Results 13,701-13,720 of 18,496 for speaker:Brendan Smith

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council: Defence and Related Matters (26 Apr 2018)

Brendan Smith: The Minister of State will obey the Chair as well as every other person speaking at this committee. I ask him to proceed.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council: Defence and Related Matters (26 Apr 2018)

Brendan Smith: Through the Chair, Deputy Chambers.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council: Defence and Related Matters (26 Apr 2018)

Brendan Smith: I thank the Minister of State. I call Deputy Ó Snodaigh, who will be followed by Deputy Grealish.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council: Defence and Related Matters (26 Apr 2018)

Brendan Smith: I thank the Minister of State and call Deputy Seán Barrett.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council: Defence and Related Matters (26 Apr 2018)

Brendan Smith: With regard to the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, Mr. Davis, not informing public representatives, Ministers visiting and not letting Members of the Oireachtas know is not unknown in our jurisdiction either.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council: Defence and Related Matters (26 Apr 2018)

Brendan Smith: Thank you. With regard to Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan's point about the Mediterranean, statistics were provided in the briefing by the Department. It was a good detailed briefing and we appreciate that. In 2016 and 2017 the Irish naval vessels were involved in rescuing 17,509 migrants. Since Operation Sophia, the total number of migrants rescued in October to December 2017 was 613. There...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council: Defence and Related Matters (26 Apr 2018)

Brendan Smith: When you visit the headquarters of Operation Sophia, will you bear in mind and follow up on the questions that humanitarian organisations such as Médicins san Frontières have raised? They are out there working in the most difficult situations and we must be very cognisant of their concerns. We will leave it to the Minister to ensure that when he is there and speaking to the people...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council: Defence and Related Matters (26 Apr 2018)

Brendan Smith: I understand that since the reorganisation of the Defence Forces nationally, the regulations that govern the operations of the Reserve Defence Force have not been amended. The representative association is anxious that when the Department is preparing to amend the regulations it be involved and consulted about the changes. On the Naval Service Reserve, apparently there is a serious...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council: Defence and Related Matters (26 Apr 2018)

Brendan Smith: Is it Commissioner Mogherini who attends the Council meetings the Minister of State attends?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council: Defence and Related Matters (26 Apr 2018)

Brendan Smith: To my recollection, we asked him last year, but he is not the Accounting Officer.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council: Defence and Related Matters (26 Apr 2018)

Brendan Smith: The committee decides who it wishes to invite to appear before it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council: Defence and Related Matters (26 Apr 2018)

Brendan Smith: The committee may invite any person to appear before it without seeking the approval of a Minister or the Department. I thank the Minister of State for his presentation and dialogue with members. We hope he will raise the issues we have discussed at the forthcoming Council meeting. They are reflective of the views of Irish society, rather than solely those of public representatives. I...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Funding (1 May 2018)

Brendan Smith: 391. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her plans to increase substantially the maximum level of grant aid in respect of the provision of new childcare facilities in cases in which there is an identified need for additional places and in which the maximum level of grant aid under the present scheme would be inadequate to support a community childcare organisation to provide...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Funding (1 May 2018)

Brendan Smith: 392. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her plans to introduce a new childcare capital grant scheme in 2018 to assist community childcare operators to extend or provide new childcare facilities in cases in which there is an identified need for additional places; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19069/18]

Other Questions: Cross-Border Co-operation (2 May 2018)

Brendan Smith: 26. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the discussions his Department has with its counterpart in Northern Ireland on the development of cross-Border projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19074/18]

Other Questions: Cross-Border Co-operation (2 May 2018)

Brendan Smith: 28. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the discussions he or his Department has with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the European Commission on the funding of cross-Border projects after 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19075/18]

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Religious Persecution (2 May 2018)

Brendan Smith: 79. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he has raised with the Indian authorities and/or at the European Foreign Affairs Council the recent report by an organisation (details supplied) of the persecution of Christians in India; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19179/18]

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Northern Ireland (2 May 2018)

Brendan Smith: 80. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the progress to date in implementing legislative measures as required under the 2014 Stormont House Agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19181/18]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Northern Ireland (2 May 2018)

Brendan Smith: 104. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the progress to date in implementing legislative measures as required under the 2014 Stormont House Agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19180/18]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Brexit Staff (2 May 2018)

Brendan Smith: 106. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the working groups and processes in place within his Department and within the statutory agencies under his remit in preparation for Britain's exit from the European Union; if such planning is coordinated with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; if personnel within his Department and within the statutory agencies at...