Results 35,081-35,100 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Ballymurphy Families: Discussion (1 Jul 2021)

Simon Coveney: I understand Dr. Farry's concerns. Many of us know there is a lot of pressure in the British political system at Westminster to ensure that people who served in Northern Ireland do not end up being pulled through a court system. We need to make sure that what is motivating this process is not pressure coming from a different place, if you like, and is rather a pressure on us all to do what...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Ballymurphy Families: Discussion (1 Jul 2021)

Simon Coveney: I am happy to do so if that is okay with the Chairman. I agree with Mr. Molloy on the need for a victim-centred approach. This is what we must manage to achieve. I used the word "we" in that regard. While I was not the Minister at the time the Stormont House Agreement was agreed, I can remember what happened well. The idea was that we would try to have structures agreed that would allow...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Ballymurphy Families: Discussion (1 Jul 2021)

Simon Coveney: We were told the meeting would last 90 minutes. I am under a little time pressure. I can do another 15 minutes but I will be under pressure then.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Ballymurphy Families: Discussion (1 Jul 2021)

Simon Coveney: I thank the Chair for his accommodation and apologise if there was any confusion about time. Senator Currie said that so much good faith depends on this. That is a point which really hits home with me. It does depend on this. We have had so many difficult debates in the context of the politics of Northern Ireland in recent years. There was the lead-up to the New Decade, New Approach...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Appointment of Special Envoys and Update on Afghanistan: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence (31 Aug 2021)

Simon Coveney: I have been asked to give opening comments on both issues and then take questions in two different segments, first with regard to the special envoy process and then on Afghanistan. If members will bear with me, I will make an opening statement on both. I will not then make any more formal statements and will focus on answering members' questions as best I can. I thank the Chairman and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Appointment of Special Envoys and Update on Afghanistan: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence (31 Aug 2021)

Simon Coveney: I thank the Chair. I might bring the Secretary General in on the process that took place in order that people may fully understand it. Members do not have the right to ask questions of an official. If it is helpful to broaden the explanation, however, I can certainly ask Mr. Burgess to do that. I will address Deputy Cowen's questions first. I stated earlier that Katherine Zappone spoke to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Appointment of Special Envoys and Update on Afghanistan: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence (31 Aug 2021)

Simon Coveney: The FOI request is a legal matter for the Department. It might be helpful if I ask the Secretary General to talk the committee through what happened after I had a conversation with him. I mentioned the issue of whether Katherine Zappone could add to our team in New York. It is important the committee and the public know that there was quite a process in the Department, much of which I did...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Appointment of Special Envoys and Update on Afghanistan: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence (31 Aug 2021)

Simon Coveney: I did not get a chance to answer Senator Joe O'Reilly's questions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Appointment of Special Envoys and Update on Afghanistan: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence (31 Aug 2021)

Simon Coveney: Okay.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Appointment of Special Envoys and Update on Afghanistan: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence (31 Aug 2021)

Simon Coveney: Those are 30 FOI requests on this issue.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Appointment of Special Envoys and Update on Afghanistan: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence (31 Aug 2021)

Simon Coveney: I thank members for all those questions. I will answer them in reverse. Of course, I can understand the anger of people who have made extraordinary sacrifices in the context of the restrictions they have had to abide by during the Covid pandemic. Certainly, the perceptions that many people have of the event in the Merrion Hotel generated a lot of anger. We heard that being expressed at...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Appointment of Special Envoys and Update on Afghanistan: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence (31 Aug 2021)

Simon Coveney: Sorry, yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Appointment of Special Envoys and Update on Afghanistan: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence (31 Aug 2021)

Simon Coveney: None of my staff went to the Merrion. I can honestly say I did not even know the Merrion event was going on. I knew Katherine Zappone was in Dublin because I asked the Secretary General to speak to her about the terms and conditions as we wanted to try to finalise them before I brought the recommendation to Cabinet. I knew she was in Dublin. I was in Africa. I was in Kenya and Somalia at...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Appointment of Special Envoys and Update on Afghanistan: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence (31 Aug 2021)

Simon Coveney: No, I did not. The appointment process was well under way long before that event. The paperwork in the Department that had come back in terms of detailing the appointment and why it would add value was well in advance of that. When that event took place Katherine Zappone was in Dublin. I asked the Secretary General to speak to her about finalising the appointment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Appointment of Special Envoys and Update on Afghanistan: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence (31 Aug 2021)

Simon Coveney: That event-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Appointment of Special Envoys and Update on Afghanistan: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence (31 Aug 2021)

Simon Coveney: -----at that stage was completely irrelevant to all of that. Will the Chair repeat his question?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Appointment of Special Envoys and Update on Afghanistan: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence (31 Aug 2021)

Simon Coveney: That is a matter for Katherine Zappone to answer. My understanding is she was in Dublin. She organised an event to recognise work she had been doing previously as a Minister. I was not involved in that. I did not know who was going. That event was not a factor in the considerations we were making.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Appointment of Special Envoys and Update on Afghanistan: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence (31 Aug 2021)

Simon Coveney: No.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Appointment of Special Envoys and Update on Afghanistan: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence (31 Aug 2021)

Simon Coveney: It is important for me to be accurate. I got a text from the Tánaiste. I was away at that time. The text said that he would be meeting Katherine Zappone in Dublin. She was in Dublin. He asked whether I had been speaking to Katherine Zappone and was there anything he needed to know. I texted him back to say we were looking at a concept of a special envoy role for Katherine Zappone...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Appointment of Special Envoys and Update on Afghanistan: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence (31 Aug 2021)

Simon Coveney: He did not mention anything about attending anything. I would have remembered that and it would have triggered something. He said he was going to see-----