Emer Currie
Dublin West · Fine Gael · Ireland
“I wish to begin by recognising the substantial work undertaken by the Government-led shared island initiative, the ESRI, academics and opinion leaders. Without that work, we simply could not have a debate of this quality.”
“This is not simply about replacing old buildings; this is about building a modern educational campus that reflects the needs and the wishes of the families in Dublin 7 and Dublin 15 for generations to come. The community has waited long enough.”
“Rather than simply replacing the existing buildings, they have come together with an ambitious proposal to create one educational campus on the existing site. This project has the potential to be one of the most significant primary school developments in the State. However, the project has been stalled at stage 2a since 2024.”
“Many of the economic gaps that will likely be highlighted in the wider debate as barriers to unification - productivity, earnings, disposable income, tax revenue and educational attainment - are not as inevitable as some would like us to believe.”
“However, Northern Ireland has outperformed many UK regions since Brexit, helped by the competitive advantage created through dual access to the UK and EU goods markets under the Windsor Framework. More recent research suggests the productivity gap is narrowing.”
“If you believe in a united Ireland, then making Northern Ireland more prosperous, a better place to live and a more attractive proposition for the people who are undecided about how they would vote in this referendum should not be a secondary objective; it should be central to achieving a united Ireland.”
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“Review processes, redeployment mechanisms and workforce planning must form part of a broader inclusion strategy. "Let us not waste a crisis" is the famous saying. Fixing the system requires change, processes and structures that work, so let us build them.”
“Yet, despite this growth in investment, supply is not keeping pace with demand. At a very basic level, if we open 300 new special classes in a single year with each requiring two SNAs, we need more than an increase of 117 whole-time equivalent SNAs to fulfil the needs of all children in our schools. At the same time, I recognise that every Department must operate within a budget. At the Oireachtas committee on education in November, concerns were raised with the NCSE about the new guidelines. SNAs are allocated to schools rather than to individual children, yet surely resources must follow genuine need. The 2014 circular defines the role of an SNA narrowly as primary care, but SNAs support a far wider range of needs. We cannot rely on an outdated circular to bridge the gap between policy and practice.”
“Last week's outcry shows just how highly SNAs are regarded not just by families who rely on them directly but by all families. It would be a mistake to move on too quickly without exploring reform or we risk ending up back here again. Equitable access to education is a value we hold dear. That is why there is such strong public support for building an inclusive education system. Where barriers exist and difficult decisions must be made, let us have those conversations honestly and openly. I visited a school in my constituency just weeks ago that was undergoing an SNA review. Staff spoke of their fear of cuts. My first instinct was to examine the figures that showed that at a Department level, there are no such cuts. Whole-time equivalents have increased from over 1,200 in 2024 to 1,700 in 2026.”
“If this strategy is to genuinely unlock investment, the eight-year deemed disposal rule should be removed. This strategy is a really important step forward. I ask the Tánaiste to continue his ongoing engagement with the industry and to seriously consider removing the deemed disposal rule under the strategy.”
“I strongly welcome the Tánaiste's commitment to developing a national savings and investment strategy. It is the right direction, and there is obviously clear support for it. Irish households are strong savers, but too much of that money is sitting in low-yield accounts quietly losing value to inflation. If we are serious about building a culture of long-term investing, we must remove the barriers that discourage participation. The reduction in the exit tax rate on gains from 41% to 38% in the budget was a positive step. However, as long as the eight-year deemed disposal rule on exchange traded funds, ETFs, remains in place, long-term retail investors continue to be penalised. Taxing unrealised gains and interrupting compounding directly undermines the long-term behaviour we are trying to promote.”
“We should be talking about national targets to win those jobs for Ireland and to benefit communities all over the country; building the infrastructure to support and sustain those targets; using the National Training Fund to build a pipeline of talent through programmes that develop remote work skills for workers, managers and leaders; expanding supports for existing companies that make remote and hybrid stick; and scaling community programmes to continue to connect remote workers on a local level. It is time for the next step. We need a much bigger step than we had before; a new national strategy at scale that will have the halo-effect that we need.”
