Results 28,581-28,600 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (19 Jun 2018)

Simon Coveney: The Passport Service has a dedicated Communication Unit to respond to queries from passport applicants. This Communication Unit handles all queries for Passport Offices in Dublin, Cork and London. This Unit can be contacted by telephone, email or by web chat. I recognize that there are individuals with pressing needs who face difficulties in contacting the Passport Service. This results in...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Colombian Peace Process (19 Jun 2018)

Simon Coveney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 128 and 129 together. In October 2012, the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) began formal peace negotiations, which continued over a period of almost four years and concluded in August 2016. Following a plebiscite in October 2016, elements of the accord were renegotiated and a revised agreement was approved by...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Human Rights (19 Jun 2018)

Simon Coveney: Since the most recent escalation of violence in Rakhine State, Myanmar, in August 2017, approximately 700,000 members of the Rohingya community have fled across the border to Bangladesh where they now reside in precarious conditions in refugee camps. Conditions are likely to deteriorate over the coming months as the monsoon season progresses. The exodus of refugees has been accompanied by...

Business of Dáil: Motion (20 Jun 2018)

Simon Coveney: There have been some contacts between the political parties in agreeing a wording because people want it be an all-party motion. I understand that wording has been sent around to parties but I can check if certain parties do not have it.

Business of Dáil: Motion (20 Jun 2018)

Simon Coveney: The engagement is not yet complete but we are working towards getting a wording that I hope people will be happy with.

United States Immigration Policy: Motion (20 Jun 2018)

Simon Coveney: I move:That Dáil Éireann shares the dismay and condemnation articulated internationally and in the U.S. following the recent U.S. policy of removing children from their immigrant parents to take them into custody, views this as inhumane, undignified and unwarranted, and calls for it to be reversed immediately. I speak in favour of the all-party motion and the sentiments it conveys....

United States Immigration Policy: Motion (20 Jun 2018)

Simon Coveney: I wish to state for the record, if I may, that I made contact with the most senior US diplomat in the US embassy to make it clear why this debate was taking place. A number of Deputies asked that we would do so and the Taoiseach said it would be done. I spent about 40 minutes on the phone today expressing the concern of this House on the issues that have been raised.

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Ministerial Meetings (20 Jun 2018)

Simon Coveney: I had the privilege of welcoming the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall to Ireland for their fourth visit in as many years. Although we did not have a formal meeting, we did have the opportunity, at various points during their programme in Cork, to discuss a number of issues of interest, including our mutual interest in marine issues, and the wider British-Irish relationship. I...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Gender Equality (20 Jun 2018)

Simon Coveney: My Department is fully committed to ensuring that our staff are representative and reflective of the people and society we serve. The Department’s Management Board Sub Committee on Gender Equality, Equality, and Diversity was first established in 2012 to provide momentum and leadership to efforts to improve gender balance in the Department. In 2017, the Sub Committee’s remit was...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Human Rights Cases (20 Jun 2018)

Simon Coveney: I am aware of the case of the person concerned, whose administrative detention order has just been renewed for a further period reported to be four months. She has been in administrative detention without trial for a year, having already been detained, under administrative detention and a conviction whose basis was very unclear, for much of the period since April 2015. I understand that she...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Human Rights (20 Jun 2018)

Simon Coveney: Irish people have been rightly appalled by the images which have recently emerged of immigrant children being separated from their parents at the southern US border and held in detention by the US authorities. I have no desire to become involved in a US domestic debate about immigration. Clearly, every state has the right, indeed the duty, to police its own borders and to enforce its...

Leaders' Questions (21 Jun 2018)

Simon Coveney: I thank Deputy Dara Calleary for raising this issue. The Minister for Health and his Government colleagues are aware that it is serious. Timely access to care is essential as part of good health provision, particularly in CAMHS. The Government has shown its commitment to achieving this by increasing funding for mental health services by over €200 million since 2012, as well as the...

Leaders' Questions (21 Jun 2018)

Simon Coveney: The Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, met HSE officials and CAMHS HSE local representatives this week to discuss the specific actions that needed to be taken in the south east where I know there are specific pressures, as the decisions taken by consultants certainly confirm. Their frustration has led to resignations. The response from the Government needs to be the delivery of services....

Leaders' Questions (21 Jun 2018)

Simon Coveney: I certainly hope everybody in this House shares the view that we need to be dealing robustly with white-collar crime. We need to learn lessons from a banking crisis that has caused so much difficulty for so many families and businesses across the country. The conviction of David Drumm and his sentencing yesterday were, on one level, a recognition of the seriousness of the crimes that have...

Leaders' Questions (21 Jun 2018)

Simon Coveney: The Deputy called for a suite of measures; that is exactly what is happening. Last year, the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, introduced a suite of measures in November and he has added to it since then. There is a whole series of legislative responses which I have spoken about. The Deputy, like everybody else, will have an opportunity to raise specific issues he would like to see addressed...

Leaders' Questions (21 Jun 2018)

Simon Coveney: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I welcome the fact that the President of the United States signed an order last night to ensure there would no longer be separation of children from their parents on the border with Mexico. Approximately 2,300 children are still separated from their parents in holding centres and I hope the debate that is taking place in Congress today can deal...

Leaders' Questions (21 Jun 2018)

Simon Coveney: Sometimes when I hear the Deputy speak, he seems to suggest that he is coming from a higher moral ground than the Government on these issues. He is not. We care about this issue. That is why I am engaging as much as I am on it. I have probably spent more time on the Middle East peace process than on anything else other than Brexit and our relationships in Europe and Washington. That is...

Leaders' Questions (21 Jun 2018)

Simon Coveney: It worked in South Africa but this is a very different case, if one looks at the politics of the Middle East right now. We are using the information, the judgment and the advice we have, as a Government, to prioritise this issue and to try to bring about political solutions. I do not believe advocating for a boycott will help in that effort.

Leaders' Questions (21 Jun 2018)

Simon Coveney: I do not disagree with the Deputy on those calls, although we sometimes disagree on policy. I know she has raised social housing concerns in Galway over and over again, understandably so, given there are huge pressures in that regard in Galway city. There are currently ten local authority construction schemes in the pipeline which will deliver 365 units when completed - I can name them if...

Leaders' Questions (21 Jun 2018)

Simon Coveney: I believe Galway does need some new roads. There is a ring road system around Galway city that needs to be completed to provide the kind of free-flowing traffic movements that are necessary. Traffic congestion in Galway city is a significant issue and a significant problem in terms of future growth and investment. That being said, I believe we will see a much bigger emphasis in urban...