Results 581-600 of 1,073 for speaker:Emer Currie

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Planning Issues (11 Jul 2023)

Emer Currie: I thank the Minister of State for being here. While childcare is primarily the responsibility of the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, there could be a planning solution to the serious shortage of childcare places in local communities. It will not fix everything but it is the kind of change we need to see. The childcare facilities guidelines for planning...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Planning Issues (11 Jul 2023)

Emer Currie: I thank the Minister of State. I am aware of that review and I am glad it is happening. There is a reason I am pitching this to him. I pointed out why the guidelines are not delivering and that they are not working. In the same way we do with social housing, we need to take a Part V approach when it comes to childcare. A childcare facility should be mandatory in a new development and in...

Seanad: Care Payments: Motion [Private Members] (12 Jul 2023)

Emer Currie: I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach and I thank the Minister for her response to the motion. It has been very useful. She covered a lot of the issues or questions that have been asked. She is giving us food for thought. I also want to thank the Labour Party for tabling this motion. It is an excellent motion and there is also some overlap with some of the work we have been doing with 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: Senior Cycle Reform: Statements (3 Oct 2023)

Emer Currie: The Minister 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...

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

Emer Currie: The Acting Chairperson knows I dearly love rules but I want to ask about school builds. The feedback that I have got from numerous schools is that there is a shortage of modular buildings and, when it comes to bricks and building extensions, we could be waiting between three to five years. Is that the case? Dublin West has two new schools but we have a lot of other projects that are either...

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

Emer Currie: There are already 22 of those.

Seanad: Children's University Hospital Temple Street: Motion (4 Oct 2023)

Emer Currie: They are the Porterstown Panthers, yes.

Seanad: Children's University Hospital Temple Street: Motion (4 Oct 2023)

Emer Currie: I thank the Minister for coming here today to listen to the debate on my party's motion. The shock is obvious. The distress is obvious. There has been a lot of focus already on the review, the need for it and the need for answers and swift action. I suppose I will focus primarily on the parents who are out there waiting for surgeries at present and are in a very dark place. They have...

Seanad: Budget 2024 (Finance): Statements (10 Oct 2023)

Emer Currie: I thank and congratulate the Minister of State, as well as the Ministers in the Departments of Finance and Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. We are living in a time of contradictions, severe economic shocks globally and startling rates of inflation, yet here we have full employment and are showing a resilience in our economy. That is why we can afford to...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Further and Higher Education (18 Oct 2023)

Emer Currie: I am delighted to see the Minister, Deputy Harris, here for this Commencement matter this morning. I will start by telling him about my own education. I had my primary education in County Tyrone. I passed my 11-plus and went to grammar school for one year in Donaghmore convent. Then I came south and went to secondary school for the full six years in the South and then I went up to Queen's...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Further and Higher Education (18 Oct 2023)

Emer Currie: I thank the Minister. It is music to my ears that he is taking this on board in a practical way. It is a problem that requires a practical solution. One does not have to manufacture co-operation if there is a system of integration. The structural disadvantage Northern Ireland students are facing is unfair. If we believe in a shared island, we must address this key issue. We do not want...

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

Emer Currie: There have been many fine speeches this morning and a great many points have been covered. I really just want to make one. I commend the Tánaiste's speech and those of people like Senators McDowell and Black, but we have arrived at a good motion. It is a motion that this House can support and that the majority of those in the Lower House could support last night. It is possible and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Finance and Economics: Discussion (13 Jul 2023)

Emer Currie: I do not think the committee has ever seen me so quiet for so long.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Finance and Economics: Discussion (13 Jul 2023)

Emer Currie: This is fascinating. I thank the witnesses very much. I am sorry I missed the start of it; I had another engagement. I do not want to keep the witnesses too long. There is debate about what constitutional change will look like. Much of it is based on the idea of integration and a 32-county model. Some people have noted that, perhaps, we would keep the assembly and other structures in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Impact of the UK's Illegal Migration Act 2023 on the Good Friday Agreement: Discussion (16 Nov 2023)

Emer Currie: I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach. It is nice to see him in the Chair. I welcome Mr. Corrigan. The news about the supreme court judgment landed here in Dublin. There is a clear understanding of two things; one, the policy pursued by the UK in the Rwanda scheme and, second, its impact on human rights both concerning the UK's obligations and what it means when we hear unhelpful...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Impact of the UK's Illegal Migration Act 2023 on the Good Friday Agreement: Discussion (16 Nov 2023)

Emer Currie: I thank Mr. Corrigan. We, as a committee, are aware there are question marks for visa nationals, not even because of Brexit but because of divergences in visa schemes. There are also question marks over short-stay periods when someone crosses the Border. That has a very real impact on Border life. It impacts where people can send their children to school or whether they can be allowed to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Impact of the UK's Illegal Migration Act 2023 on the Good Friday Agreement: Discussion (16 Nov 2023)

Emer Currie: We would all prefer it if this Bill did not proceed. That is naturally where we will sit. Is Mr. Corrigan suggesting there is a need for clarity, if the legislation proceeds, in respect of its outworking for people who are legally resident or seeking asylum on the island of Ireland?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Impact of the UK's Illegal Migration Act 2023 on the Good Friday Agreement: Discussion (16 Nov 2023)

Emer Currie: I thank the Senator.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 Nov 2023)

Emer Currie: We have been informed today about the provision of an additional €4 billion, which brings to €6 billion the amount providing in Supplementary Estimates this year. This is obviously to be welcomed. I just want to highlight the €850 million that has been ring-fenced for the Department of Education's school building programme. It would be beneficial for us to have a...