“For a country that excels in jobs strategies through IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and our local enterprise offices, this is the next big channel for us to leverage. I am talking about full PAYE employment, bound to Irish taxes and pensionable, with career progression, but not bound to a physical location. Grow Remote reports there are over 100,000 remote jobs advertised in Europe every month with salaries averaging nearly €20,000 higher than in Ireland's five lowest-income counties.”
“The current legislation in place since 2024 could be strengthened but the entire premise of this Bill is that with the right legislation, we can force employers into it and I fear that is counterproductive. It risks entrenching them in pro-office views and never get to the economic, social and environmental impacts that remote work can deliver. I am sorry that I believe this Bill lacks innovation and misses the opportunity that remote work offers our workforce and our economy and that is to make Ireland a world leading centre for the rapidly growing remote-first sector, to get remote-first companies set up in Ireland, for remote companies to recruit here in Ireland and the halo effect that would have on our workplace culture.”
“We are here today to debate a Bill with the right to remote work in its Title but a title alone does not make it a right. It is being sold as a right to flexible and remote work and I do not believe it is. In all other countries I am aware of, remote work arrangements depend on employer-employee agreements or specific conditions in law or regulation. Employers must consider the request, though they can still refuse for legitimate business reasons. I said this during the previous Labour Private Members' time on the same topic. What varies across countries is that there is a spectrum of how strong the reasons have to be for a business to refuse a request to work remotely. It is still, however, based on a right to request.”
“We do not need a framework for paramilitaries to come forward and provide information to families; they could be doing that. I always want to finish with my connection to the McVeigh family in Donaghmore and to Columba, who has been missing for 50 years. That family is not looking for revenge. They just want to bring Columba home and bury him in my village of Donaghmore. They had another dig this summer and it was unsuccessful. I urge once again that anyone who stands up in this Chamber or anywhere else who talks about truth, accountability, the rule of law and justice for families remembers families like the McVeighs. I sincerely hope that we can build a framework and system of justice and truth for families.”
“Kenova has emphasised that the report should be a blueprint for future legacy work and I agree. It has shown clearly that no organisation responsible for killing should be able to block a victim's pathway to truth and justice. The UK Parliament's Northern Ireland Affairs Committee said strongly this week that it recommends that the British Government formally identify Stakeknife. I wholeheartedly agree. It is appropriate, proportionate and in the public interest, and it shows that no one can expect to be protected in their actions. We are always coming back to a place of national vetoes on information and we need maximum disclosure and for all parties to be willing to stand for truth, to be brave enough to give truth to victims' families and to assist in reconciliation.”
“It also confirms, as noted in the interim report, that the Provisional IRA engaged in the wanton use of torture and murder. We are talking about murder, torture, kidnapping and extreme violence. The human cost of these crimes can never be overstated. The approach to legacy in recent years has damaged confidence in the rule of law in Northern Ireland. The rule of law was integral to the work of the Good Friday Agreement and after it to set up institutions. We always have to be on the side of the rule of law. Until truth and accountability are prioritised over protecting perpetrators, we cannot genuinely move forward as a society and build reconciliation. Kenova has been the light amidst the dark in recent years. It is designed as a full criminal standard investigation that has won the trust of victims.”
“I commend the authors and investigators of Kenova. The report has been a long time coming. Many families have waited on this. Much was banking on it. This report once again shows the depth of the brutality and callousness to which innocent people and communities were subjected during the Troubles. The scars, some of which are obvious and some of which are not, will be carried for generations. These acts were neither justified nor justifiable, whether committed by paramilitaries or members of the security forces, whether they wore a uniform or not. The report finds collusion involved vicious and serious criminal activity, including bombings and murder, and that paramilitary groups were regularly supplied with intelligence by members of the security forces.”
“The Dublin Bay South constituency has been allocated 103. I realise that the latter has higher levels of crime, but it does not have two thirds more. I ask that the Taoiseach continue his work with the Minister for justice to ensure that all constituencies, not just mine, have adequate resources.”
