Results 4,221-4,240 of 7,460 for speaker:John Brady

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (9 Mar 2022)

John Brady: I wish-----

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (9 Mar 2022)

John Brady: Vote 35 should be straightforward enough. Perhaps we could take Vote 36 line by line. I have quite a few queries, and I am sure other members do also. This would give the Minister a fair opportunity to come back, rather than trying to take note of every single issue that we mention. Trying to capture all of that in the Minister's response might be difficult. Maybe we could take Vote 36...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (9 Mar 2022)

John Brady: Absolutely.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (9 Mar 2022)

John Brady: I agree with that approach. I thank the Minister for his opening statement. The report of the Commission on the Defence Forces is a comprehensive report and key elements of the report need to be implemented. It will certainly go a long way to addressing many of the challenges and difficulties within the Defence Forces around pay and retention, which certainly needs to be done with...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (9 Mar 2022)

John Brady: I have no questions on subheads A1 or A2, that is, administration, pay, and administration, non-pay, but I have questions on pay for the Permanent Defence Force in subheads A3, A4 and A5. Could we take the three of those together?

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (9 Mar 2022)

John Brady: Subhead A3 relates to pay, which I have touched on. In terms of associate membership of ICTU, the Minister himself acknowledged that time is ticking away, as the public sector pay talks start in May. As a result, a decision will have to be taken very quickly to ensure that the representative bodies can do their work in advance of partaking in those discussions. I impress again on the...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (9 Mar 2022)

John Brady: Okay, I will discuss up to A7. That is fair enough.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (9 Mar 2022)

John Brady: Just to finish the point on that particular scheme, issues have been raised by members of the force and the representative bodies in terms of the three years' service required to be eligible for that scheme. Some 40% of the members of the navy are excluded. The Minister might respond as to what analysis has been carried out and give specific details. There is also a concern that there was...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (9 Mar 2022)

John Brady: In fairness, PDFORRA has outlined what it is willing to do in relation to that.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (9 Mar 2022)

John Brady: I asked the Minister about the Reserve Defence Force and the prospect of introducing legislation to protect the employment rights of members of the Reserve while they are on overseas deployment and so on.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (9 Mar 2022)

John Brady: Has the Minister initiated that process?

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (9 Mar 2022)

John Brady: Earlier in the year, we saw our capabilities to defend our neutrality questioned in respect of the planned naval exercise by Russia off the southern coast. This highlighted many of the deficiencies that have been widely articulated over a considerable period, including in respect of our primary radar capability and our ability to monitor subsea activities. Given the proximity of highly...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (9 Mar 2022)

John Brady: I do not have it to hand but will try to locate it for the Minister.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (9 Mar 2022)

John Brady: As regards subhead A24 and the Civil Defence, it is an area to which the committee has not given much focus. I am conscious of that because it is a fantastic organisation that does exceptional work across the State. It looks to me like the funding proposed for this year involves a cut of in the region of half a million euro. I might be wrong in that regard. The 2021 Estimate was...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (9 Mar 2022)

John Brady: Where will the funds come from for the process one of the Minister's Cabinet colleagues announced as a review or feasibility study or whatever term he put on it? Is it included in this? I ask for the Minister's views on that. It is a crazy decision, if it is given any consideration.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Ukraine's Application for Membership of the European Union: Engagement with Ambassador of Ukraine. (15 Mar 2022)

John Brady: The ambassador is very welcome. I have had the privilege of meeting her on a number of occasions, including before a meeting of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs before the invasion started. On that occasion, I listened to all of the concerns, including those about the military build-up. Unfortunately, all of the ambassador's concerns played out exactly as feared. Like all my...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Ukraine's Application for Membership of the European Union: Engagement with Ambassador of Ukraine. (15 Mar 2022)

John Brady: I will try to be brief as many questions have been covered already. I welcome both ambassadors. I had the honour of meeting Mr. Zurabashvili previously before Covid-19 struck. I have not had the privilege of meeting Mrs. Miculet until today. She is very welcome to the meeting. It is her first time to address the committee and I welcome the fact that Moldova has opened an embassy in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Ukraine's Application for Membership of the European Union: Engagement with Ambassador of Ukraine. (15 Mar 2022)

John Brady: The ambassadors are very welcome. They gave very informative opening statements, which are much appreciated. I commend their countries ON all they have done so far. Countries opening up their borders when a humanitarian crisis is still unfolding is a testament to them. What Polish and Romanian nationals living here in Ireland as new Irish have done in supporting the effort is also...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (9 Mar 2022)

John Brady: I know the Minister has been strong on the issues.