Results 1,441-1,460 of 3,479 for speaker:Emer Higgins

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Emer Higgins: On town planners, the Royal Town Planning Institute’s submission talks about planning needing to be a corporate function within local authorities so that it is maximised and utilised to its best degree. I come from the South Dublin County Council area, where we have many strategic development zones, SDZs, and local area plans, LAPs, on top of the development plan. We have a quite...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Emer Higgins: Is that not happening in local authorities?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Emer Higgins: Super. The Royal Town Planning Institute’s submission also talks about digital planning approaches. Could the institute elaborate on that and what it would like that to look like in practice, please?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Emer Higgins: One thing that is a sort of pet peeve of mine is that when a large planning application goes in, which involves boxes of files involving boxes of maps; one has people in county council and local authority offices delegated to spend days on end scanning these into a system. Until these staff members do the scanning, the public cannot see this material unless they go down and physically look...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Emer Higgins: Does this legislation provide for that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Emer Higgins: I thank Mr. Jones for that clarification.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Emer Higgins: I had to step out for the launch of the disability matters report as I am on that committee as well. It serves as a good reminder that we must ensure as we plan for our future and look at county development plans that we are putting people with disabilities front and centre too. I apologise if this was covered while I was gone, but I had a query about the IPI's opening statement. There...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Emer Higgins: My apologies for not being here earlier. I had a clash and then I was speaking in the Dáil so I apologise if some of these questions are repeats. How many tenantin situscheme purchases were there last year and what is the budget for this year? Are extra resources being given to local authorities to complete the purchases.? It is great to hear about the 7,500 to 8000 brand-new social...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Emer Higgins: Do councils have the resources to make it happen?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Emer Higgins: The figure of 10% is a lot more realistic and in line with what is happening in the outside world outside of the State. Has there been much inflation on sites where construction workers were on-site and for whatever reason, the council had to re-tender and get a new construction company in? What fluctuations have there been?

Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use: Motion (21 Feb 2023)

Emer Higgins: Citizens' assemblies play a crucial role in driving social and policy change across Ireland. Over the past few years, we have seen how effective they are at starting a national discourse on the issues impacting people and because of that, Ireland is widely regarded as a world leader when it comes to deliberative democracy. The recommendations of previous citizens' assemblies have influenced...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 Feb 2023)

Emer Higgins: The programme for Government contains a commitment to review our electoral laws and protect our democracy from external influences like political donations from non-citizens outside the State. At the weekend, there was another revelation regarding Sinn Féin's finances. We heard further contradictions about its electoral spending and more questions were raised about its statutory...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2023)

Emer Higgins: I thank the witnesses for attending and for sharing their expertise. It has been especially interesting to hear from the councillor representatives, given they represent almost 1,000 councillors, who cannot afford to take out the time to read this lengthy draft Bill. I thank them, therefore, for coming and putting their views on record. A friend of mine was recently a member of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2023)

Emer Higgins: I apologise for interrupting but I am conscious of the time. I might bring in Councillor Sheahan and return to Councillor Killian later.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2023)

Emer Higgins: It is interesting to get that feedback. As I said, I worked on a couple of development plans, and I could not imagine having had to stay up until 2 a.m. looking into a computer screen and zooming in and out of maps. I know I would have found it unworkable, so it was interesting to hear Councillor Sheahan's experience.

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Conservation (21 Feb 2023)

Emer Higgins: 165. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will report on his Department’s progress in delivering a low-cost loan guarantee scheme to encourage homeowners to undertake home energy upgrades under the national retrofitting and home energy upgrade programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8416/23]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Driver Test (21 Feb 2023)

Emer Higgins: 192. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the delays professional public service drivers are experiencing in terms of getting out on the road due to the time lag between applying for a test and the test date, combined with the average time it takes to process a CPC card after a driver successfully completes the test. [8304/23]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Driver Test (21 Feb 2023)

Emer Higgins: 193. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will authorise the issuing of a temporary 31-day CPC card to drivers who successfully complete their professional driving test in order to get newly qualified bus drivers out on the road serving local communities quicker; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8305/23]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Training (21 Feb 2023)

Emer Higgins: 438. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she has considered amending the student teacher Gaeltacht grant to provide full State funding of mandatory Gaeltacht placement for all student teachers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8819/23]

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (21 Feb 2023)

Emer Higgins: 460. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason that a person who is living alone at home but is a qualified adult on their spouses' pension, who resides in a nursing home, does not qualify for the living alone allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8138/23]