Results 11,701-11,720 of 17,012 for speaker:Paul Kehoe

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Expenditure (24 Sep 2019)

Paul Kehoe: I am not sure of the Deputy's question. I assure him that any savings from pay is redirected to the organisation with the agreement of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. The Deputy and I have attended meetings of the defence committee where we discussed Estimates. It goes into Army pensions or is redirected into the organisation to buy ships or otherwise improving...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Expenditure (24 Sep 2019)

Paul Kehoe: If the Deputy does not know, he must not have listened carefully at the Estimates meetings of the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence. If he goes back and looks at the Blacks to see exactly what happened at those meetings, he will see that all pay savings are directed back into the organisation, be it into pension payments, infrastructure or new equipment in the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Expenditure (24 Sep 2019)

Paul Kehoe: I am still not sure what the Deputy's question is because he is making statements, rather than asking questions. I have never hidden the fact that we have made pay savings, as the Deputy knows, but we have redirected the savings we have made. I presume that if I were to hand them all back to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, the Deputy would still be standing up to make...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Expenditure (24 Sep 2019)

Paul Kehoe: -----which detail the fact that we have redirected savings back into the organisation.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Expenditure (24 Sep 2019)

Paul Kehoe: The Deputy can throw up his hands, but he does not have responsibility for public pay. I would love to be able to use the savings, but, unfortunately, we cannot, as the Deputy knows well.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Expenditure (24 Sep 2019)

Paul Kehoe: The Deputy knows well that we cannot do that.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Expenditure (24 Sep 2019)

Paul Kehoe: The Deputy should go back and talk to some of his party colleagues who were in government and had responsibility, but they did not use it wisely.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Trade Union Membership (24 Sep 2019)

Paul Kehoe: I am aware of the long-standing desire of PDFORRA to associate with the ICTU. Section 2(3) of the Defence (Amendment) Act 1990 prohibits the Defence Forces representative associations from being associated with or affiliated to any trade union or any other body without the consent of the Minister. Members of the Permanent Defence Force also cannot become members of a trade union. To...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Trade Union Membership (24 Sep 2019)

Paul Kehoe: The Deputy understands this originally came from the European Committee of Social Rights. As I have stated, my officials are engaging with the ICTU. I will await the outcome of that engagement. The Deputy is right that a motion was passed in the Dáil. It was a Fianna Fáil Private Members' motion, in which Fianna Fáil, with the support of Sinn Féin and the Labour Party,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Trade Union Membership (24 Sep 2019)

Paul Kehoe: I will address the ICTU question first. PDFORRA has requested on a number of occasions to either become affiliated with or to take up associate membership of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. These requests raise significant challenges from both a Government point of view and a societal perspective. We also have to take into account the risks of impinging on the military chain of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Remuneration (24 Sep 2019)

Paul Kehoe: Similarly to other sectors in the public service, the pay of Permanent Defence Force personnel was reduced as one of the measures to assist in stabilising national finances during the financial crisis, during which the Deputy was a member of the Government. The recovery in the economy has provided the fiscal resources to provide for a fair and sustainable recovery in public service pay...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Remuneration (24 Sep 2019)

Paul Kehoe: The Deputy will recognise that all public service pay was cut back in the tougher economic circumstances we went through at the time when the Deputy was a member of the Government. Nobody wanted to do it. As our public finances are improving, the public service stability agreement is now in place, in which there are real financial benefits for all public servants, including members of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Remuneration (24 Sep 2019)

Paul Kehoe: I am sure the Deputy would acknowledge and understand the importance of the public service pay agreements we currently have in place for all public servants. He is correct that RACO has called for its own independent pay review group. The UK Government has a similar group in place, but the UK Government also has a different method of determining rates of public sector pay. They have...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cybersecurity Policy (24 Sep 2019)

Paul Kehoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 11 together. As outlined in the Government's White Paper on Defence 2015, the issue of cybersecurity has significant implications for governmental administration, industry, economic well-being and the security and safety of citizens. Cybersecurity is a standing item on the agenda of the Government task force on emergency planning, which I chair. The...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cybersecurity Policy (24 Sep 2019)

Paul Kehoe: My colleague, the Minister, Deputy Bruton, retains overall responsibility for cybersecurity at national level. The Government task force on emergency planning also maintains cybersecurity as a standing item on the agenda where regular updates are provided and where issues of common interest may be raised and addressed. The Deputy is correct that cyber attacks present a new threat and it has...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cybersecurity Policy (24 Sep 2019)

Paul Kehoe: As I said earlier, the Minister, Deputy Bruton, has overall responsibility for cybersecurity at national level. If business people have come to the Deputy and they are concerned, I ask him to bring those concerns to the attention of the Minister as soon as possible. If there are Members of this House who are concerned about the inadequacies of Government in this area, there is no point...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cybersecurity Policy (24 Sep 2019)

Paul Kehoe: The Deputy's final question is more appropriate to the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Bruton, who has overall responsibility for this area. I am not trying to deflect from or make politics of this issue. I have stated on numerous occasions that cyberattacks are a 21st century threat. There are many international IT companies located in Ireland,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Overseas Missions (24 Sep 2019)

Paul Kehoe: Government and Dáil approval was received in June of this year for the deployment of a contingent of the Permanent Defence Force to participate in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, MINUSMA. MINUSMA was established on 25 April 2013 by UN Security Council Resolution 2100 to stabilise the country after the Tuareg rebellion...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Overseas Missions (24 Sep 2019)

Paul Kehoe: I am in receipt of regular updates. Officials from my Department are in regular contact with the military authorities and I receive military advice on the security situation in Mali at the time of deployment. As stated by Deputy Crowe, this is a UN mission but Ireland is partaking in the international community response to the shooting of innocent people on a daily basis in Mali....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Overseas Missions (24 Sep 2019)

Paul Kehoe: Deciding what anti-malaria medication is prescribed for personnel is a matter for military medical staff. In the past six decades Ireland has participated in Chapter VI and Chapter VII missions and played a vital role in promoting peace, stability and the protection of civilians. I have confidence in every member of the ARW who has deployed to Mali. I have seen them in action and met them...