Results 81-100 of 46,197 for speaker:Simon Harris

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: They very much are and, similar to Deputy Smith, I do not say this to be lofty. It speaks to our values. I am genuinely proud of the fact that no matter who of us are in government it is what we believe in as Irish people. There has generally been cross-party and cross-partisan consensus that overseas development aid and official development assistance works and matters. Part of it is our...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: I am glad the Deputy noted that and asked the question because it is an issue I would like to see resolved. An allocation is made each year and, without being flippant, it is never the right allocation and therefore we always end up having to have a Supplementary Estimate to address the issue later in the year. A good piece of work is ongoing to try to resolve this. It is a spending...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: The EU-Israel association agreement has been in place for a number of years. It is a good thing for the European Union to have agreements with as many countries and parts of the world as possible. However, and I know the Deputy shares this view, I also believe the human rights obligations in the agreement are not just stuck in for padding – they are not discretionary and they are not...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: I disagree respectfully on that.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: Today we become the first country in the European Union to publish, or very shortly publish, legislation to ban trade with the occupied Palestinian territory. I think that is a concrete step.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: The current draft legislation, as I have long previewed, will be in goods but from a policy point of view I am not against including services. What I need to do is tease through the legality of that. We have very good people who do a very good job on that in the Department, for which I thank them. As they work through this, the present general scheme, and I say this to be helpful in...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: I do not disagree. The question here is whether Ireland can do that unilaterally or can only do it at EU level. I am quite sure the committee will tease through that.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: To take the last point first, we have increased significantly our footprint in our physical presence and number of people. Do I believe we need to do more? I do and when we talk about growing Ireland’s footprint it cannot just be about buildings but also the depth of the teams in those buildings. I am supportive of that and the Deputy can be assured I will make that case in the...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: The long and the short is we are working on this. Technology and the digitisation could be an important part of that. Occasionally, I do hear the issue of how to take the correct photograph that is acceptable. I do not mean to trivialise this because it is important we help people. We have a good video on the website to which I would refer people. Customers can vary greatly in the level...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: I would have to do my sums. It is about 10,000.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy McCarthy. We were conscious of Cork and Belfast and all parts of this island. As I think I told the Deputy in the Dáil before, we have plans to move office in Cork and this will make room for additional staff. We do, therefore, have a commitment to expanding there. On the broader issue of new offices being needed, I think, on balance, ensuring the service is accessible...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: Sure thing.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: On the last one, it is a matter for those individual companies to operate within the regulatory structures that exist, but I think there is a real obligation on countries to do an awful lot more to assist developing countries with climate adaptation. I attended a conference during the UN General Assembly week last year. I was really struck by those countries that often have the least and...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: I was very struck yesterday by my engagement with a number of countries, including France, which is part of the EU3. When I was looking back on all this yesterday too, I was reminded of the years in which the world made some degree of progress in relation to these issues. We were at our best when we were trying to advance the JCPOA. The question now is if we can use this space that a...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: That is a question I will have to ponder and come back to the Deputy on. I am not sure, first of all, if there are plans for such a display this year, but do let me check it. I will give some reflection to it. I agree and think the college games and now the regular NFL game in September are huge opportunities for our capital city and our country. I think they will be really good...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: I appreciate the Chair saying that. We will take him up on it. It is always easy to engage when everyone is getting along on every issue. It is harder but more important to do it when we are not. Therefore, we need to seize the opportunity in August and September to do that. I will link with the committee on that.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: It is a good question. I am pleased to say it has not. The Deputy is quite right that when you look at the figures, that is exactly what you see. She is correct in what she said, but there is an answer. An extra €4.3 million was spent in one year versus the others. It was a once-off allocation to hire a chair of Irish studies at Cambridge university. I assure the Deputy the level...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: The short answer is "Yes", but we have to do it in a very careful way because there is a balance here. We want to make it as easy as possible for people to move back to their country. We want them back. This is an issue that definitely comes up. It came up a number of times when I was in the United States in February and March. It comes up from our diaspora all of the time. What we have...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: It is static, but I make the point, and I am always struck by this when I go abroad, that we are one of a relatively small number of countries that has such an active programme of financial support for our diaspora, quite rightly. That is so much so that other countries are now looking to Ireland and how we run these programmes and thinking about how they can develop them too. As a line...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: That was very efficient. We will get that paper on Expo. We very much welcome it. People should know we made a pretty big investment in it. It is my genuine gut feeling based on the feedback I get that it is worth it. I am proud of the work that is being done but we will absolutely provide that paper. On the Attorney General's advice, I want to be fair to the Attorney General on this....