“The Taoiseach appreciates challenging and informed questions from this side of the House. I appreciate the recent rise in Garda numbers - 168 new gardaí last week were attested last week - and the work of the current and former Ministers for justice on this issue. Blanchardstown got six new gardaí last week, our largest allocation in this Dáil term, but we need more. In the K district, which is my constituency plus Finglas, we have roughly garda per 529 people. This compares, despite our higher levels of recorded crime, with one per 394 people in a neighbouring district. Last year, Pearse Street recorded more than 11,000 crimes while Blanchardstown recorded more than 7,000. They are both really busy stations. In this Dáil term, the entire K district has been allocated just 31 new gardaí.”
“Fifteen hundred court-issued penalty points have not been matched to drivers but a report from the Department of Transport says they could have been. Has there been any follow-up to see if any of them were for drivers who could have breached the 12- or seven-penalty-point threshold for disqualification? These are fixable issues: co-ordination, implementation and enforcement.”
“For months, I was told by the Department of Transport that gardaí had full roadside access via their mobility app, and had so for at least three years. The Garda then said access was partial, that a memorandum of understanding had only been signed and that a pilot was under way. Since December, all Garda members now have full NVDF access and I welcome that, but what was happening over the past three years? Even now, I do not have full confidence that gardaí and insurance companies have all the information they need from the NVDF. The courts system is not capturing driver numbers of people who are disqualified or assigned penalty points, so a process then has to be undertaken to match drivers to offences on the NVDF. I have a simple question that has not been answered yet.”
“I am thinking of that family. What are the concrete plans to prioritise road safety, reform the RSA and properly tackle enforcement? Awareness and education matter but they are not enough. From the past six months, I will give the Minister of State three examples of where I have seen a worrying lack of co-ordination between agencies and Departments. Take illegal licence plates. Despite assurances from the Department of Transport, the Garda already had enforcement powers. It took two years and repeated parliamentary questions before fixed charge notices were implemented for illegal licence plates. Then there is Garda access to the national vehicle and driver file, NVDF, which records licence status, disqualifications and penalty points. It is the backbone of enforcement on the roadside.”
“I do not think we have a legislation problem in road safety. I believe we primarily have an implementation and enforcement problem. Our Vision Zero strategy is heading in the wrong direction. Road deaths in Ireland rose by 22% from 2019 to 2025, while the EU average fell by 12%. That is not progress. Behaviour on our roads is worsening, while the system meant to protect people has failed to keep pace with the reality - more people, more cars, new vehicle types and more pressure on infrastructure. There has been a loss of confidence in our road safety strategy and the Government must act now to restore it. We have to remember the families affected and listen to road safety groups like PARC and people like Susan Gray who are dedicated to road safety. Fourteen people have lost their lives already this year, including somebody today.”
“In reference to noise, the chief executive's order states that the temporary nature of the proposal will enable potential impacts to be monitored more fully. The fact that the trial is coming to an end should focus the minds of those who want to show that noise can be addressed with mechanisms to measure it. It should also focus the minds of those who want to ensure a balance can be found.”
“All businesses must comply with those rules in their operations. I note the Bill requires local authorities to prepare objectives for the management of drones. We all know that national policy and local policy need to be more joined up. I am not sure how this Bill addresses that gap. With regard to noise, I agree there needs to be a complaints mechanism but in order for that to happen, there needs to be agreement on appropriate noise levels for residential areas. Fingal County Council granted a temporary three-year trial at Blanchardstown shopping centre for a drone delivery service. The planning officer noted that the applicant stated that this was a trial period to examine whether the proposal would be acceptable.”
“I welcome the publication of the national policy framework and want to see it prioritised and progressed. Making regulations and enforcing them is a matter for the Government. We have seen what happens when innovations, for example, e-scooters, come in without a robust regulatory framework and enforcement measures. The Government must do more. Innovating and operating responsibly in compliance with the law is a matter for business. I welcome the fact that a business operating in the community is continuing to innovate by investing in new propeller systems to address noise impacts. However, at the same time, it must also ensure it is fully compliant with all aspects of regulation and the law, which includes the local planning code. I support innovation and the development of a new regulatory framework.”
“I thank Deputy O'Gorman for publishing this Bill and for the work that has gone into it. I have consistently argued for a balanced approach on this matter. I want to see innovation and the deployment of drone technology but I also want to see effective regulation and enforcement of that regulation. There are politicians in the area who just want an end to the drones. That is fine but I am not in that camp. I recognise the benefits and potential benefits of drone technology but I believe there must be practical and implementable safeguards for communities. I still believe that can be achieved. Communities, planning authorities and businesses should be engaged with to build an effective and workable regulatory framework. Enterprises, especially those with ambitious plans for global expansion, should be up for that.”
