Results 841-860 of 47,282 for speaker:Simon Harris

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (10 Jul 2025)

Simon Harris: The Gender Recognition Act 2015 resides with the Department of Social Protection so I will ask the Minister for Social Protection to come back to the Deputy on that matter and with a timeline for the review she is seeking.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (10 Jul 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising that issue and my sincere sympathy goes to the family of Catherine. The Deputy is quite right to highlight this issue. The Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, has had a number of meetings with her colleague and counterpart in Northern Ireland, the Minister of Health, Mike Nesbitt. I know there is a real willingness and desire on the part of both...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (10 Jul 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and congratulate him on publishing his first legislation so soon into the term of this Dáil. He is quite right that this is a huge area. We have seen many companies such as JP Morgan and Ford make significant comments over the last week about job displacement and the type of new jobs that will be created. There is a live debate around...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (10 Jul 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Ó Muirí and he is correct that I had the honour of visiting Marino Institute of Education. It is a brilliant third level facility and it had made this point for some time. I want to acknowledge that. The reason some of its courses are not funded under the free fees initiative is because of its status as a private institution with charitable status under the...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (10 Jul 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising this. We had an informal word on this issue last night and I know of her very sincere and good interest in this matter and I acknowledge that. Everybody acknowledges that everyone is acting in good faith here. People here in Ireland are trying to do something good for children from a war-torn area. There is no two ways about that and I acknowledge that too....

Ceisteanna ó na Comhaltaí Eile - Other Members’ Questions (10 Jul 2025)

Simon Harris: There is a special place in hell for anybody who commits a sexual crime against a child. While we cannot do much about places in hell, we can do things about places in prison. We can do things about making sure our legislation and resourcing are as robust as possible. As the Deputy rightly said, we need to come at this with every possible resource and avenue. I appeal to the Oireachtas to...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (10 Jul 2025)

Simon Harris: I do not doubt the good faith of the people in our country and in other countries who have been trying to make this trip happen. No one doubts that. No one doubts wanting to support children. Of course, we are not just talking about 33 children seeking to come to Ireland. We are also talking a number of adults, almost all of whom are not the parents of any of the children.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (10 Jul 2025)

Simon Harris: Please do not interrupt me on a sensitive issue. We have just discussed child protection. It is very important. Vetting is very important. We have strict rules on migration and who can come into our country. It has to be a rules-based system. I do not want to go too far into the application. I am sure everyone is engaging in good faith. There is certainly not an effort by the State to...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (10 Jul 2025)

Simon Harris: I genuinely take the good faith in which people are raising it. They are quite right to raise it. Many people have raised it and contacted us all about it. The Minister for justice has a specific and important job to do and that is to apply the laws of our land on visas, child protection and immigration. If he did not do that, I am sure he would be criticised in the other direction. We...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (10 Jul 2025)

Simon Harris: It must be exhausting speaking for the whole nation, but I also speak for people in this country, as does every Member of this House. We are not tearing up our rules-based migration system. If, God forbid, anything happened to any child from any part of this country who came in here unaccompanied by a parent, the Minister would be hauled in here and asked what he did and why he let it...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (10 Jul 2025)

Simon Harris: Sorry, there is no going around the back of the scrum. Do not dare do Israel versus Palestine. This is child protection. We have a visa system. We have a rules-based system. The Deputy might want to have a different approach to migration. This Government has rules and those rules will be followed in relation to migration.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Jul 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy. When he criticised me about my response only being words, I am not sure what more I can provide in oral response to a question. I provided clearly in those words quite a bit of detail on the laws that are in place in our land. They are laws that those of us who are honoured to serve in government worked hard to put in place in 2014, with an enhancement in 2022. In the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Jul 2025)

Simon Harris: I cannot pre-judge. We have a WRC and Labour Court that are independent of government. We have An Garda Síochána. We have a number of avenues and robust whistleblower legislation. I suggest in the first instance, if the Deputy believes there are more issues that need to be considered, to provide them to the relevant Department.

Ceisteanna ó na Comhaltaí Eile - Other Members’ Questions (10 Jul 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for highlighting this extremely important issue and for highlighting it on an ongoing basis and for her work on this. We appreciate that. It is important. I was listening to the Deputy and thinking back to some of the debates we had in the previous Dáil. We are going to have to do more to empower An Garda Síochána with the technology it needs for this....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Jul 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy. I know the seriousness with which he views this issue. He has said it is a "central issue" and that is obviously how he feels about it. It will be interesting to see whether, through the range of courses provided by Tipperary ETB and the pathways available, it believes it can meet the needs of learners through other mechanisms or whether it will require LTIs to continue...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Jul 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising the matter, as I acknowledge he has on previous occasions, as he said. He raised it with my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Chambers, who has committed to engaging with him. I will welcome his views on the legislative basis we have in Ireland. I am not familiar with the details and if the Deputy has details, he should furnish them to the relevant...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Jul 2025)

Simon Harris: It is welcome to have a question on climate as I am not sure we, as a Dáil, are having the level of focus and discussion needed on this issue. The climate emergency has not gone away; far from it. We need to look at how we can accelerate the pace of change that needs to take place. We need a conversation about how we bring people with us, on which the Deputy had some good ideas. I,...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Jul 2025)

Simon Harris: We are committed to providing the investment that is required. I am being very honest in saying I am not convinced currently of the need for more legislation in this area. There is a lot of legislation in place. It is an implementation issue now in terms of how quickly we can accelerate delivery. Most sectors of our economy are seeing a decrease in emissions, including agriculture and...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Jul 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. As a previous Minister with responsibility in this area, I know Tipperary ETB to be an excellent and well-run organisation. I am aware of some of the exciting projects in which it is involved, including at the old barracks in Clonmel and the plans for a FET college of the future. I know the ETB to be a well-run organisation and would...