Results 1-20 of 6,373 for speaker:Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Middle East: Statements (2 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Like most political representatives, one of the first things I do when I get up in the morning is to check the news headlines. It is a grim reality that on any given day for the past year and a half it is almost a certainty that we will wake up to fresh horrors from Gaza and Palestine. One could nearly set one's watch by it, it is that deplorably consistent in terms of the horrors we are...

All-Island Strategic Rail Review: Statements (Resumed) (2 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I support my colleague. I well understand why Waterford people might want to come to Cork. I do not think we should deprive them of that opportunity at all. Any time there is a debate on rail infrastructure, there is a fair bit of interest right across the country. That reflects a significant shift in people's mentality in the last 20 or 30 years. If we go back 50 or 60 years or even...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Go raibh maith agaibh. First, I thank the witnesses for their service over many years. While I do not agree with everything contained in their statements their contributions were very considerable and quite remarkable. They have clearly led very distinguished careers and the committee is very grateful. There is a bit of a talking point, more generally, about whether the triple lock is...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I am conscious of my time. We are not guaranteed to always have a mature government. I make that point and we have to think of that when we make legislation. Does Mr. Brennan have any reservations, even if he favours the removal of the triple lock? Some people have expressed concerns about the lack of safeguards.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I will come to Ms O'Brien in a second. I would also say the people who would be the arbiters of that are the self-same people who will be proposing to deploy troops.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Yes.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I thank Ms O'Brien.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Could that be considered fruitfully by this committee in the context of legislation?

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I thank Mr. Doyle. It is great to see our former colleague, Cathal Berry. Does he have anything to add?

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I am not sure what I will do for the 40 seconds. I have a question for Ms O'Brien. Heads 6 and 7 of the Bill are quite different. It is interesting in that head 6 relates to deployment as part of an international force but it is actually head 7 that relates to some of the issues that have caused the most frustration and they are ones that I am very sympathetic to. There is probably...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Am I correct though that the 12 does not apply if it is not part of an international force? The 12 applies to the deployment in the context of international forces. Head 7 refers to deployments other than in international forces. That would apply in humanitarian evacuation and drug interdiction so the number of 12 should not apply in these instances.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Apologies. I had not been expecting to get another opportunity. I wonder are we conflating two different parts of the proposed legislation and that in the past, perhaps because of issues with drafting of legislation, missions have been prevented by reasons other than by triple lock.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I thank our witnesses. They have been insightful. I would like to clarify something. There was an exchange between Senator Clonan and Mr. Brennan about the 50-member limit and why it exists at all. The legislation as it is framed has two different categories to be conscious of. There were always two different categories-----

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: -----in legal terms under the Defence Act. I forget the phrase, but the legislation referred to international forces.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: There were deployments on international missions and deployments other than those. That is what is anticipated in this legislation. For that first category, there was a limit of 12 that will now be increased to 50. For the second category, which has now been clarified, and that is welcome, in respect of drug interdiction, humanitarian evacuation and so on, the limit of 12 did not exist and...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I am coming to the question. There did still seem to be some difficulty and I do not understand what it was. The Department of Defence officials told us that the triple lock did not prevent those deployments. What did, other than resources? What legal obstacles existed? The Department of Defence is saying that the triple lock was not the issue.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: General Scheme of Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025 (1 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I appreciate the witnesses giving their time to be here. We received the statements in advance with regard to this particular issue. The issue of goods and services has been a subject of public debate for six or seven months now. It has been longer than that really, but I mean in an intense way. We are only now fleshing out, as we are in this meeting, what the issue is with regard to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: General Scheme of Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025 (1 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: General Scheme of Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025 (1 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: General Scheme of Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025 (1 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: The position of the Government on the previous legislation - I know we are discussing the current legislation - hung very significantly on the International Court of Justice decision. Is that not fair to say?