Results 2,081-2,100 of 2,145 for speaker:Emer Currie

Seanad: Remote Working Strategy: Motion (15 Feb 2021)

Emer Currie: I move: “That Seanad Éireann: - supports the recent Government launch of the National Remote Work Strategy by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment; acknowledges: - the transformative impact remote working can have on the workforce and communities; - the difficulties people have faced working from home under emergency Covid-19 restrictions; - the progress...

Seanad: Remote Working Strategy: Motion (15 Feb 2021)

Emer Currie: The remote work strategy marks a significant move towards changing how we work for good. It is a framework for long-term change, and we need it. For over 100 years, we have used the same traditional model of work for office workers, a version of 9 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. that is office-based and location-based. For approximately one third of the population, this involves leaving home early in...

Seanad: Remote Working Strategy: Motion (15 Feb 2021)

Emer Currie: I thank the Minister of State and everybody for their comments and contributions. There is so much work to do with this and it is important that we recognise the challenges because only by recognising the challenges can we come up with solutions. That is what I ultimately want to do and the people who are invested in this want to do that as well. We have had so many naysayers about remote...

Seanad: Remote Working Strategy: Motion (15 Feb 2021)

Emer Currie: At 10.30 a.m. on Friday next.

Seanad: Mental Health and Covid-19: Statements (12 Feb 2021)

Emer Currie: I want to acknowledge the amazing work of our front-line staff in our mental health services, and all the organisations supporting people at the moment. They are thinking outside of the box and pivoting in how they connect with groups, such as school classes and sports teams. In Dublin 15, we are blessed with a network of community centres. In places like Huntstown and Castleknock, when...

Seanad: Free Provision of Period Products Bill 2021: Second Stage (8 Feb 2021)

Emer Currie: I thank everyone who has led on this issue over the years. As I have only two and a half minutes, I cannot name everyone. This Bill and the Labour Party Bill relate to the provision of free period products, but they are also about social change in a country that will no longer accept the stigmatisation of menstruation, taboos around women's health or their bodies. Bodies and what they do...

Seanad: Response to Covid-19 (Social Protection): Statements (1 Feb 2021)

Emer Currie: I welcome the Minister, or Arthur's grandmother, to the House. Families are in the midst of peak stress and anxiety because of level 5 restrictions and schools being shut. The stress today is palpable when people are going back to work. The enthusiasm for homeschooling, for instance, is waning. Speaking for myself, we have not made it out for our 100 days of walking over the past two...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (26 Jan 2021)

Emer Currie: For somebody like me, the question is not whether I want a united Ireland but what kind of united Ireland I want. It is a question of what kind of united Ireland I have wanted since I was old enough to understand my Irishness was different from that of somebody who lived in a neighbouring county and that this could never be taken for granted. It is very difficult to explain how one can feel...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Dec 2020)

Emer Currie: I wish everybody a happy Christmas. I want to come back to the public health situation in the North, which I raised on Wednesday. I want to express my gratitude to the national ambulance service crews who will travel to Lurgan, Belfast and Craigavon hospitals this weekend to support the front line. I repeat that whatever help is needed we should give it. The Executive yesterday took on...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (16 Dec 2020)

Emer Currie: I want to state how concerned I am about the Covid numbers, hospital capacity in the North and the ability of its health system to cope. This is not new. Covid numbers, in the main, are higher in the North and have been more worrying during the past six months. During the second wave the virus was running at four times that in the South. Two weeks ago, according to the Northern Ireland...

Seanad: Access to Contraception: Motion (15 Dec 2020)

Emer Currie: I lend my support to the motion and I commend my Green Party Seanad colleagues for bringing it forward. The programme for Government commitment is to expand access to free contraception to those aged between 17 and 25 as a starting point. This is €20 million that will be very well spent. I was at university in Queens in Belfast 20 years ago. We were entitled to GP access and...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2020: Second Stage (14 Dec 2020)

Emer Currie: I welcome the €25 billion social welfare budget. It is of a size and scale that is only right for the year it is. The Department of Social Protection responded accordingly from a supports and an efforts point of view and I want to thank the Minister, her predecessor, the former Minister, Senator Doherty, and the Department. It is the year of Covid-19 and of Brexit and the priority...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (11 Dec 2020)

Emer Currie: I thank Senator Gavan for raising the issue. I applaud the Cross-Border Workers Coalition for driving this issue and bringing it to the attention of people. It is not only a tax issue; it is a quality of life issue and an all-island economy issue. The fact that it was addressed for Covid-19 is fantastic. Given the acceleration of remote working and the expected changes in how we work, I...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (9 Dec 2020)

Emer Currie: The Leader of the House has said that sometimes supports or restrictions can be tweaked after their announcement because of the nature of Covid-19 and the challenges we face. I raise an issue concerning food outlets and pubs that genuinely fall between being a wet pub and a gastropub. This situation was not foreseen. The restrictions in December include the clause that a designated food...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Pyrite Remediation Programme (8 Dec 2020)

Emer Currie: My issue relates to schools. Is that okay?

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Pyrite Remediation Programme (8 Dec 2020)

Emer Currie: Yes.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Pyrite Remediation Programme (8 Dec 2020)

Emer Currie: I welcome the Minister of State. More than 40 families living in the Carpenterstown area of Dublin 15, including some with older siblings already at St Patrick's National School in Diswellstown, found out last week that their children will not be starting in the school in September 2021. Many of the disappointed families live very close by and obviously have not been offered a place because...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Pyrite Remediation Programme (8 Dec 2020)

Emer Currie: I thank the Minister of State for the update but it was not the one I was hoping for. The school faces very real challenges, as do the families, and a commitment was given by the Department a year ago that a field would be bought. Now the people who own the field are saying they are going to revoke the licence. We need the field to extend the school. The area needs additional primary...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: The Northern Ireland Economy: Discussion (8 Dec 2020)

Emer Currie: I thank Professors FitzGerald and Morgenroth. It has been an interesting conversation and I could literally listen to them all day. I am reflecting on what Professor FitzGerald said about changing dynamics. When I grew up in Tyrone, we felt our roads were much better than the ones in the South of Ireland. I am showing my age in saying that. There have been shifting fortunes. I am also...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (3 Dec 2020)

Emer Currie: I raise the issue of admissions policies in primary schools in Dublin, as set out directly by the archdiocese. Unfortunately, public representatives, the Minister for Education and even boards of management in many cases do not have influence over this. There has been a break from the "sibling first" policy, and I for one am not in favour of it. Some families in Castleknock and...