Results 45,061-45,080 of 46,575 for speaker:Simon Harris

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Diplomatic Representation (1 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 138 and 161 together. I thank Deputy Clendennen for this question, which is timely because now more than ever, at a time when some countries are choosing to look inwards, it is so important that Ireland continues to look outwards and increase our global footprint. Global Ireland 2025 was launched by the Government in 2018 with the aim of doubling...

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Diplomatic Representation (1 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: Deputy Clendennen is so right. Not only should we be extraordinarily proud of our diaspora, as we are, but as a country we have done quite a good job of keeping the links and investing. Other countries ask Ireland about our diaspora strategies and how they can learn from and work with us on that. Ours is one of the few countries that has an emigrant support programme, where we provide...

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Diplomatic Representation (1 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: Deputy Clendennen is so right. That regional aspect is important to all that we do, making sure that we drive jobs and investment but also cultural and people-to-people links, not just with the big cities but also with the regions of Ireland and counties like Offaly. I would be very happy to work with the Deputy, chambers of commerce, Offaly County Council and others on how we might explore...

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Trade Missions (1 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 140 and 151 together. Last month, I had the honour of visiting and representing the Government in the iconic Irish-American cities of Philadelphia and New York. I was delighted to join Mayor Cherelle Parker and the people of Philadelphia to march in their St. Patrick's day parade. I met with a number of community groups and laid a wreath at the...

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Trade Missions (1 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputies Boland and Ó Murchú. Their questions overlap. With regard to what we heard from the business community and what we can do, there are a couple of things. I was struck by the great sense of uncertainty, even from very senior business leaders in the United States who are, no more than the rest of us, waiting to see the level of detail. It was good to get an insight...

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Trade Missions (1 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: While engaging and negotiating as part of the European Union, we need to continue to engage with the US Administration and to take every opportunity to share information. I genuinely believe - and I say this respectfully - the relationship is much more complex and interdependent than is sometimes articulated by the US Administration. It is much more interdependent, two-way and bilateral....

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Passport Services (1 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Ó Murchú for the question. I hope we can share the same view on this across this House. The programme of passport service reform has been very impressive. I was in Balbriggan with Deputy Boland recently. I am very proud of the work being done in the passport office there and in other passport offices. The Passport Office has come through the Covid pandemic and...

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Passport Services (1 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I would like to see progress on the issue of reminders. I am sure the gardaí would like to see that too, to make the process as efficient as possible for everybody. I will follow up on that directly. I echo the Deputy's request that everybody check their passport. We do our very best at times when people need to travel at short notice. It can happen to anybody for reasons of...

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Passport Services (1 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: So please check your passport. Maybe in that moment of harmony, we can conclude.

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Passport Services (1 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I have respect to the sensitivity of the issue. The issue relates to my other Department, the Department of Defence. I am aware that the Department is in direct contact with the Rooney family. We will continue to do that. I made it clear to the Lebanese authorities that the family intends to travel for the trial and it is important that there is real progress. We will keep in touch about...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I begin by paying tribute to Mick O'Dwyer. It is with tremendous sadness that we learnt of the passing of one of Ireland's greatest GAA icons. His contribution to Irish sport and community life was extraordinary, particularly in his native county of Kerry, although we do like to claim a bit of him with the great joy he brought us in Wicklow and many other counties. I think of him and his...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I think I saw a comment from a spokesperson for the French Government today making some reference to that. I do not dismiss that but in the nearly daily conversations I have had with the trade Commissioner and those I have had with nearly a dozen European counterparts, the overwhelming majority view is to try to find a way to bring people around the table. The Deputy's question is valid....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I share the Deputy’s view of some of what we heard in the press conference in the Rose Garden, and that is what it was. One must then work through the legal detail. We are already seeing that things, which were announced as coming in at midnight last night, are not coming in until 5 or 9 April, so there is a fair bit of teasing through beyond the headline announcements. Certainly,...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I am very clear that there will be many moments - I think the Deputy is right about that – and there will be sector-specific moments to come. The point I was making was that in my engagement with the US Commerce Secretary and others it was very clear that the US was not mandated to engage or negotiate until after this liberation day as they bizarrely described it. That has happened...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Ward for the question and his advocacy on behalf of his constituents in Donegal. I certainly will engage with him, as will the Government, on some of those technical matters. While I am taking the question, it very much relates to the testing standard that is used to evaluate the impact of defective concrete blocks. I realise this is an issue that is having a very...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I say sincerely that the fact he and constituents of Donegal have had to get into such a level of technical detail shows the complexity and seriousness of this issue for people in the constituency, and the seriousness with which the Deputy takes it as their representative. I would be happy to set up a technical briefing with officials from the Department of housing. I would also encourage...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Collins for raising this important issue. I should say about the comment on mná na hÉireann and the likes, I am very proud of a lot of the work we have done together in this House, often on a cross-party basis, to make progress on women's reproductive health, whether around contraception, repealing the eighth amendment or a number of other important steps. I accept...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I want to be very clear, in that I am certainly not, and I hope no one in government is - I have not heard anyone in government doing this, and the Minister for Health certainly is not - blaming pharmacists at all. Pharmacists have an important role to play. In fact, in our programme for Government, we commit to wanting to see an expanded role for pharmacists and a new pharmacy contract....

Ceisteanna ó na Comhaltaí Eile - Other Members’ Questions (3 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Malcolm Byrne for raising this important issue, which affects his constituency and mine. It actually affects quite a number of constituencies and our region. In many ways, it speaks, as Deputy Byrne rightly said, to the issue of infrastructure. We are too slow at delivering infrastructure. This is why when we came together to form this Government, the programme for...

Ceisteanna ó na Comhaltaí Eile - Other Members’ Questions (3 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: That is right, but in fairness to the NTA, the policy direction of recent years in terms of roads was regrettable. It delayed the delivery of the projects needed as regards the N11. There needs to be absolute policy clarity on this now, and I believe there is. All of us, regardless of party affiliation or of being in government or opposition, from Wicklow-Wexford and Wicklow should come...