“I think we all agree the regulation of childminding services is critical to the safeguarding of children. Childminders are anxious about how inspections will be carried out on their homes, so I am asking the Minister of State to update us on when the review of the registration process will take place because time really is of the essence. We want to ensure we are not losing childminders from the sector, and we need to support our parents. That is the goal. We need to ensure we are doing both but the safeguarding of children is the most important priority of all. I will also take the opportunity to ask about the 17 crèches that did not register properly and were in danger of not being able to open earlier this month and whether the new Garda vetting process was part of what happened there.”
“The first half passed in 2024 and was focused on early years services, including the removal of the exemption of regulations on self-employed childminders who work in childminders’ homes. The Minister then followed that up with specific regulations. I take the opportunity to briefly focus on childminding services. There has been very low registration during the three-year transition period to September 2027. Families using childminders are not necessarily able to avail of the national childcare scheme subsidies. Lots of parents out there are worried their childminders are not going to sign up to Tusla. The supply is not there to choose one that is. It is great to see so much focus on childminding in phase 1 of the early years action plan.”
“Tusla advised the committee last week that it had moved from 17 areas to 13 networks, which it says means it has smaller geographical areas. Within each of those areas, it has local integrated teams. These are integrated front-door teams, where it has family support teams and child welfare and protection services integrated under one roof, so when requests come into the service, they can screen them and react quickly. I wonder whether that is enough, and if it is doing enough work to reach into communities. Through the likes of the local community safety partnerships, there should be the opportunity to strengthen the Tusla presence, working closely with youth workers, social workers, the JLOs and local communities. This Bill is the second half of amendments to the Child Care Act 1991.”
“From engagement with Tusla, it is clear the pressure it is under is immense. Since it was established in 2014, child protection and welfare referrals have more than doubled. For the first 11 months of 2025, the agency received 98,000 referrals, an increase of more than 10% over the previous year. Such is the importance of these services, any gaps must be addressed strategically and proactively. Its presence on the ground in communities has never been more important. While I see areas like ours grow, and it is great we are seeing new communities, I want to see the Tusla network grow in those areas as well. They need to be connected into early intervention. We need the targeted and the specialist services and supports across the State.”
“It should better protect children from harm and improve stability for them by allowing for the updating of care orders and care arrangements and supporting the establishment of an inter-agency committee for better co-operation. It will introduce guiding principles for Tusla to follow in the performance of its duties, including that the best interests of the child are of paramount consideration, ultimately, to ensure children's rights guide decision-making and for a better alignment with the UNCRC. I welcome the rights-based progress and more joined-up thinking. I also welcome putting the national review panel on a statutory footing. It has been raised already but I ask that the Minister engage directly with the guardians ad litem , GALs, particularly in relation to their concerns around independence. They are a very important stakeholder.”
“This Bill amends the Child Care Act 1991, which is wide-ranging legislation that seeks to promote the welfare of children who may not receive adequate care and protection. Over the years the Act supported the establishment of Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, and an amendment to Article 42A of the Constitution to recognise the rights of the child. As per the programme for Government, the Act is being updated based on a review identifying what is working well to address gaps and operational improvements. It is absolutely necessary that we modernise this Act, and there has been consultation on this over several years.”
“There are policy solutions out there, including better supports for providers of baby rooms, pay-related benefits and the inclusion of children under one in the State-led facilities because, at the moment, the reference is to those aged from one to three.”
“New parents are in a catch-22 situation. The flat rate, per-week payment for maternity, paternity and parent's benefits makes extended leave unaffordable for many families, although it has improved. The reality is that they have no option but to go back to work to cover the costs of rent or mortgages or the cost of living. They then need childcare. Baby rooms in childcare services should be the solution but, since the introduction of core funding, the number of baby rooms across the State has dropped by 25% and by a whopping 35% in my own county of Fingal. Parents are in a catch-22 situation. They have no option other than to go back to work but the childcare is not there. We need a joined-up review of early years policy and family supports to relieve pressure on parents. We need that quickly so that we have the findings for budget 2027.”
