Results 44,881-44,900 of 46,575 for speaker:Simon Harris

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (20 Mar 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. We can all agree that we want to see our schools fully funded and supported. I welcome the Department of Education’s intervention to advance funding to Sacred Heart Junior National School. My understanding is there has been quite a lot of engagement between the school and the Department going back a number of months. The Deputy is right,...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (20 Mar 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I certainly do not want him, as an elected Member of this House, to have to go down the road of FOIs to try to establish information that should be freely given to him. Working with the Minister, Deputy Foley and the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, I will undertake to make progress on this. The sum of €5 million is a lot of money in...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (20 Mar 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue for her constituents in Dublin Bay North regarding the need for progress on the long-awaited new Garda station. I will speak to the Minister for Justice and ask that he comes back to her with an update.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (20 Mar 2025)

Simon Harris: I hope when we do get the clarification that the Deputy will come back. Let me be clear: we are helping people from Ukraine who fled a war.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (20 Mar 2025)

Simon Harris: The Deputy asked a question and I am going to answer. We should be not give a widespread sense that people from Ukraine are getting new cars, new tyres and repairs----

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (20 Mar 2025)

Simon Harris: I am sorry; I know the Deputy is new to the House but we have rules. He speaks and then I speak, so let me do so. I will get him more information regarding any such payments. People fled here from very difficult situations and I am proud of the level of support we provide them. I do not want to give a sense to people watching that there are widespread repairs of people's cars going on....

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (20 Mar 2025)

Simon Harris: Shame on the Deputy. He was dog-whistling.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (20 Mar 2025)

Simon Harris: There is a lot there but I take very seriously the point the Deputy made on behalf of the people in CHO 8 and more broadly the point she made regarding HCCI and its very worthwhile and constructive report, which was published recently. I undertake to comprehensively respond to and engage with that organisation and with others. I am lucky enough to be sitting beside the Minster, Deputy...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (20 Mar 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and for the interesting suggestion he offered. I will ask the Minister to respond to it. There is no doubt that this is a serious issue. Since the end of 2024, the good news is that the RSA has been providing a monthly average of 19,111 tests slots. This is up from a monthly average in the previous year of 18,300. However, let us not fool...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (20 Mar 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy. She is right. I hear this feedback a lot throughout the country, as she does in County Louth. We have taken a number of measures to try to make some progress. We have now brought in what we call an SME test on all Cabinet memos. Before any Minister brings an idea to Cabinet, it has to go through the SME test to see what the impact on small businesses will be. The...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (20 Mar 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I recall him raising it in the House previously. I know it is an important issue for his constituents in Milford. I will certainly talk to the Minister, Deputy McEntee, about the delivery of that new school building for Scoil Mhuire. I welcome the fact that a site has been provided free of charge. There is an eagerness to progress this. I will...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (20 Mar 2025)

Simon Harris: The Deputy is dead right. I hear these complaints as well. I also hear about the significant contrast, for want of a better word, between the service provided by the ESB in local communities and the approach taken by some private operators. I will not name companies, but I have heard criticism of particular companies regarding their lack of responsiveness. My understanding is that my...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (20 Mar 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy. I will add the communications situation she outlined to that raised in connection with Connemara. Just under 23,000 claims have been awarded and more than €5.2 million paid under the humanitarian assistance scheme. More money has been paid out under this scheme in respect of Storm Éowyn than any previous storm. That is because the storm was so bad compared...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (20 Mar 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue for his constituents. As he said, it concerns not just people who need to go to the airport to go on trips but those who need to get to the airport on a very frequent basis for work, and the impact the withdrawal of the Airport Hopper service has had on them. From what the Deputy said, I am particularly concerned about what seems to be a...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (20 Mar 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I also acknowledge the excellent work in County Kerry that is being led by St. Francis Special School in Beaufort. I very much take the points he made about the need to look at respite provision in County Kerry, and the proposals he and his community have on the need for a respite centre. I will ask the Minister for disability to engage...

An Bille um an Naoú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Mionn Oifige Breithiúnach), 2025: An Chéad Chéim - Thirty-ninth Amendment of the Constitution (Judicial Oath of Office) Bill 2025: First Stage (20 Mar 2025)

Simon Harris: It is not.

International Security and International Trade: Statements (20 Mar 2025)

Simon Harris: I welcome this opportunity to brief the House on matters relating to international security and international trade. With the agreement of the House, I will share time with the Minister, Deputy Burke. The two issues we are discussing are at the core of Ireland’s foreign relations at a time of great turbulence and change in the world. We are at a critical juncture in terms of the...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Information and Communications Technology (20 Mar 2025)

Simon Harris: My Department uses a variety of telecommunications channels to deliver its services. Of the channels mentioned, it uses: - 6 ISDN lines for public-facing telephone communications - 1 'fractional' ISDN line and 28 PSTN lines for building utilities. My Department no longer uses copper leased lines.

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (20 Mar 2025)

Simon Harris: The Passports Act 2008 provides for a number of circumstances under which the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade may cancel an Irish passport, including:where the Minister becomes aware of a fact or a circumstances that would have required or permitted him to refuse to issue the passport to the person had the Minister been aware of the fact or circumstance before the passport was...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (20 Mar 2025)

Simon Harris: The Passport Service is successfully responding to the current level of demand for passports and has issued over 230,000 passports to date this year. Virtually all complete passport applications are being processed within or before advertised turnaround times and over half of adult renewal applications are processed within 2 working days. My Department undertakes extensive advance...