Results 10,361-10,380 of 17,012 for speaker:Paul Kehoe

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Paul Kehoe: I hope that the commission's report and recommendations will be with Government by Q1 2019. I understand the interim report will be made to Government by the end of this year. The Government will consider the recommendations made by the pay commission on that occasion. On the air ambulance service, a number of options were suggested by the Air Corps. Members will be aware there is a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Paul Kehoe: I will address Deputy McLoughlin's questions first. There are a substantial number of non-pay initiatives and retention strategies that provide opportunities for members of the Defence Forces. The review of contracts is continuing and the Department and the representative organisations are working on that. This will allow those who have served 12 years to extend their service up to 21...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Paul Kehoe: I have acknowledged that. I have spoken to the Chief of Staff and military management on that issue and they are examining it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Paul Kehoe: I will now deal with Deputy McFadden's questions. I have addressed the pay and conditions and the submission that we have made to the Low Pay Commission. Is that okay for the Senator?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Paul Kehoe: The 24 hour duty allowance is part of the submission the Department has put in. The Senator spoke about technical pay for cooks and related adjudications. There are a number of outstanding adjudications and findings across the public service, including the Defence Forces, which cannot be implemented having regard to the provisions in the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Paul Kehoe: The Deputy has asked a wide range of questions. The Deputy referred to aid to civil power and the Defence Forces organisation not being able to meet all of its requests. I have no proof that we are unable to meet the requests that have been made under aid to the civil power. I presume the Deputy was specifically referring to the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority. While the Naval Service...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Paul Kehoe: May I address that question?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Paul Kehoe: May I answer?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Paul Kehoe: On Deputy Grealish's questions, I stand over my reply in the Dáil. The process of recruitment is entirely a matter for members of the Defence Forces. There is not one civil servant involved in the process from the time someone applies for the Defence Forces.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Paul Kehoe: The question Deputy Grealish asked was who was involved in the process. From the time a person applies for the Defence Forces, he will never-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Paul Kehoe: The Garda Síochána does the vetting in conjunction with the Defence Forces intelligence. No civil servant is involved in the process. Of course, setting out the terms and conditions of pay and everything like that is done by civil servants in the Department. The process is exactly the same as the process that applies to An Garda Síochána. The Defence Forces do not set...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Paul Kehoe: Mr. Mooney's role relates to Defence Forces personnel, support services, communications, conciliation and arbitration and the litigation branch. The new appointment was to ensure an appropriate focus on human resources and to give greater support to that. I say this in Mr. Mooney's presence and I do not wish to flatter him in any way-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Paul Kehoe: He is an excellent civil servant, as are all the civil servants in my Department. They come in for criticism on occasion. I will defend every one of my civil servants to the bitter end. They are absolutely outstanding public servants. I appreciate the work they do every day for the improvement and promotion of the Defence Forces. I know that message might not always come through. Of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Paul Kehoe: I will not publish it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Paul Kehoe: It is a copy for the pay commission and the pay commission will probably publish it when it finishes its deliberations. Last year, I sought that the Defence Forces be highlighted and in fairness to the pay commission, it came back after meeting the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe. The Minister highlighted two areas, namely, health and the Defence Forces. I am...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Paul Kehoe: I will come back to the Senator with the number in training. That has always been part and parcel of the numbers. The Senator said that the air ambulance had been contracted out to a private-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Paul Kehoe: No. The air ambulance based in Athlone is fully operated by the Defence Forces.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Paul Kehoe: No. Somebody else also mentioned that. That is a service level agreement that we had with the HSE. There is a big difference between aid to the civil power and aid to the civil authority. The service level agreement is that we will provide that service if and when available.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Paul Kehoe: We still provide some services to the HSE and will continue to do so. In approaching the challenge we had, we had to own up and say that we were not able to guarantee the service. We cannot say that we would be able to fly through the night or whatever the story is. We will not be able to be there 24-7. It would be wrong of me and I would be shirking my responsibility if I did not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Paul Kehoe: I have said we have a number of challenges in the Naval Service on a number of issues, as I highlighted in the past few weeks. They could be due to personnel, weather or technical issues that we were not able to get to sea, but that is nothing new. There are lost days every year.