Results 10,781-10,800 of 17,012 for speaker:Paul Kehoe

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Ratification of EU and NATO Status of Forces Agreements: Discussion (24 Jan 2019)

Paul Kehoe: Other neutral member states, including Finland, Sweden and Austria, have ratified the EU SOFA. This does not have to be approved in Dáil Éireann; I can do this at Cabinet level and forget about it.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Ratification of EU and NATO Status of Forces Agreements: Discussion (24 Jan 2019)

Paul Kehoe: If I do that, I can be absolutely assured that I would be accused of trying to pull the wool over everyone's eyes. I am not saying that Deputy Ó Snodaigh would say that, but other Members of these Houses might. I am being open, transparent and honest because I understand that this is a very sensitive area for many people. As the Minister of State at the Department of Defence, I feel...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Ratification of EU and NATO Status of Forces Agreements: Discussion (24 Jan 2019)

Paul Kehoe: Deputy Barrett raised a range of different issues. I refer to peacekeeping and the manner in which members of the Defence Forces carry out their duties as peacekeepers. They still excel in carrying out their duties as peacekeepers. Unfortunately, peacekeeping has changed over the years. I do not want the Deputy to take me up the wrong way. Compared to when Deputy Barrett was Minister,...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Ratification of EU and NATO Status of Forces Agreements: Discussion (24 Jan 2019)

Paul Kehoe: I will cite UNIFIL as one of the perfect examples. If we had not participated in the training missions, the battle group training and so on over the past number of years and sent members of the Defence Forces to UNIFIL, military personnel and management assure me, we should not have been participating in it. I refer to having the necessary training, looking at like-minded states and the...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Ratification of EU and NATO Status of Forces Agreements: Discussion (24 Jan 2019)

Paul Kehoe: I am making the genuine argument that peacekeeping has changed over the past 20 years.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Ratification of EU and NATO Status of Forces Agreements: Discussion (24 Jan 2019)

Paul Kehoe: I have made the argument to the Chairman. The only way to see the change in the way our peacekeepers operate and the complexities of the different types of threat is to visit one of the missions and speak to the people on the ground. They have the experience of what peacekeepers do on a daily basis. I had a visit from a veteran last St. Patrick's Day and he spoke about one of the most...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Ratification of EU and NATO Status of Forces Agreements: Discussion (24 Jan 2019)

Paul Kehoe: We still do that to a very high standard.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Ratification of EU and NATO Status of Forces Agreements: Discussion (24 Jan 2019)

Paul Kehoe: As a Minister of State of the Government, I have the obligation to protect members of the Defence Forces when they go overseas. It is about giving them the very best of training and equipment. If this is part and parcel of that effort, I will do it.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Ratification of EU and NATO Status of Forces Agreements: Discussion (24 Jan 2019)

Paul Kehoe: The Deputy mentioned lorries full of equipment but if we did not send that out and if something happened to a member of the Defence Forces, I would be in the Dáil being asked why members of the Defence Forces were not given right and proper equipment on overseas peacekeeping duties. The complexities of peacekeeping have changed totally over the years. Those personnel are still very...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Ratification of EU and NATO Status of Forces Agreements: Discussion (24 Jan 2019)

Paul Kehoe: I do not have any knowledge of it. I will come back to the Deputy on it. I will mention the humanitarian aid projects. We have had some contact on the paper the Deputy spoke about. If there are Irish Aid agencies working underground in mission areas, we will get more involved in it. I have spoken to military management about it. They go hand in hand. We cannot have development aid...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Ratification of EU and NATO Status of Forces Agreements: Discussion (24 Jan 2019)

Paul Kehoe: The Deputy accused me of leading the way for Ireland to join an EU army at some point in the future. As I have stressed, the Treaty of Lisbon does not provide for the creation of a European army or conscription to any military formation. Any change to that position would require a treaty change and no such change is proposed. The protocol on the concerns of the Irish people on the Treaty...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Ratification of EU and NATO Status of Forces Agreements: Discussion (24 Jan 2019)

Paul Kehoe: The PfP SOFA requires the approval of Dáil Éireann under Article 29.5 of the Constitution.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Ratification of EU and NATO Status of Forces Agreements: Discussion (24 Jan 2019)

Paul Kehoe: The Deputy spoke about the representative associations. It is important for me, as Minister of State, to listen to the representative associations. When we are formulating policy, it is important that we listen to them and everyone else, including members of the Opposition and spokespersons from other parties. The White Paper on Defence had a wide range of contributors, which is the...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Ratification of EU and NATO Status of Forces Agreements: Discussion (24 Jan 2019)

Paul Kehoe: -----and it is important that we do that. The advice of the Attorney General expressly indicated the SOFA agreements could not legally apply in Ireland as foreign militaries could not be based in Ireland due to the provisions of Article 15.6.2o of the Constitution. The advice allowed for Article 15.6.2o to be interpreted in such a way that SOFAs could apply in Ireland in certain cases such...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Ratification of EU and NATO Status of Forces Agreements: Discussion (24 Jan 2019)

Paul Kehoe: He may not have used the word "simple" but he asked why it cannot continue. We will not be able to participate in the German battle group in 2020 unless we have the SOFAs in place.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Ratification of EU and NATO Status of Forces Agreements: Discussion (24 Jan 2019)

Paul Kehoe: As a matter of policy, Germany does not want any countries to participate in the battle group unless SOFAs are in place. That is one of its national policies. We have a national policy of not giving SOFAs to any transient or visiting member states. We can have that policy if we want. That is a policy we put in place, while Germany's policy is one it put in place.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Ratification of EU and NATO Status of Forces Agreements: Discussion (24 Jan 2019)

Paul Kehoe: We do not dictate German policy; Germany dictates its own policy. I am not in a position to tell it or dictate to it otherwise. If we want to participate in the German battle group in 2020, we must have the SOFAs in place. It is important that I am open and transparent in bringing it through the Dáil. I am hiding nothing-----

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Ratification of EU and NATO Status of Forces Agreements: Discussion (24 Jan 2019)

Paul Kehoe: -----and we will do it in an open and transparent manner.

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Military Medals (29 Jan 2019)

Paul Kehoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 98 to 100, inclusive, 102 to 105, inclusive, 107 to 112, inclusive, and 115 together. The siege of Jadotville was a prominent event that occurred during Ireland's peacekeeping mission in the Congo in September 1961. "A" Company, 35th Infantry Battalion took responsibility for the UN post at Jadotville on 3rd September 1961. On the 9th September, a large...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces Reserve (29 Jan 2019)

Paul Kehoe: I am advised by the military authorities that all Reserve Defence Force (RDF) personnel are issued, when appropriate, with gloves for State ceremonial events. I am also advised that the military authorities are in the process of amending the appropriate Administration Instruction (L3) to ensure that gloves are made available to RDF personnel who are engaged in appropriate levels of training....