“This is especially unjust when those children will start school at the same time as their December-born peers, but at a disadvantage. In my mind, there is no need to delay on this. A review on ECCE was completed in October. We need a more flexible, inclusive system.”
“The programme for Government committed to evaluating options to amend the ECCE eligibility criteria and it is clear why. It relies on a blunt cut-off date for children starting the ECCE scheme whereby they must be two years and eight months by 1 September. The inequity this causes is obvious from replies I have received to parliamentary questions. A total of 17% of children do not take up the second year of the free ECCE scheme. When that 17% is broken down by birth month, 3,257 were born in January, while just 171 were born in December. Because of a matter of days or weeks, thousands of children are missing out on a full year of ECCE entitlement, the development benefits for the child and the financial benefits for the family. It is developmentally transformative, which is why Fine Gael increased it to two years.”
“There was a missed opportunity in the introduction of flexible work for carers of children only up to the age of 12. The real cultural and social change will come when there is a degendering of that provision and it is not just, as it usually is, the mother accessing flexible work. It should be available to everybody.”
“We should have a strategy that targets global companies that work remotely and digitally first and attracts them to Ireland. That would have a halo effect on other companies in Ireland because it would show the productivity and success levels of those companies with a remote-first approach. Can the legislation be improved? It absolutely can and should be improved. There is a spectrum when it comes to the right to request remote working and we are on the wrong side of that spectrum in terms of the legislation having teeth. There are ways in which we can make it a lot stronger such that it boils down to allowing only genuine business reasons for companies to have an issue with remote work. We certainly should strengthen the legislation.”
“That is what we did with the remote work strategy that was introduced by the previous Government. It invested in 400 co-working spaces around the country, in the national broadband plan, in training companies on the cultural change and in offering training to employees through Grow Remote, in which I am involved. That is why our statistics around remote working are so strong. We are higher up the table than most countries in Europe in terms of the number of people working fully remotely and the numbers working from home. Is the system perfect? No, it is not, which is why it is time to devise a new strategy on remote and flexible working to protect what we have and improve it. Ireland should be the best country in the world for remote working. That must be our ambition.”
“I will not spend two and a half minutes talking about the benefits of remote and flexible working because I spent five years talking about those benefits, as my colleague Deputy Wall knows. Instead, in the two and a half minutes I have, I will focus on the first line of the motion, which states that "employees in Ireland have no right to flexible and remote work, only a right to request it from their employer". Have my Labour Party colleagues found a country that gives people such a right? The only one I have found over the years is Finland and, even there, it is only for office workers. We must be careful not to give the impression that legislation will fix all of this, which is not accurate. A bigger approach is needed when making cultural changes in society and in workplaces.”
“I know from speaking to the Minister that it is a priority for him to invest in both and get it right for all the population of Dublin.”
“I also saw that article and will take the opportunity to say we need the investment in the new services, like the N8 bus link from Dublin 15. However, we definitely need investment in existing services as well due to a growing population, growing demand and growth in housing. The Minister and I spoke about the fact that investment in existing services in Dublin West had reduced to €97 in 2022 and there was zero budget for 2023 in enhancing existing services. That led to serious reliability issues across the 37, 38, 39 and 40 buses. They are the backbone of our constituency. We need to invest in both new services and enhancing existing services. It was foolhardy to prioritise new services over existing services, leaving communities like mine behind from 2022 to 2024. It would also be foolhardy to now go in the opposite direction.”
“The national vehicle and driver file is the State’s database for driving licences, disqualifications and penalty points. It is relied on by An Garda Síochána and insurance companies yet in 2024 almost 8,000 penalty points were unmatched. That is mainly through the Courts Service. Following questions I raised last year, the Department reviewed the matching process for disqualifications and penalty points but these figures are not providing reassurance. The Department admitted that over 1,500 penalty point offences could have been matched if the system was more effective. Can the Taoiseach encourage clarity on how many disqualifications from drivers accumulating 12 penalty points or seven on a learner permit cannot be fully enforced on our roads because those penalty points are not being recorded on the national vehicle and driver file?”
