Results 3,181-3,200 of 16,849 for speaker:Dermot Ahern

Confidence in Taoiseach: Motion (26 Sep 2007)

Dermot Ahern: Deputy Creed should not be so bitter.

Confidence in Taoiseach: Motion (26 Sep 2007)

Dermot Ahern: He was always a bitter pill.

Confidence in Taoiseach: Motion (26 Sep 2007)

Dermot Ahern: Deputy Crawford is not a bitter pill.

Written Answers — International Agreements: International Agreements (26 Sep 2007)

Dermot Ahern: As the Deputy will be aware, there are a large number of international agreements within the UN and Council of Europe frameworks, covering a very wide range of subjects and falling within the functional responsibility of a number of Departments. The question of ratification of these agreements is kept under review in the context of the ongoing assessment and prioritisation of Ireland's...

Written Answers — Diplomatic Representation: Diplomatic Representation (26 Sep 2007)

Dermot Ahern: The person to whom the Deputy refers was arrested in 2004 at Mumbai Airport and charged with drug trafficking offences. Following his trial he was sentenced to ten years in prison. I understand that the individual alleges that he confessed to the charges under duress and is appealing the guilty verdict. He is currently detained in prison in Rajasthan pending the hearing of his appeal. No date...

Written Answers — Diplomatic Relations: Diplomatic Relations (26 Sep 2007)

Dermot Ahern: Relations between Ireland and Cuba have developed in recent years, particularly since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1999. Our Ambassador in Mexico City is accredited to Cuba. In 2001, Cuba established a resident Embassy in Dublin, which has been headed by a resident Ambassador since October 2005. Prior to that the Embassy was headed at Chargé d'Affaires level, with the Cuban...

Written Answers — Foreign Conflicts: Foreign Conflicts (26 Sep 2007)

Dermot Ahern: The issue to which the Deputy refers concerns a long-term dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom regarding the question of sovereignty over the territories of the Falkland (Malvinas), South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, to which both countries lay claim. Since 1965, the United Nations General Assembly has adopted ten Resolutions on the question of the Falkland Islands...

Written Answers — Foreign Conflicts: Foreign Conflicts (26 Sep 2007)

Dermot Ahern: The Government of Colombia has repeatedly stated its commitment to bringing to an end all terrorism in Colombia within the framework of the Justice and Peace Law. This Law, passed in 2005, provides an overall legal framework for the demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration of illegal armed groups into Colombian society. Since the process of peace negotiations between the Colombian...

Written Answers — Nuclear Disarmament Initiative: Nuclear Disarmament Initiative (26 Sep 2007)

Dermot Ahern: The Government and our EU partners share the strong international concern that Iran has not complied with its international obligations in respect of its nuclear programme. We remain committed to the search for a diplomatic solution. The EU has pursued this course steadily and with great patience, including in cooperation with the United States, Russia, and China. The essential elements of...

Written Answers — Human Rights Issues: Human Rights Issues (26 Sep 2007)

Dermot Ahern: The case to which the Deputy refers relates to five Cuban citizens who were convicted in the US in 2001 on charges ranging from espionage to first degree murder. A panel of three judges from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta overturned the 2001 convictions on 9th August 2005 and ordered a retrial based on new evidence. The Miami District Attorney duly filed an appeal against the...

Written Answers — European Union: European Union (26 Sep 2007)

Dermot Ahern: I do not share Deputy McGrath's alarm over recent comments on the European Union by the President of the Commission. President Barroso was clearly referring to the geographical scale of the Union. The European Union has nothing in common with empires built by force and ruled undemocratically. As President Barroso made clear, the Union is based on a voluntary coming together of 27 countries...

Written Answers — Diplomatic Representation: Diplomatic Representation (26 Sep 2007)

Dermot Ahern: I can appreciate how distressing the experience at Charles de Gaulle airport last summer must have been for the person referred to by the Deputy. I have asked the Irish Embassy in Paris to contact the airport authorities and to convey our concerns in relation to the matter.

Written Answers — United Nations Peace Missions: United Nations Peace Missions (26 Sep 2007)

Dermot Ahern: I understand that troops serving on UN Missions wear their national uniforms. These can include turbans in the case of troops, such as some of those serving in the Indian defence forces, for whom the turban is authorised as part of their national uniform. To signify that troops are part of a UN operation their headgear, irrespective of its type, is blue.

Written Answers — Missing Persons: Missing Persons (27 Sep 2007)

Dermot Ahern: The Department of Foreign Affairs provides consular assistance to Irish citizens overseas through its embassies and consulates. However, the Department does not have the authority or capacity to independently investigate the whereabouts of a person, or to disclose any personal information relating to a person, in the absence of that individual's agreement or a court order. The person referred...

Written Answers — International Agreements: International Agreements (27 Sep 2007)

Dermot Ahern: In July 2005, President Bush and Prime Minister Singh agreed to establish a new strategic partnership between their two countries. One element of that partnership was to be a proposed agreement on civil nuclear cooperation. In March 2006, the two leaders announced that broad agreement on the elements of a deal on the nuclear issue had been reached. In December 2006, President Bush signed into...

Written Answers — Passport Applications: Passport Applications (27 Sep 2007)

Dermot Ahern: The two children referred to by the Deputy are not Irish citizens and are therefore not entitled to be issued with Irish passports. As the Deputy is aware, these children were adopted in Libya. The position is that the Adoption Board does not recognise Libyan adoptions under Irish law, and that these adoptions cannot be entered in the Register of Foreign Adoptions recognised by the Board. The...

Written Answers — Diplomatic Representation: Diplomatic Representation (27 Sep 2007)

Dermot Ahern: The death of the person mentioned by the Deputy was a dreadful tragedy and I have the greatest sympathy for the family concerned. My Department, through the consular section of our embassy in Madrid and our Honorary Consulate in Lanzarote, has been providing extensive consular assistance in relation to this case. Officials from my Department have met with the family concerned several times...

Written Answers — Foreign Conflicts: Foreign Conflicts (2 Oct 2007)

Dermot Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 299, 301 and 309 together. As the current crisis in Burma has unfolded I have, in my statements of 24 August and 24 and 26 September, made the views of the Government absolutely clear. They have been reiterated in a national statement by Ireland at the Human Rights Council in Geneva on 27 September. We have expressed our full solidarity with the people of...

Written Answers — EU Summits: EU Summits (2 Oct 2007)

Dermot Ahern: I continue to be gravely concerned at the ongoing deterioration in the situation in Zimbabwe. The hardship and deprivations being experienced by ordinary Zimbabweans are an affront to values which Europe and Africa share. The dire situation gives added urgency to the efforts being made by President Mbeki and SADC to broker a political accommodation between the parties and an economic rescue...

Written Answers — International Agreements: International Agreements (2 Oct 2007)

Dermot Ahern: During the 1960s and 1970s the issue of Rockall was a source of some legal and political controversy in both Ireland and the United Kingdom. Much of that controversy arose from fears at the time that jurisdiction over Rockall and similar rocks and skerries was thought to be central in supporting claims to the mineral rights in the adjacent seabed and to fishing rights in the surrounding...