Results 46,001-46,020 of 46,575 for speaker:Simon Harris

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (12 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: As Minister for Defence, I am deeply committed to the transformation of the Defence Forces into a modern fit for purpose organisation to defend the State and meet the challenges of today and the future. The Commission on the Defence Forces was established on foot of a commitment in the Programme for Government and its report was published on the 9th of February 2022. There were 69 main...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (12 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: The Commission on the Defence Forces recommended in its 2022 report significant changes for the Defence Forces and Defence provision in Ireland. It covers high level Defence Forces structures, defence capabilities, organisation, culture and human resources, the Reserve Defence Force and funding. The Detailed Implementation Plan for the Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces sets...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (12 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: As Minister, I am deeply committed to the transformation of the Defence Forces into a modern fit for purpose organisation to defend the State and meet the challenges of today and the future. The Commission on the Defence Forces recommended in its 2022 report significant changes for the Defence Forces and Defence provision in Ireland. It covers high level Defence Forces structures,...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (12 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: The Defence Forces Board (DFB) is comprised of the following members:Chief of Staff (COS)Deputy Chief of Staff (DCoS) OperationsDeputy Chief of Staff (DCoS) SupportAssistant Chief of Staff (ACoS)Head of Strategic HR (HoSHR)Head of Transformation (HoT)Gender Advisor (GENAD) In line with a recommendation from the 2022 Report from the Commission on the Defence Forces (CoDF) Report, a direct...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (12 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: Since I took office, I have met with Senior Leadership. I am in regular contact with the Secretary General, the Chief of Staff, members of the Management Board, and Defence Forces Senior Leadership team and will meet them all periodically throughout my term in office.

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (12 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: The White Paper for European Defence – Readiness 2030, published on 19 March 2025, is a Joint Communication by the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and the EU Commission that seeks to mitigate some of the threats and challenges Europe collectively faces, by focussing on projects to achieve enhanced surveillance and situational awareness. As the Deputy will be aware,...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (12 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: Ireland will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the eighth time in 2026 - from 1 July to 31 December. Preparations for Ireland’s Presidency are now intensifying across both the policy and operational strands of planning within my Department and across Government. My Department's key priority in the period ahead is to effectively chair the security and...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (12 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: The 2015 White Paper on Defence established a fixed cycle of defence reviews to ensure Defence policy remains current, agile and adaptive to the prevailing security environment. The first iteration of these reviews was the White Paper Update published in 2019. The Defence Policy Review 2024 'Adjusting and affirming our Defence policy in an era of change' is the latest in this cycle of...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Departmental Strategies (12 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: I wish to advise the Deputy that, as Minister for Defence, I am fully committed to the delivery of the national maritime security strategy by the end of this year. Maritime security was identified as a priority in the Defence Policy Review, and the Department of Defence is leading on the development of the National Maritime Security Strategy. The strategy will identify the risks and...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (12 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: The Strategic Framework was first published in September 2023, with an updated Strategic Framework published in May 2024. The latest Strategic Framework will be published shortly and includes updates since the previous publication. The Tánaiste regularly discusses the elements of the Strategic Framework with the Secretary General and the Chief of Staff.

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (12 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: On 20 January 2025, my colleague, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment, Peter Burke TD, signed the European Communities (Organisation of Working Time) (Defence Forces) Regulations 2025 bringing the majority of members of the Defence Forces under the ambit of the Organisation of Working Time Act. Members of the Defence Forces now enjoy the protections of the...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (12 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: This year the capital allocation stands at €50m for capital investment with a further €12.5m allocation for ongoing maintenance and running costs. The Defence Forces Infrastructure Development Plan (IDP) sets out a programme of project delivery for the years 2023 to 2027. The Plan is iterative in nature thus ensuring that it remains relevant and that investment is targeted...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (12 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: The report of the Independent Review Group (IRG), established to examine dignity and equality issues in the Defence Forces, recommended that members of the Defence Forces have ‘access to an independent, external complaints service delivered by a professional service provider for as long as it takes to put a trusted internal system in place’. Externalising the complaints...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (12 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: It is just over two years since the publication of the Independent Review Group (IRG) report, which signalled the critical need for fundamental culture change in the Defence Forces. The end goal of this cultural change is to ensure that the Defence Forces is an equal opportunities employer, reflective of contemporary Irish society that is providing a safe workplace, where self-worth is...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Trade Relations (17 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: The Government Trade Forum, established in February 2025 and chaired by the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, comprises relevant Government Ministers, State Agencies, business organisations, trade union and other representative groups and was set up to facilitate engagement with key domestic stakeholders on latest and emerging trade developments and opportunities. ...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Foreign Birth Registration (17 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: My Department is responsible for processing Foreign Birth Registration (FBR) applications for people who are born abroad and claim Irish citizenship through a grandparent born in Ireland or through a parent who has claimed citizenship also through FBR, Naturalisation or Post Nuptial Citizenship. FBR applications are currently being processed within the normal turnaround time of 9 months...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Diplomatic Representation (17 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: I refer the Deputy to the reply to PQ31536/25.

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (17 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: All passport applications are subject to the terms of the Passports Act, 2008, as amended. Section 7 of the 2008 Act provides that before issuing a passport to a person the Passport Service shall be satisfied as to the identity of the person. The Passport Service requires the submission of a long-form birth certificate as a key supporting document in all first-time passport applications. ...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Departmental Websites (17 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: My Department's website analytics tools show that the following numbers of sessions (i.e. visits) had chatgpt.com as their origin, for each of the past 12 months, for ireland.ie and for my Department's content on gov.ie. Month ireland.ie sessions gov.ie sessions (DFAT content) June 2024 5 No data available July 2024 ...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Departmental Contracts (17 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: The policy of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is to operate competitive tendering as standard procedure in order to achieve best value for money. Procurement takes place in the context of Directive 2014/24/EU supported by the Procurement Guidelines published by the Office of Government Procurement (OGP). These set out a range of procedures governing the procurement process through...