“I move: It is proposed, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, that— – the Parliamentary Questions pursuant to Standing Order 47(1) that were due to be answered by the Minister for Finance on 23rd October, 2025, will be answered on 9th December, 2025, in accordance with the ordinary routine of business; – the Parliamentary Questions pursuant to Standing Order 47(1) due to be answered by the Minister for Finance on 9th December, 2025, will be answered on 18th December, 2025, in an additional session to be ordered by the House; and – the rota of Ministers or rota for priority Questions shall not be affected in this regard.”
“Yes, I know it is a Garda Commissioner decision but if the policy framework is leaving particular communities behind, that policy becomes a political issue too.”
“Dublin West is being policed on a shoestring. Despite being one of the busiest districts in the country, we are struggling with dangerously low Garda numbers. Blanchardstown, Finglas, Cabra and the K district have just one garda per 529 people and recorded 8,200 crimes last year, while Ronanstown and Lucan, which are in the Q district, have one garda for every 394 people and recorded 4,200 incidents. In one year, DMR south central gained 60 gardaí, yet our division, DMR west, lost 15. DMR west also includes Citywest where the recent violent disorder took place. In the most recent allocation, it got seven gardaí and we got five gardaí. Meanwhile, Dún Laoghaire received 20 gardaí, Dundrum 12 gardaí and Blackrock eight gardaí. In total, the entire K district has received just 16 new gardaí this year compared to 45 last year.”
“We need to end the prevalence of childcare units lying empty in places of overwhelming childcare demand, such as in my constituency of Dublin West where units have lain empty for years. By updating the guidelines, the Minister can create an effective pipeline for State-led childcare facilities that will build the mixed private-public model of childcare that we desperately need.”
“To assist the Minister with that meeting, I would say it is time our planning authorities were required to scale up their competency in childcare. At present, assessment of childcare needs occupies a low level of priority when it comes to assessing planning applications in large-scale residential developments. That needs to change. There should be mandatory technical guidelines for childcare facilities so that units are suitable and usable as childcare facilities in size, design, regulatory compliance and location. They should not be built at the back of estates, essentially as housing units, for numbers of children that are not viable for childcare providers.”
“If we are ever to meet the demand for childcare places in local communities, we need to effectively link the delivery of new housing with the delivery of childcare places, and that is our opportunity to acquire State-led facilities. If the Minister is looking for a practical overview of existing guidelines, I have spoken about them extensively in the Chamber.”
“I thank the Minister. A commitment was made in the programme for Government to increase childcare supply by building or acquiring State-led facilities. There are 43,000 children on waiting lists for early learning, childcare and school-aged care places. In our planning system, the only provision to safeguard land for childcare facilities is a basic formula from 2001 which allocates 20 childcare places for every 75 homes. It is rudimentary and littered with loopholes. One-bedroom apartments are not included in the calculation and builders can secure an exemption by pointing to other childcare facilities in an area, even if they have waiting lists. Sometimes facilities are not built. The guidelines are literal in their application. For example, if there are two adjacent applications for 70 homes there would be no childcare facility.”
“I seek an update on the Department's efforts to fulfil the commitment in the programme for Government to review the Childcare Facilities Guidelines for Planning Authorities, which date from 2001, to ensure childcare spaces are provided and put into use.”
“It is the ability for a community to define what the issue is and work together to solve it in a collaborative way. What is happening here is the funds and the policies are excellent and already exist. What we are asking for is to make our communities eligible for them in order that we can have the same opportunity for place making. Our villages are just as distinct and have just as much character. It is to build on that and emphasise it and bring out the best in our communities. That is what making these funds available would do.”
“I appreciate that. The Minister of State has made the town and village renewal scheme sound even more attractive with how she described it. However, we are not eligible for it. She also referenced the urban regeneration and development fund. Again, we are too small for those projects. We are, as a suburban area, falling between those gaps. I acknowledge what she said about the THRIVE scheme and the vacant property refurbishment grant. However, it is the description of the town and village renewal scheme that ticks the boxes I am talking about. It can assist those communities in delivering on their aspirations, be that through a community centre, public realm works, a public park, public lighting or other such community facility.”