucratic, and deliver for families, workers and businesses - for Dublin - as per the roadmap and commitments in the programme for Government, through reform and delivery. Dublin has its challenges. In that context, a lack of childcare, after-school infrastructure and youth services needs to become a thing of the past. Not only is the lack to which I refer affecting our competitiveness as a city and country, it also undermines the progress we have made in addressing inequality in the workforce and social vulnerability. According to Dublin Chamber, nine out of ten businesses reference childcare as a barrier to attracting and retaining staff.

While women's workforce participation rates have increased in recent years, what about the women I meet who are delaying the return to work after maternity leave because they cannot source childcare? Perhaps, these are some of the less captured indicators of the true experience of families in Dublin who are struggling. The current childcare model is not delivering to the scale that is required. There are thousands of children under the age of three on waiting lists for early years services and thousands families without after-school options in their communities. The programme for Government gets the balance right. Our local childcare services need to be funded fairly in order to be viable while parents need affordable fees. We need to review and increase core funding, in particular for the smaller providers, while stepping into State-led provision.

There is a great deal of emphasis in the programme for Government on delivering for children with additional needs and disabilities. This is very welcome. Dublin West has been identified as the most difficult place in the country in which to secure an appropriate school place. We worked hard as community last year for a Dublin 15 task force involving local schools, parents, the Department of education and the NCSE to be set up to streamline applications and lead out on national reform. The Department of education and the NCSE, having identified demand for school places through this process, must deliver supply. They must ensure that every child has an appropriate school place for September and make good on their promises and show change is possible.

My experiences on both sides of the Border have shaped my all-island outlook. I want more people from places like my home, Dublin West, to share the benefits of all-island co-operation and cohesion. The Good Friday Agreement, in its entirety, must be implemented. It is the roadmap for stability, respect and progress now just as it was in 1998. However, I am uncomfortable if there is an emerging train of thought that constitutional change can only be entertained once the reconciliation of people is achieved. If we are to be true to the Good Friday Agreement, we must acknowledge that is not what it says in letter or spirit. How could that to which I refer be measured in any event? I am part of a generation that wants to contribute to a new vision for the future. My views do not fit into the Border poll now camp, nor with anyone who puts a limitation on hope. A new Ireland, based on the values of reconciliation and the values of the Good Friday Agreement, is an achievable reality. It does not have to be a lofty concept but we have to work consciously, selectively, proactively-----

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