Emer Higgins Explained

Honorific-Suffix:TD
Office:Minister of State
Suboffice:Enterprise, Trade and Employment
Subterm:2024–
Office1:Teachta Dála
Term Start1:February 2020
Constituency1:Dublin Mid-West
Birth Place:Dublin, Ireland
Nationality:Irish
Party:Fine Gael
Alma Mater:University College Dublin

Emer Higgins (born 1985/1986)[1] is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Mid-West constituency since the 2020 general election.[2]

She was co-opted as a member of South Dublin County Council in 2011 and continued as a councillor until her election as a TD in 2020, and worked as chief of staff of global operations for PayPal. She served as Leader of the Fine Gael group on South Dublin County Council and as Chair of the Land use, Planning and Transport SPC Strategic Policy Committee.

In 2019, she ran as the Fine Gael candidate in the 2019 Dublin Mid-West by-election where she was beaten by the Sinn Féin candidate Mark Ward.[3]

She is a member of the Governing Authority of University College Dublin (UCD), where she went to college and graduated with a Honours Degree in Economics and Sociology.[4] She also worked for a period of five years as an assistant to Frances Fitzgerald.[5]

In November 2019, she apologised for an incident in 2014, in which she delivered a letter to her constituents where she expressed "delight" over cancelled plans for accommodation for Irish Travellers in Newcastle, South Dublin.[6]

At the 2020 general election, she was one of two Fine Gael candidates in Dublin Mid-West and was elected to one of four seats in the constituency.[7] [8] Following Higgins's election to the Dáil, Shirley O'Hara was co-opted to her seat on South Dublin County Council.[9]

In May 2022, Higgins was widely criticised on social media for her "months-long campaign" and work with Simon Coveney to rename An Post's Passport Express service as Post Passport, as it was not quick enough. Critics described her video announcing the change as "tone deaf" and asked whether there were not more important issues for elected representatives to deal with. As a result she was ratioed on Twitter.[10]

On 17 December 2022, Higgins seconded the uncontested nomination of Leo Varadkar as Taoiseach for his second term.[11]

On 10 April 2024, Higgins was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment with responsibility for Business, Employment and Retail.[12] [13]

On 30 June 2024, Higgins announced that she would be asking Dublin City Council to pause the Dublin City Centre Transport Plan. The move followed public criticism of the plan by Ibec and the Dublin City Traders Alliance but faced criticism from Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan and from several Dublin City councillors as well as advocacy groups I BIKE Dublin and the Dublin Commuter Coalition.[14] [15] Her intervention was described by some councillors as "inappropriate", an "outrageous overreach" and an instance "of big business dictating to the city",[16] and by Ivana Bacik, the leader of the Labour Party as "a really inappropriate intervention by a junior minister seeking it seems to derail the traffic plan agreed for Dublin City Council by councillors”.[17] [18]

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Holland . Kitty . 10 February 2020 . Election 2020: Emer Higgins (Fine Gael) . The Irish Times.
  2. Web site: Emer Higgins . 15 February 2020 . Oireachtas Members Database.
  3. News: O'Halloran . Marie . 30 November 2019 . Byelection Dublin Mid-West: Sinn Féin's Mark Ward elected . . Dublin . live . 16 June 2021 . https://archive.today/20210616131140/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/byelection-dublin-mid-west-sinn-f%C3%A9in-s-mark-ward-elected-1.4100793 . 16 June 2021.
  4. News: Holland . Kitty . 10 February 2020 . Election 2020: Emer Higgins (Fine Gael) . en . . Dublin . live . https://archive.today/20210616194336/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/election-2020-emer-higgins-fine-gael-1.4168667 . 16 June 2021.
  5. News: McGee . Harry . 21 February 2020 . First day in the Dáil: Giddy atmosphere as new TDs anxious to get to work . . Dublin . live . 21 February 2020 . https://archive.today/20210616195202/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/first-day-in-the-d%C3%A1il-giddy-atmosphere-as-new-tds-anxious-to-get-to-work-1.4180095 . 16 June 2021.
  6. News: Daly . Adam . 14 November 2019 . Taoiseach: Councillor 'accepts fully' she was wrong about Traveller accommodation comment . en . . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20191201063314/https://www.thejournal.ie/emer-higgins-clifford-lee-by-election-leo-varadkar-4892123-Nov2019/ . 1 December 2019.
  7. News: Holland . Kitty . 10 February 2020 . 9 February 2020 . Dublin Mid West results: Jubilant scenes as Gino Kenny takes final seat. Fine Gael's Emer Higgins also elected while Fianna Fáil's John Curran loses out . . Dublin . live . 16 June 2021 . https://archive.today/20210616192820/https://www.irishtimes.com/election2020/dublin-mid-west/dublin-mid-west-results-jubilant-scenes-as-gino-kenny-takes-final-seat-1.4165217 . 16 June 2021.
  8. News: 10 February 2020 . Election 2020: Dublin Mid-West . . Dublin . live . 16 June 2021 . https://archive.today/20210616193303/https://www.irishtimes.com/election2020/dublin-mid-west . 16 June 2021.
  9. Web site: Minutes of South Dublin County Council February 2020 Special Meeting of County Council Meeting held on Monday 24 February 2020 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210616093625/http://www.sdublincoco.ie/Meetings/ViewDocument/66096 . 16 June 2021 . 16 June 2021 . South Dublin County Council . 2–3 . DOC.
  10. News: Butler . Roisin . 25 May 2022 . Ireland reacts to 'tone deaf' Passport Express name change as service is too slow . Irish Mirror . 25 May 2022.
  11. News: Lehane . Mícheál . 17 December 2022 . Varadkar set to replace Martin as Taoiseach . RTÉ News.
  12. News: Lehane . Mícheál . Dillon, Higgins and Burke appointed as junior ministers . 10 April 2024 . 10 April 2024 . en.
  13. Web site: Who are the new junior ministers in Simon Harris’s Cabinet? . 31 May 2024. The Irish Times . en.
  14. Web site: Duffy . Rónán . 2024-07-01 . Councillors slam 'bizarre overreach' as junior minister seeks to halt Dublin traffic plan . 2024-08-14 . TheJournal.ie . en.
  15. Web site: 2024-06-30 . Junior Minister’s attempt to delay Dublin City traffic plan “until at least 2025” is “outrageous” - . 2024-08-14 . IrishCycle.com . en-GB.
  16. News: Kelly . Olivia . Dublin councillors seek no delay on transport plan amid ‘big business’ lobbying . 2 July 2024 . The Irish Times . 2 July 2024 . en.
  17. Web site: Junior minister accused of ‘Fine Gael dog whistling’ over Dublin transport plan . 2024-08-14 . The Irish Times . en.
  18. Web site: Intervention by Emer Higgins is creating an artificial conflict between drivers and everyone else . 2024-08-14 . The Irish Times . en.

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