Results 1,141-1,160 of 3,425 for speaker:Emer Higgins

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Land Value Sharing and Urban Development Zones Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2023)

Emer Higgins: I thank all of the witnesses for being here today and for sharing their expertise and knowledge from what is happening on the ground. It is a very important part of this engagement when it comes to such a big move as this. This measure is designed to accelerate the delivery of housing and not in any way to disincentivise housing supply. This is why it is so important that we hear the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Land Value Sharing and Urban Development Zones Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2023)

Emer Higgins: So is density the concern? Are the density guidelines the problem?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Land Value Sharing and Urban Development Zones Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2023)

Emer Higgins: I want to separate that out. There are the current projects that have planning permissions, for which there will be activation measures to incentivise and enable developers. We do not want to still be in this situation in five years' time where new planning permissions, subject to the new tax, will end up in judicial review. This is what the new planning and development Bill is trying to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Land Value Sharing and Urban Development Zones Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2023)

Emer Higgins: I have not got to either of my two questions and I see four hands up.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Land Value Sharing and Urban Development Zones Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2023)

Emer Higgins: We are getting that too.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Land Value Sharing and Urban Development Zones Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2023)

Emer Higgins: I will come in for my own second round in relation to the two issues we spoke about earlier but that we did not get to, the first of which was the IHBA and CIF's concerns around the state aid. Can the representatives elaborate a bit more on that? Can they explain why the current arrangements around zoning for Part V have no state aid implications but they think this may have? My other...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Land Value Sharing and Urban Development Zones Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2023)

Emer Higgins: I understand.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Land Value Sharing and Urban Development Zones Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2023)

Emer Higgins: Does Mr. O'Connell want to come in on that before I ask for a reply on the topic of SDZs?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Land Value Sharing and Urban Development Zones Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2023)

Emer Higgins: How does one bake in flexibility?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Land Value Sharing and Urban Development Zones Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2023)

Emer Higgins: I thank Mr. Moran. If we have no further contributions, we will leave it there. I thank all of the witnesses for their attendance today.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Health Services Staff (31 May 2023)

Emer Higgins: I appreciate the Minister of State's support and commitment to this issue. I hope to get some information today with which I can go back to the worried mums and dads in my area because I cannot keep giving them the same outdated information. I cannot keep telling them the HSE is doing its best to recruit more public health nurses, with no timeframe. There is no light at the end of the...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Health Services Staff (31 May 2023)

Emer Higgins: I want to discuss the ongoing shortage of public health nurses in my area, particularly in the constituency of Dublin Mid-West. This shortage is having a huge impact on infant developmental checkups. To my count, this is the seventh time I have formally raised this issue, whether in the House or through parliamentary questions, since it was first brought to my attention last year. I have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Report of the Review of the Operation of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018: Discussion (31 May 2023)

Emer Higgins: I thank the Chair for facilitating me. I know he has a tough job to do today and I note that he has not used his own ten minutes. I appreciate him allowing me to speak. I have three areas of interest. These are fatal foetal abnormalities versus anomalies, the three-day wait and safe zones. I want to say this first because I have only five minutes to speak as a non-member of the committee...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Report of the Review of the Operation of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018: Discussion (31 May 2023)

Emer Higgins: This is the problem really. Ultimately the witnesses have detailed situations where expectant parents have had to travel to receive a termination for a much-wanted pregnancy in a situation where they have been given clinical advice that the baby will not survive very long but where they do not have the clinical clarity to be able to say they are within section 11 of the legislation. It is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Report of the Review of the Operation of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018: Discussion (31 May 2023)

Emer Higgins: I thank Ms O'Shea. I hope this is reflected in the committee's report on this. It is about engaging with stakeholders to see how they can reform the Act to make section 11 do what it originally set out to do-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Report of the Review of the Operation of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018: Discussion (31 May 2023)

Emer Higgins: -----and how it was sold to the men and women of Ireland.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Report of the Review of the Operation of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018: Discussion (31 May 2023)

Emer Higgins: I know two women in this situation and it is particularly tough when they and their families voted in favour of repeal for this reason. With regard to the three day wait we have heard a lot about the unintended consequences and people being timed out of the system. Some contributors have already made the point that we do not seem to have data on the initial intended consequence. Having...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Report of the Review of the Operation of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018: Discussion (31 May 2023)

Emer Higgins: This is a very important recommendation for the Minister and the HSE to hear. It seems like a big gap that could be quite easily fixed. With regard to safe zones, outside of GP surgeries in particular, the testimony that has been put on the record today is shocking. I have heard the witnesses used the phrase "coercively controlling somebody's reproductive rights". It is appalling that...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (30 May 2023)

Emer Higgins: I welcome plans to ban the sale of vapes to under-18s. We know the impact of nicotine when it comes to developing brains. We know that children who vape are five times more likely to start smoking. The move is welcome from a health standpoint. Honestly, however, it is the targeted advertising to young people that really concerns me, including the different colours and flavours. It is...