Results 261-280 of 20,607 for speaker:Brian Stanley

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Departmental Policies (1 Jul 2025)

Brian Stanley: 623. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the consideration given by his Department to re-establishing sugar beet processing in the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36091/25]

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (1 Jul 2025)

Brian Stanley: 624. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the analysis his Department conducted on carbon sequestration qualities of the States hedgerows and how they may be used as mitigation against agriculture emissions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36092/25]

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (1 Jul 2025)

Brian Stanley: 625. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his Department reviewed the biogenic carbon cycle from grass fed cattle in terms of emission reduction; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36093/25]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Social Welfare Eligibility (1 Jul 2025)

Brian Stanley: 698. To ask the Minister for Health to provide details of the framework for the blind welfare allowance means assessment; and the guidelines on how savings affect the assessment. [35361/25]

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 : Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2025)

Brian Stanley: I will try to keep my questions direct. I do not want to be abrupt with the witnesses but it would be good if the answers could be kept short because time is very short. Professor Tonra set out the four changes this will bring about in a very clear way. On the last one, he said the Bill specifies "the kind of multilateral force with which such deployments might serve, including the UN, EU,...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 : Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2025)

Brian Stanley: In the first paragraph of his statement, he says "Significantly, the credibility of the NATO alliance has been - perhaps fatally - undermined". Does he stand by that statement?

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 : Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2025)

Brian Stanley: To clarify, he sets out here that NATO could be one of those regional bodies and he clearly sets out the credibility of it is possibly fatally undermined.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 : Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2025)

Brian Stanley: I thank Professor Tonra. I am in favour of military neutrality. I do not have a big issue with the change from 12 soldiers to 50. I understand the logic of that, whether it is 12 to 30 or 40 or whatever for rescue missions and the other areas set out. It seems like a practical measure. On page four of the document Professor Tonra submitted, he states peacekeeping needs have changed...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 : Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2025)

Brian Stanley: Why?

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 : Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2025)

Brian Stanley: He does not think it is a fundamental change.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 : Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2025)

Brian Stanley: The Irish people who took that at face value, twice, which took the referendums from one third in favour to two thirds in favour and actually flipped over twice on it and got them through. Does Professor Tonra think it is okay to disregard that from a democratic point of view?

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 : Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2025)

Brian Stanley: It is not fundamental; it is a major change.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 : Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2025)

Brian Stanley: On circumstances, when I was growing up, there was the threat from the Cold War. It was not long after the Cuban missile crisis. There were a whole lot of very dangerous things happening. I know there are a lot of nutters in positions of power at the moment but there has never been a time in my lifetime when there has not been danger. Whether it was the illegal invasion of Iraq, the...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 : Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2025)

Brian Stanley: I would like a yes-no answer. Does Professor Tonra agree the trust of the people would be broken if we do this without giving them a say? Would the trust of every citizen of this State, me included, be broken after those two treaties if this major change, to use his term, is pushed through without a referendum?

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 : Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2025)

Brian Stanley: We have to respect the witnesses who come in. They have obviously come in from different positions and that is the reason we have them here. As a member of the committee, however, I was not aware until a half an hour ago of Professor Tonra's involvement in lobbying. He is entitled to do so but I want to hear his point of view, even though I disagree with him on probably a lot of what...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 : Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2025)

Brian Stanley: Professor Tonra made the statement very clearly. I read it twice last night. He said that Ireland's traditional neutrality will similarly be unaffected by the proposed amendment.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 : Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2025)

Brian Stanley: That is defined in our-----

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 : Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2025)

Brian Stanley: However, it is as it is defined in our 1937 Constitution and copper-fastened and stated in a national declaration as part of the Nice treaty and Lisbon treaty. Would that not be correct?

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 : Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2025)

Brian Stanley: Okay, I will leave it at that.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 : Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2025)

Brian Stanley: I will ask Mr. Noonan a question very quickly. We have been operating under multilateralism as part of the UN, as imperfect as that may be. I have one question for Mr. Noonan. We are being pressured, and there is a lot of pressure. We can see that building up in terms of the sense that we must move.