Results 681-700 of 1,073 for speaker:Emer Currie

Seanad: Future Ireland Fund and Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund Bill 2024: Second Stage (21 May 2024)

Emer Currie: -----to invest in public lands. I do not want that to happen again.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Emergency Services (29 May 2024)

Emer Currie: Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach. I welcome the Minister of State and thank the Taoiseach for the announcement last night that emergency medicine doctors are to crew the helicopter response service alongside paramedics for four months in a new trial. That is a huge step forward for the thousands of people who desperately need major pre-hospital trauma care. Ireland is an...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Emergency Services (29 May 2024)

Emer Currie: I refer to the situation in Ireland compared with the rest of Europe and the world, as well as the disparity on the island itself and in rural versus urban areas. This is an opportunity we need to grasp with both hands.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Emergency Services (29 May 2024)

Emer Currie: When I initially submitted this question, we did not have this extremely positive news. The important line in the Minister of State's contribution was the confirmation that the overall delivery of HEMS services in Ireland is consultant-led but the service is delivered by highly-trained advanced paramedics. She also stated: "emergency medicine consultants, with considerable experience in...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Emergency Services (29 May 2024)

Emer Currie: -----and the benefit of the North-South is going to be availed of. We have the North-South Ministerial Council up and running for the first time since 2017. Let us add this matter to the list of things where we co-operate.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (29 May 2024)

Emer Currie: I am the Fine Gael Seanad spokesperson for special education and inclusion. I have met with our new Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, a couple of times in the last couple of weeks with regard to our inclusive education policies and the shortage of special class, autism class and special school places for September 2024. Obviously, this is a huge priority for her and is critical for the...

Seanad: Order of Business (30 May 2024)

Emer Currie: It is a huge honour to be here today with the students of St. Andrew’s National School. I thank their teacher, Mr. O’Dwyer, and all of their teachers for facilitating their visit today. What I want to raise today is the frustration that is sometimes felt by communities, community organisations, schools and school communities with the bureaucracy of the Department of...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (11 Jun 2024)

Emer Currie: I wish the best of luck to the Leader. I congratulate everyone who was elected over the weekend, particularly in the Dublin West constituency, where we had Councillor Ted Leddy, Councillor Siobhán Shovlin, Councillor Kieran Dennison, Councillor Colm O’Rourke and the new councillor, Ms Gayle Ralph. However, Mr. Steve O’Reilly, who only had three months to campaign, just...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (13 Jun 2024)

Emer Currie: I raise the shortage of class places for children with additional needs. I am working with multiple families in the west of Dublin. We need urgent reform of the schools admissions process. The Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, has committed to ensuring that any child who is known to the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, and who needs a school place will get one. She has...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Early Childhood Care and Education (19 Jun 2024)

Emer Currie: I am going to get right to the heart of matters this morning and talk about core funding and staffing issues for childcare providers. This is based on engaging with a range of childcare providers of various types in Dublin West. All of them speak to overburdensome paperwork and financial reporting; accounting requirements that go far beyond their capacity and capability when everything is...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Early Childhood Care and Education (19 Jun 2024)

Emer Currie: I thank the Minister of State for his response. As I said, however, core funding is working for some but not for all. It is like a tale of two experiences and I fear we are not listening to the people who are having difficulty. My experience is that this issue is not affecting new services. There is not enough supply in the sector and we need to protect the services that are operating now...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Jun 2024)

Emer Currie: Today I want to speak about the updated procedures that were announced last week by the Minister, Deputy Foley, on the use of school buildings, including sports facilities, outside of school hours. It has come up in this House quite a lot and I have raised it myself frequently. If we have public sports facilities in schools, they should be accessible by the community outside school hours....

Seanad: Courts, Civil Law, Criminal Law and Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Second Stage (25 Jun 2024)

Emer Currie: I welcome the Minister of State. I will talk about knife crime, which is a concerning issue for people in Dublin West. Last year, we lost somebody in the middle of the day in Ongar village, who was killed in a knife attack. Almost one year later, in almost the same spot, there was another knife incident. I understand that knife seizures have started to increase, but there is a bigger...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: An Inclusive Education for an Inclusive Society: Department of Education (25 Jun 2024)

Emer Currie: I thank the Minister of State for coming before the committee. I also thank her officials. I very much like the Minister of State's analogy of the jigsaw puzzle. There is a job to be done in the context of looking at every piece of the puzzle and taking it apart in places and putting it back together to create a truly inclusive school system. I certainly cannot complain about the time the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: An Inclusive Education for an Inclusive Society: Department of Education (25 Jun 2024)

Emer Currie: Can I clarify an issue? The Minister of State has identified 12 primary school children who need a place for September. She believes at this point that there are 15 available places. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: An Inclusive Education for an Inclusive Society: Department of Education (25 Jun 2024)

Emer Currie: For primary. There are nine at secondary level and the Minister of State believes there are 11 or 12 places. That information will go to the NCSE so it can update the parents.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (26 Jun 2024)

Emer Currie: I thank Irish Business Against Litter for telling us what we already know, namely, that Dublin city has become more littered and dirty. The capital was the fourth most littered area surveyed and is less clean than it was last year. It is the fourth survey in a row in which Dublin city has grown worse. To be honest, there are days when I cannot believe my eyes when I pass streets and...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (27 Jun 2024)

Emer Currie: I congratulate the Deputy Leader on his new post. I wish him all the best and thank him sincerely for all the assistance and support he gave to people like me and Senators Dolan and Seery Kearney when we started as Senators. I have not forgotten it. I refer to the article in The Irish Times today that states there could be a €2,000 incentive for new teachers to take up full-time...

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Second Stage (27 Jun 2024)

Emer Currie: I congratulate the Minister of State on bringing this colossal Bill to the House today. I thank all of the spokespeople for housing and planning for their work on getting it this far, particularly my colleagues, Senators Cummins and Seery Kearney. I will leave the topline issues to them. I am here to speak on more tactical elements of the legislation. It is very important that An Bord...

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2024: Second Stage (2 Jul 2024)

Emer Currie: The Minister is very welcome. I am very pleased to see this Bill in the House to provide enhanced enforcement tools for Tusla, but also to remove the exemptions under the Act that relate to childminders, to facilitate the extension of regulation to all paid, non-relative childminders and to pave the way for subsidies under the national childcare scheme to apply to childminders. It is a...