Emer Higgins

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

Higgins 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.

[8] In November 2019, Higgins 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.

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.

[16][17] Her intervention was described by some councillors as "inappropriate", an "outrageous overreach" and an instance "of big business dictating to the city",[18] 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”.