Results 11,681-11,700 of 12,604 for speaker:Willie O'Dea

Emergency Planning. (29 Sep 2005)

Willie O'Dea: The task force comprises representatives of various Departments and, therefore, funding is not required per se. We try to meet at least once a month in Government Buildings. I chair the task force. The recommendation to which the Deputy referred reflects the emergency planning model used in Britain and the US. It is generally felt, although perhaps not by the group to which the Deputy...

Emergency Planning. (29 Sep 2005)

Willie O'Dea: This is a separate question but I have no problem responding to it. The person I appointed is eminently well qualified for the job. He has vast experience both in business and in the public sector, where he worked for many years as a community welfare officer. He has administrative experience as a member of Limerick County Council. He served in the FCA for many years and he is well known as a...

Defence Forces Strength. (29 Sep 2005)

Willie O'Dea: I propose to take Questions Nos. 6, 155 and 163 together. The White Paper on Defence of February 2000 sets out a figure of 10,500 personnel for the Permanent Defence Force, comprising 930 for the Air Corps, 1,144 for the Naval Service and 8,426 for the Army. The strength of the Defence Forces, and the number of female personnel by rank, as advised by the military authorities, is provided in...

Defence Forces Strength. (29 Sep 2005)

Willie O'Dea: There is an ongoing programme of reform of the Reserve Defence Forces. The FCA is becoming the Army Reserve and Slua Muirí is becoming the Naval Reserve. Therefore the different units are being reorganised and amalgamated in various places. The official changeover takes place next Saturday, 1 October 2005. The ceremony will take place at Sarsfield Barracks in Limerick and I will extend an...

Defence Forces Strength. (29 Sep 2005)

Willie O'Dea: Yes.

Defence Forces Strength. (29 Sep 2005)

Willie O'Dea: We will miss the Deputy.

Peacekeeping Missions. (29 Sep 2005)

Willie O'Dea: Lt. Gen. Sreenan visited the United States from 28 March 2005 to 1 April 2005 on foot of an invitation from General Richard B. Meyers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This visit was a Chiefs of Defence Staff visit, which is a traditional means of CHODs paying courtesy visits to their foreign counterparts and discussing matters of mutual interest. Lt. Gen. Sreenan held bilateral...

Peacekeeping Missions. (29 Sep 2005)

Willie O'Dea: I am glad Deputy Gormley got the opportunity to make his usual speech. I did not take off sick when General Meyers visited.

Peacekeeping Missions. (29 Sep 2005)

Willie O'Dea: That is an unworthy aspersion. I know the Deputy, who is a decent man and a native of Limerick, will feel obliged to withdraw it.

Peacekeeping Missions. (29 Sep 2005)

Willie O'Dea: The Deputy implied that I feigned illness. I do not feign illness. I was visiting a barracks in Athlone. I did not feel very well. The visit went on longer than I had anticipated and there was not sufficient time to travel to Dublin to keep the appointment with General Meyers which I regretted and for which I apologised. That is the truth and I hope the Deputy accepts that. There was no...

Peacekeeping Missions. (29 Sep 2005)

Willie O'Dea: No. I take no instructions of that nature from anybody. I am who I am. I was genuinely ill on that day and genuinely sorry I could not meet General Meyers. There was no insult intended to General Meyers. I made that clear to his staff and to the American Embassy. I compliment Deputy Gormley on his wonderfully imaginative description of us getting rid of neutrality and being "hand in glove...

Peacekeeping Missions. (29 Sep 2005)

Willie O'Dea: That is a fact.

Peacekeeping Missions. (29 Sep 2005)

Willie O'Dea: One government in which, as I understand it, the Deputy's party is sharing power was quite ready to provide this facility.

Peacekeeping Missions. (29 Sep 2005)

Willie O'Dea: I hope the Deputy will correct the record.

Peacekeeping Missions. (29 Sep 2005)

Willie O'Dea: No. We contacted the embassy.

Peacekeeping Missions. (29 Sep 2005)

Willie O'Dea: The Deputy did not say the High Court also concluded that this in no way infringed our military neutrality.

Defence Forces Recruitment. (29 Sep 2005)

Willie O'Dea: I propose to take Questions Nos. 8, 11 and 32 together. The Government is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for men and women in the Defence Forces, Army, Air Corps, Naval Service, including the Reserve Defence Force, and to the full participation by women in all aspects of Defence Forces activities. In effect that means that women are eligible on the same basis as men for...

Defence Forces Recruitment. (29 Sep 2005)

Willie O'Dea: Yes.

Defence Forces Recruitment. (29 Sep 2005)

Willie O'Dea: To be honest, I do not know the answer to Deputy Timmins's question. I do not know why women do not see it as the job for them. Traditionally, that has been the case, and fortunately we are trying to change that. I take the Deputy's point about height. As he knows, the Garda Síochána has got rid of the height requirement and instead introduced one for physical fitness. To the best of my...

Defence Forces Recruitment. (29 Sep 2005)

Willie O'Dea: Regarding Deputy Sherlock's question, I am not being politically correct. Put bluntly, half the population are women, but only 5% of those in the Army or the Naval Service, and fewer than 5% of those in the Air Corps are. Women should be allowed to play their part.