Results 19,401-19,420 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Properties (8 Oct 2015)

Simon Coveney: The Department of Defence is happy to facilitate the council, but Deputy Ó Fearghaíl should not try to twist-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Properties (8 Oct 2015)

Simon Coveney: We are not reneging on anything.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Properties (8 Oct 2015)

Simon Coveney: We were happy to do a deal with the Department of Education and Skills, which we have done-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Properties (8 Oct 2015)

Simon Coveney: -----and with Kildare County Council, which we offered to do, but it decided against it. Deputy Ó Fearghaíl cannot expect the Department of Defence to do much more than that.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Medicinal Products (8 Oct 2015)

Simon Coveney: I thank Deputy Crowe for raising this issue, which has been raised regularly in the House. It has been debated in other parliaments in different parts of the world as well. The truth is that malaria is a very serious disease and is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people every year. When we send our troops into conflict zones that are affected by malaria, we need to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Medicinal Products (8 Oct 2015)

Simon Coveney: I understand why the questions are being asked but we would not make any decisions on anti-malarial drugs which would unnecessarily put anyone at risk. The only priority is to make our troops as safe as possible when they are abroad. There is no simple solution here. There is no anti-malarial drug which is free of all side effects. They just do not exist.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Medicinal Products (8 Oct 2015)

Simon Coveney: There are alternatives but each alternative has a complication.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Medicinal Products (8 Oct 2015)

Simon Coveney: In all seriousness, there are lots of countries which still use Lariam. My Department has recently reconvened, on my instruction, the malaria working group. This group met in August and has engaged once again, because of the issues raised, with experts, both nationally and internationally. The group expects to provide an updated report to me later this year. Roche Products (Ireland)...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Medicinal Products (8 Oct 2015)

Simon Coveney: That has nothing to do with it.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Medicinal Products (8 Oct 2015)

Simon Coveney: If there are court cases, then of course they will go to court.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Medicinal Products (8 Oct 2015)

Simon Coveney: What the Deputy is trying to do is-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Medicinal Products (8 Oct 2015)

Simon Coveney: What the Deputy is not referring to is the fact that 1 million people a year die of malaria. He is not referring to the fact that we send our troops into regions that have serious malaria issues. I need to protect them, to make sure they are not in those figures of people who die from malaria each year. There is a balance to be achieved here to make sure that when we make decisions to send...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Medicinal Products (8 Oct 2015)

Simon Coveney: If there are court cases in Ireland we will deal with them. The only priority for me is making sure that when we make the serious decision to send troops abroad on peacekeeping missions, they are protected with the best medication we can give them for any diseases they may encounter in those areas.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Medicinal Products (8 Oct 2015)

Simon Coveney: That is the only issue and if that means moving away from Lariam because there is a better drug that can get better results, we will do that but it will be on medical advice, not on political point scoring.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Medicinal Products (8 Oct 2015)

Simon Coveney: We will come to it in a while.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Shannon Airport Facilities (8 Oct 2015)

Simon Coveney: This is an issue we debate regularly in this House and that is fine. In accordance with the Air Navigation (Foreign Military Aircraft) Order 1952, primary responsibility for the regulation of activity by foreign military aircraft in Ireland rests with my colleague, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. Pursuant to this legislation, permission is required for foreign military aircraft...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Shannon Airport Facilities (8 Oct 2015)

Simon Coveney: I need to repeat again that I am not the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. The Deputy should address the policy questions on the use of Shannon Airport to him. The job of the Minister for Defence, the Department of Defence and the Defence Forces is to assist An Garda Síochána when it asks for help. That is what we do in respect of Shannon. It is unfortunate that there is...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Shannon Airport Facilities (8 Oct 2015)

Simon Coveney: Of course I have views and the bombing at Kunduz was a tragedy that should not have happened, but I am Minister for Defence and the role of the Department of Defence and the Defence Forces in Shannon Airport is very clear, just as the role of the Department of Justice and Equality on security issues is clear. Within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the policy decisions are clear....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Naval Service Strength (8 Oct 2015)

Simon Coveney: First, I concede that we have had challenges in the Naval Service in the past two years on a number of levels. We have had to prioritise where our ships are. We have had ships in the Mediterranean since May and we had some problems with a delay in the delivery of the LE James Joyce. We also had issues with maintenance, all of which contributed to limited resource availability for the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Naval Service Strength (8 Oct 2015)

Simon Coveney: I am a little surprised that people are going to the Deputy with this information when, if I had the information, we could fix it. I will find out if this is the case, but I have not been told of any problem with three out of the four naval launches. The real issue is getting reservists onto ships for patrol hours offshore to give them experience so that, if and when they are needed, they...