Results 1,681-1,700 of 2,792 for speaker:Colm Brophy

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Dublin-Monaghan Bombings (17 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: The Government stands in solidarity with all those impacted by the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. Some 33 people were murdered and hundreds seriously injured on that awful day in 1974, which was the highest number of casualties in any single day during the Troubles. We will continue to seek the full truth of these appalling attacks, as well as some measure of closure for the victims'...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Dublin-Monaghan Bombings (17 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: I have taken note of the Senator's remarks, particularly in regard to the passage of time. The Government will continue to engage with the British Government to secure the implementation of the all-party Oireachtas motions on the Dublin-Monaghan bombings. Our position on the Dublin-Monaghan bombings is consistent with our approach to the legacy of the Troubles more broadly. Every family...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Middle East (17 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: I acknowledge that the Minister, Deputy Coveney, cannot be here. I know he engaged with Senator Black on this yesterday at some length. I would like to restate the Government’s deep concern at the intensification of violence in Gaza, on the West Bank, and in Israel. Now is the time for de-escalation, as the Senator correctly points out, before further loss of life. We need to...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Middle East (17 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: I thank the Senator very much. I agree that it is incredibly difficult to see the pictures and the absolute horror of what is taking place, and see people who are effectively trapped in Gaza coming under the most sustained very sophisticated military weaponry with absolutely nowhere to go. We all take on board the horror of what we have seen and, obviously, the impact in Israel of rockets...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Election Monitoring Missions (18 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 413 and 425 together. Most of the issues raised in these questions have been comprehensively addressed in the answer to Question 777 of 24 March 2021. The budget for overseas election observation in 2021 is €180,000, of which €4,616 has been disbursed to date, reflecting standard insurance costs for this budget line.  Given the...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Sustainable Development Goals (18 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 416 and 417 together. The United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a significant and ambitious cross-Government policy agenda coordinated by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC). Within the national coordination structures for delivery of the SDGs, the...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Departmental Records (18 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: I thank Senator Mullen for raising this matter. The Department's authentication and apostille unit is responsible for the authentication of documents to be used abroad, as the Senator stated in his contribution. The unit provides the essential consular services to Irish citizens and businesses by verifying a document's origin and by confirming a signature and seal or stamp appearing on it...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Departmental Records (18 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: Unfortunately, Senator Mullen expresses an alarming lack of knowledge on what it takes to produce a passport. There is not just a single machine, as I hope the Senator is well aware. In a number of instances, there is a process of authentication of documents and all the necessary things. These are essential protections to ensure our passports, which are highly valued-----

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Departmental Records (18 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: -----as passports are protected and not issued in error. Senator Mullen's figures on the Passport Office are, unfortunately, also out of date, as he may be aware from previous replies.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Departmental Records (18 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: I beg Senator Mullen's pardon. First, he raised something which was not in his matter to which I am responding, because his lack of knowledge and information on it was regrettable.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Departmental Records (18 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: The functioning of the Passport Office has significantly improved, as Senator Mullen might have been aware if he had attended the other times I talked about it, and we are clearing that backlog. As for the matter the Senator did raise today, the staff are working diligently to carry out their work. There is a delay because the service required a certain amount of space and way of delivering...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Departmental Records (18 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: We had to reallocate the work practices, as to how we deliver the service during Covid-19, but we will clear the backlog. By the way, we process more than 290,000 passports in a normal year and we are well within our capacity limits to deliver the passports.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Sports Facilities (18 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: I thank the Senator for raising this matter and for giving me the opportunity to respond on behalf of the Minister for Defence, Deputy Coveney. Since the establishment of the Defence Forces, it has been a long-standing practice to allow sporting organisations and local community groups access to military lands. This policy reflects the importance to the Defence Forces of being front and...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Sports Facilities (18 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: I thank the Senator for her interest in the matter. I assure her that it is not intended to dispose of any aspect of the military installation and that all of those availing of the facilities at Cathal Brugha Barracks will continue to be able to do so.

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Election Monitoring Missions (25 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 303 and 310 together. The OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) manages its election observation mission through a core team of experts, which leads the monitoring and is directly recruited, which can be supplemented by long-term observers (LTOs) and short-term observers (STOs) nominated by OSCE Member States. Applications...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Election Monitoring Missions (25 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 304, 305 and 311 together. I refer the Deputies to the comprehensive response to Parliamentary Question No. 777 of 24 March 2021 on international election observation. In light of the global COVID-19 pandemic and associated public health considerations concerning international travel, Ireland has not nominated volunteer election observers since March 2020....

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Foreign Policy (25 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: I would like to begin by welcoming the announcement of a ceasefire which began on 21 May. The humanitarian consequences of the hostilities have been devastating and two million people in the Gaza Strip, who were already suffering extreme hardship, including poverty, food insecurity and the Covid-19 pandemic, are now suffering the consequences of another cycle of violence. On 19 May,...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Covid-19 Pandemic (25 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: Ireland is playing its full part in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including to ensure fair and equitable access to vaccines for all. Last year, Irish funding to the World Health Organisation (WHO) was quadrupled, given its role as lead UN agency for health and co-host of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator. Launched in April 2020, the ACT Accelerator, is a...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Middle East (26 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: The plight of children in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) has been at the centre of Ireland’s response to the recent hostilities. As Minister Coveney stated at the UN Security Council on 16 May, children must never be made prisoners of history. Ireland has a longstanding commitment to improving access to and the quality of education in the oPt. Education has been central...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: International Relations (27 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: I thank the Deputy for raising what I agree is a very important issue. Ireland has promptly and publicly condemned the coercive forced landing of a Ryanair aircraft on Sunday last and the subsequent detention of Roman Protasevich and Sofia Sapega. We have raised our concerns over this incident with our EU and international partners, including at a meeting of UN Security Council members. We...