Results 1,521-1,540 of 1,579 for speaker:Emer Currie

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...

Seanad: Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2020: Second Stage (1 Dec 2020)

Emer Currie: We will be here all night. I will share time with Senator Dolan. I thank the Minister for his relentless work on Brexit and its impact on relationships as we know them on these islands. It is always worth mentioning that Ireland never wanted Brexit and, in many ways, aspects of this Bill underline the absurdity of it all. Why replace convergence with divergence or seamlessness with...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (26 Nov 2020)

Emer Currie: I would like to raise a matter that Senator Kyne has already touched on. Tomorrow is the day traditionally known as "black Friday", which has grown in popularity in Ireland over the last decade or so. It is the day we look for our bargains and deals, especially in the run-up to Christmas. I am asking all Senators to help to turn black Friday into green Friday. There is an existing...

Seanad: Reopening Ireland (Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (26 Nov 2020)

Emer Currie: I will. I welcome the Minister of State. There has been a more measured discourse in recent weeks about young people and how Covid is affecting teenagers. I welcome that. I remember when summer holidays seemed like an eternity. Lives were changed over the course of three months and yet many of them have had nine months at home with mum and dad and no social life. There is more empathy...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Establishment of an Independent Public Inquiry into the Murder of Pat Finucane: Motion (26 Nov 2020)

Emer Currie: I again say "hello" to Mr. Finucane. John also heard me speak last night. I very much support the motion from last night and the motion today. He will see from everyone that it is very heartfelt. It is absolutely the time for the UK Government to do the right thing. It has been far too long. It has taken more than 20 years to do so. It needs to deliver on a commitment it made at Weston...

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2020: Second Stage (25 Nov 2020)

Emer Currie: I will be fast. When I was a councillor, the Minister's brother was mayor.

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2020: Second Stage (25 Nov 2020)

Emer Currie: Of course he was okay. I have one or two points to make. It would be a good idea to establish guidance on best practice for running public meetings online and for online consultations. I appreciate the speed at which things have changed but how things have been handled has varied dramatically between different local authorities and the National Transport Authority, NTA. We have had some...