Results 21-40 of 3,488 for speaker:Emer Higgins

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (25 Jun 2025)

Emer Higgins: That is legally challenging for us to do but, at the same time, we highlight companies where we feel they have been really good in this space. That is a bonus and we would encourage people to work with them. There is EU law when it comes to this so we have to be very careful to make sure we do not put out any advice that could be defamatory either from the Office of Government Procurement...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (25 Jun 2025)

Emer Higgins: For the well-being index?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (25 Jun 2025)

Emer Higgins: We do not publish that. We do publish our guidelines around it. For example, we will have new green public procurement guidelines, which we hope to get approved by Cabinet in the next month or so. That is what we publish, as opposed to the outcomes. While we are monitoring it, we feed a lot of that into the strategy, which we are currently devising as well.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (25 Jun 2025)

Emer Higgins: I can stay for two minutes to touch upon some of the Senator's points rather than her getting no answer.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (25 Jun 2025)

Emer Higgins: That is fine.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (25 Jun 2025)

Emer Higgins: I thank Senator Higgins. I know she has a particular interest and passion in this area. I have discussed it with her in the Seanad. I thank her for her positive engagement. I also thank her for encouraging people to avail of the opportunity to participate in the recent public consultation on our first ever national public procurement strategy. A lot is happening in this space at EU and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (25 Jun 2025)

Emer Higgins: In terms of green public procurement, I can confirm that last year the then Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications published Buying Greener: Green Public Procurement Strategy and Action Plan 2024- 2027. That Department is the lead on this but the Office of Government Procurement helped to develop the strategy. We have been given a number of tasks, one of which is action...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (25 Jun 2025)

Emer Higgins: I agree data is an issue. We need to have better data to be able to oversee in a better way. Data is something that is very much looked at from an EU directive perspective. It is something that is going to be featuring very strongly in this Government's first ever national public procurement strategy. We want to get to a point where we have better visibility. From the perspective of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (25 Jun 2025)

Emer Higgins: Any circular of that nature would come from the Minister, Deputy Chambers, who is very committed to delivering reform, better value for money and better rigour when it comes to public expenditure. I would imagine the circular is rooted in that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (25 Jun 2025)

Emer Higgins: In terms of procurement specifically, the answer is "No". As new tenders go up online, they are obviously looked at. All of our tenders would go through eTenders and they are looked at against set criteria, which would absolutely include social and ethical clauses. Human rights would come under ethical clauses. To the Senator's wider point, I agree that we are seeing some companies, some...

Ábhair Shaincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Matters: School Management (24 Jun 2025)

Emer Higgins: I thank the Deputy for sharing her own experience, which is so relevant. Ultimately, the existing models of leadership and governance in our schools place a burden on school principals as well as boards of management and the sector as a whole. It is a very difficult balance to strike to get the appropriate level of checks and balances which are critical for both our students and the...

Ábhair Shaincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Matters: School Management (24 Jun 2025)

Emer Higgins: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, which is raised with many of us in this House by principals up and down the country whose jobs are constantly evolving and constantly getting more challenging. I really appreciate the Deputy raising this here today. The role of schools within communities is crucial and the Minister for Education and Youth, on whose behalf I am taking this...

Ábhair Shaincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Matters: Childcare Services (24 Jun 2025)

Emer Higgins: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue and for sharing her own experience. It is really important that we, as female parliamentarians, share our experience. It is inspiring for others who may follow in her footsteps that the Deputy has done so. The challenge of providing accessible childcare is very much real. The Deputy outlined the issues many of her constituents face....

Ábhair Shaincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Matters: Childcare Services (24 Jun 2025)

Emer Higgins: I thank the Deputy and her colleague for the work they are doing on this issue. The Government is committed to building an affordable, high-quality and accessible early learning and childcare system. I will take her recommendation for a cross-party committee to the Minister, Deputy Foley. The programme for Government commits, for the first time ever, to provide capital investment to...

Ábhair Shaincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Matters: An Garda Síochána (24 Jun 2025)

Emer Higgins: I thank the Deputies for raising all of those issues. Regarding the joint policing committees - I too sat on my JPC - as the Deputies will be aware, they are being replaced by the LCSPs. We will get further information on that-----

Ábhair Shaincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Matters: An Garda Síochána (24 Jun 2025)

Emer Higgins: -----but that is the latest information we have in relation to that. Deputy Quinlivan raised community gardaí and the need to invest in them. I absolutely hear him and will certainly bring that back to the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, on whose behalf I am taking this Topical Issue. At the end of April this year, there were 585 Garda members of all ranks assigned to the Limerick...

Ábhair Shaincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Matters: An Garda Síochána (24 Jun 2025)

Emer Higgins: According to the figures that have been provided to me by the Department of Justice, there was a 6% increase in the ten years previous to 2025. In addition to the specific measures I mentioned which are taking place in Limerick - I have gone through the different Garda operations - a number of key actions have been taken as part of our plan to tackle organised crime and the crime groups...

Ábhair Shaincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Matters: An Garda Síochána (24 Jun 2025)

Emer Higgins: I thank both Deputies for raising this cross-party Topical Issue which I am taking on behalf of the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan. I thank them for raising this issue. I was in Limerick city only earlier this week with Senator Maria Byrne and the issue of crime was raised with me by Limerick Chamber of Commerce. Like all decent citizens, I strongly condemn gangland criminality and, in...

Presidential Voting Rights: Motion [Private Members] (24 Jun 2025)

Emer Higgins: I thank all Members in the House for what was a really interesting discussion on this really important issue. Like my colleague the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, I am pleased the Government has not opposed this motion. The Dail’s engagement on diaspora matters is always welcome and it was really positive to have such good engagement today. Every day, we see the value of the...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Passport Services (24 Jun 2025)

Emer Higgins: I thank Senator Lynch for tabling this Commencement matter, which I am taking on behalf of An Tánaiste, Deputy Simon Harris. The passport service is successfully meeting current demand for passports. To date this year, the passport service has issued more than 536,000 passport books and cards. As the Senator said, last year was a very strong year in terms of the number of passports...