Results 44,401-44,420 of 46,575 for speaker:Simon Harris

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Naval Service (5 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 128 and 129 together. The LE Aoibhinn, a Naval Service P70 Class Inshore Patrol Vessels, has a minimum crew number for the P70 class of vessel is 24 personnel. The LÉ Aoibhinn (P71) is fully crewed and continues to be regularly deployed on Maritime Defence and Security Operations (MDSO) within Irish territorial waters and the Irish Exclusive Economic...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Departmental Offices (5 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: On 23 July 2024, Dublin City Council notified the Department that properties were being considered for inclusion on the derelict sites register. The Department has previously transferred properties outside of military installations to the relevant Local Authorities, as the relevant housing authorities. The Department has previously met with the City Council with a view to transferring the...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Departmental Staff (5 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: Preparations in my Department for the 2026 EU Presidency have already begun. My Department will be leading on matters related to the Defence sector and this will involve significant work both for those based in the Permanent Representation of Ireland to the EU in Brussels and for those based in Ireland. As part of workforce planning, my Department has sought initial expressions of interest...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff (5 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 329 and 354 together. My Department has Civil Service staff located in Newbridge, Galway, Roscrea, Cork and Dublin, with its headquarters in Newbridge, Co. Kildare. The Department also employs Civilian Employees who work to support Defence Forces’ capability in military establishments around the country. My Department has no locations in any of the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: I do not need to dismiss the Sinn Féin housing policy because the people of Ireland did.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: Sinn Féin must be one of the only Opposition parties in the European Union to actually see its vote collapse in the general election, down by 5.5%. It lost the election.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: This is a very serious issue, and I repeat that an issue that is serious deserves a serious response. When I was elected leader of my party and then Taoiseach less than a year ago, I made it very clear that we all needed to work together to fix housing for once and for all. At the start of this new Dáil, we should not seek to divide on this matter. We should actually seek to come into...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: The completion figures for last year are disappointing; that is true. When we look at the past three years together, however, we have significantly exceeded the housing targets that were set. We significantly exceeded them in 2022 and 2023. We now have good momentum, with in excess of 60,000 commencement notices over the past year. This will, of course, as night follows day, translate...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: I have already made very clear to the Deputy about the programme for Government, negotiated by parties who won a clear majority in the last election and working with Independents, and what we have agreed to do in the programme for Government. That is what our focus is on; moving forward with the delivery of homes with real solutions for people. If the Deputy is seriously suggesting...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: Ceann Comhairle, I have to be allowed to speak in this House. We are not getting back to last-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: She could not clarify that you could even access a loan or a mortgage under Sinn Féin's plan. The banks have still not confirmed that. His party would have pulled away the first-time buyer scheme-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: -----it would have scrapped the help-to-buy scheme and it would have ended the first home bridge the gap scheme.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: The Deputies do not like it. They seem to think their job is just to critique.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: Their job is also to put forward alternatives-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: They put forward alternatives that were emphatically rejected by the people who interpreted them-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: They failed to deliver, they lost the election and we are getting on with the job.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Connolly for raising the issue of infrastructure and I want to get straight to that. I acknowledge the huge impact the storm has had on people right across the country and most particularly, people in the west and the north west. I am very conscious of the fact we can read out figures showing how many people have been reconnected to power and very good progress has been made,...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: I hear the Deputy and I hear her advocacy for her county and her region, and for good reason. We will review the national development plan and our capital plans. We intend to publish that as a Government in the summer period. This will be an opportunity to map out what the increased level of capital funding will mean for the lifetime of this Government and provide that pipeline of capital...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Fitzmaurice for the constructive way he is engaging on this issue. I am very conscious that this is still a very real issue in his own constituency. While we talk about the next steps, and he rightly talks about the lessons learned, I am conscious we are still seeing in many parts of the west and north west a significant number of people - around 12,000 premises - without...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: The Deputy is speaking a lot of common sense on this. The Government is going to engage with the local authorities regarding generators for communities. One of the most obvious things we should be doing is making sure there are more generators available in communities for when things like this happen. The Deputy is right that nobody can storm but we have to be better prepared in terms of...