Results 34,961-34,980 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Emergency Planning (30 Jun 2021)

Simon Coveney: I chair the Government Task Force on Emergency Planning which coordinates emergency management policy across Government Departments and Agencies. The Strategic Emergency Management National Structures and Framework, approved by Government in July 2017, outlines the Lead Government Department principle and how this is applied across a "whole of Government" approach to managing responses to...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Anglo-Irish Relations (1 Jul 2021)

Simon Coveney: I was pleased to co-chair the most recent meeting of the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference (BIIGC) held in Dublin last week, together with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis MP. also participating were my colleague the Minister for Justice, Heather Humphreys TD, and the Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office, Robin Walker MP. The BIIGC is an...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Historical Conflicts (1 Jul 2021)

Simon Coveney: Ireland has great sympathy for the suffering of the Ukrainian people during the devastating famine of 1932-33, known as the Holodomor. In view of the enormous effect of famine in the nineteenth century on our own people and subsequent history, the Irish people can empathise deeply with the Ukrainian experience. The Government has not taken a stance on whether those terrible events should...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Covid-19 Pandemic (1 Jul 2021)

Simon Coveney: There continues to be a Government Advisory in place against non-essential travel, which will remain in place until 18 July. From 19 July, and subject to the prevailing epidemiologic situation, Government advice will be to travel safely and in accordance with public health guidance and restrictions and to avoid non-essential travel to countries to which an ‘emergency brake’ has...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Naval Service (1 Jul 2021)

Simon Coveney: The Naval Service is the State's principal sea-going agency and is tasked with a variety of defence and other roles. The main day-to-day role of the Naval Service is to provide a fishery protection service in accordance with the State's obligations as a member of the European Union. On any given patrol day the Naval Service can carry out a number of taskings on behalf of other State agencies...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Anglo-Irish Relations (1 Jul 2021)

Simon Coveney: I spoke by telephone with the current UK Secretary of State for Defence, Ben Wallace, MP in July of 2020. The main focus of our discussion related to areas of mutual interest covered by the UK-IRL Memorandum of Understanding on aspects of defence cooperation. An in-person meeting which was planned to take place in April of this year in London was unfortunately cancelled. It is hoped to...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Covid-19 Pandemic (6 Jul 2021)

Simon Coveney: The legislation for the EU Digital COVID Certificate applies across the EU from 1 July. The Government advisedon 28 May, that the EU Digital COVID Certificate will play a significant role in the proposed new international travel measures intended to be implemented from 19 July 2021. Over the coming period the Department of An Taoiseach, the Department of Health and the HSE, the Department of...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (6 Jul 2021)

Simon Coveney: All passport applications are subject to the provisions of the Passports Act 2008 ("the Act"). The Act broadly provides that before the Minister can issue a passport, a person must be an Irish citizen and in the case of children under the age of 18 years, the witnessed consent of their guardians must be provided. There is detailed information on the Department’s website in regard to...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Human Rights (6 Jul 2021)

Simon Coveney: As the civil war in Syria enters its eleventh year, humanitarian needs remain extremely high. Across Syria, 13.4 million people need humanitarian assistance including more than 3 million people in the North West of the country. Ireland fully supports the efforts of the UN, led by Special Envoy Pedersen, to bring the conflict in Syria to a sustainable conclusion. We have consistently...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Human Rights (6 Jul 2021)

Simon Coveney: I visited Saudi Arabia on 16 June, meeting Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, and Deputy Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir. In both meetings, I raised Ireland's concern over human rights, including the use of the death penalty. I also raised the importance of having a frank and constructive dialogue over human rights issues, and welcomed plans to convene an EU-Saudi Arabia...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Visa Applications (6 Jul 2021)

Simon Coveney: Working Holiday Authorisations (WHAs) play an important role in building Ireland’s bilateral relations with countries and regions with which we have reciprocal programmes. As Minister, I am fully supportive of the objectives of the Working Holiday programmes and I welcome their important contribution in promoting people-to-people contacts and providing opportunities for our young...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Departmental Data (6 Jul 2021)

Simon Coveney: The Department of Foreign Affairs comprises of two Votes; Vote 27 International Cooperation and Vote 28 Foreign Affairs. Below is a breakdown of the amount of interest the Department, across both Votes, has been charged for funds on deposit in Irish banks since negative interest rates were first applied. Year Totals 2017 4,235.42 ...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Foreign Conflicts (6 Jul 2021)

Simon Coveney: As the civil war in Syria enters its eleventh year, humanitarian needs remain extremely high. Across Syria, 13.4 million people need humanitarian assistance including more than 3 million people in the North West of the country. In the north-west, the number of people in need increased by over 20 percent in 2021. On the Security Council, Ireland acts with Norway as...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Human Rights (6 Jul 2021)

Simon Coveney: Following the forced diversion and landing of a Ryanair aircraft to Minsk by the Belarusian authorities, the journalist Roman Protasevich and his companion Sofia Sapega were detained. Ireland strongly condemned this act, as did Dáil Eireann on 1 June when it unanimously passed the Government's motion on the situation in Belarus. We are deeply concerned for the welfare of Mr....

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (6 Jul 2021)

Simon Coveney: I am advised by the Passport Service that a search was completed for a passport application using the details supplied by the Deputy but no application was found. The Passport Service is happy to make direct contact with the applicant if the Deputy can supply contact details. The Passport Service will also be happy to provide information and guidance to the person in question through...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Military Aircraft (6 Jul 2021)

Simon Coveney: Under the Air Navigation (Foreign Military Aircraft) Order, 1952, the Minister for Foreign Affairs is responsible for regulating the activity of foreign military aircraft in Ireland. The strict conditions applied to requests for permission for a foreign military aircraft to land routinely include stipulations that the aircraft must be unarmed; must carry no arms, ammunition or...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Freedom of Information (6 Jul 2021)

Simon Coveney: My Department routinely publishes all non-personal freedom of information requests through a disclosure log on its website, in compliance with the Freedom of Information Act 2014. The current disclosure log shows requests from 2015 until the end of March 2021.

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Freedom of Information (6 Jul 2021)

Simon Coveney: My Department has collected €1,635.00 in fees related to freedom of information requests since the Freedom of Information Act 2014 commenced. The annual totals are given in the following table. Year Search and Retrieval Fees Internal Review Fees Total 2014 nil €75.00 €75.00 2015 ...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Freedom of Information (6 Jul 2021)

Simon Coveney: Since the commencement of the Freedom of Information Act 2014, my Department has advised 15 requesters that their initial request was estimated to exceed the maximum threshold for search and retrieval fees and would likely be refused on that basis. 3 of those requests were withdrawn by the requesters. The other 12 of those requests were granted or part-granted records after engagement with...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (6 Jul 2021)

Simon Coveney: The Passport Service has been in direct contact with the person referred to in the Deputy's question. The Passport Service commenced the scaling up of operations on 4 May 2021 in line with the phased easing of restrictions set out in “COVID-19 Resilience and Recovery 2021 – The Plan Ahead”. The Service has been focused since then on four priority areas: - Clearing the...