Results 19,601-19,620 of 21,096 for speaker:Charles Flanagan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Pre-Budget Submission: Dóchas (14 Jul 2021)

Charles Flanagan: I thank Ms Keatinge and her colleagues. Unless members have any final commentary, I will bring matters to a close by thanking the guests for the presentation. I will be forgiven for singling out Ms Soma for joining us from the front line in South Sudan, which is, as she mentions, the world's youngest country. It faces enormous challenges and yet we know that Ms Soma had the sense to finish...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Pre-Budget Submission: Dóchas (14 Jul 2021)

Charles Flanagan: Ms de Barra has the floor.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Emigrant Support Services: Discussion (13 Jul 2021)

Charles Flanagan: I wish our members a good afternoon and an early good morning to our guests. We are pleased to host this meeting, given that this is the final week of our parliamentary term and members and I were keen to have an opportunity to engage with our guests, however briefly, in order to allow them to update us on current matters within the Irish immigrant community. We are pleased to meet this...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Emigrant Support Services: Discussion (13 Jul 2021)

Charles Flanagan: I thank Ms Leonard Dibra and her colleagues for that very informative presentation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Emigrant Support Services: Discussion (13 Jul 2021)

Charles Flanagan: I propose to seek questions and observations from a number of committee members before going back to the witnesses. I ask that Ms Leonard Dibra would distribute the questions amongst the panellists as she deems fit and appropriate. I am conscious of time.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Emigrant Support Services: Discussion (13 Jul 2021)

Charles Flanagan: I propose to go back to Ms Leonard Dibra now. A number of questions have been raised by Senator Craughwell and Deputies Stanton and Brady. I allow the witnesses to respond and then I will call on Senator O'Reilly and Deputy Clarke.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Emigrant Support Services: Discussion (13 Jul 2021)

Charles Flanagan: I do not see any other members offering. I will revert to Ms Leonard Dibra. As I do, I will put a couple of issues to the witnesses, acknowledging the great work the coalition of centres does and all the centres do daily, servicing a most important need. Mr. Stahl in one of his replies touched on the fact that the centres are dealing now with perhaps more issues than just Irish issues,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Emigrant Support Services: Discussion (13 Jul 2021)

Charles Flanagan: I thank Ms Leonard Dibra for the manner in which you assembled a team of experts from across the United States. As I said at the outset, I did not mean to inconvenience anyone with an early morning meeting but we were very keen here, as we approached the end of our term in parliamentary session, to have an opportunity to engage, acknowledging the fact that we have not done so over the past...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Situation in Palestine: Discussion (11 May 2021)

Charles Flanagan: It is not my intention to revert immediately to the ambassador. I propose to take questions from Senator Joe O'Reilly and to then ask the witnesses to respond to the questions posed by Deputy Brady and Senator O'Reilly. Senator O'Reilly is a long-standing member of the parliamentary assembly, the Council of Europe and he is Leas-Chathaoirleach of our Upper House, the Seanad.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Business of Joint Committee (15 Jul 2021)

Charles Flanagan: I have received a message from our witness who has been delayed for a number of minutes in the Department of an Taoiseach and will be joining us shortly. My apologies as the start of our meeting may be delayed for another five or so minutes as sometimes meetings are somewhat tightly scheduled. I thank members for their patience.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Situation in Belarus: Discussion with Ms Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (15 Jul 2021)

Charles Flanagan: I have received apologies from Deputy Clarke. I welcome a few guests from the Houses of the Oireachtas to our committee. On behalf of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence, it gives me great pleasure to welcome Ms Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, leader of the opposition in Belarus, her senior adviser, Mr. Franak Viaorka, and her delegation. We welcome them to Leinster...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Situation in Belarus: Discussion with Ms Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (15 Jul 2021)

Charles Flanagan: I thank Senator Joe O'Reilly. For the benefit of our guests, Senator O'Reilly is one of our parliamentary representatives to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, PACE. It is a body which has been supportive of Ms Tsikhanouskaya. Next, I call Deputy Leddin, who will be followed by Deputy Gannon and Senator Craughwell.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Situation in Belarus: Discussion with Ms Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (15 Jul 2021)

Charles Flanagan: I thank members for being so co-operative. They all stuck within the time and behaved impeccably. That is not always the case but it is in Ms Tsikhanouskaya's honour that our members are well behaved. They have proffered all-party and Independent support for her visit, cause and address. I return to Ms Tsikhanouskaya to deal with the many questions that have been put by members. I thank...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Situation in Belarus: Discussion with Ms Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (15 Jul 2021)

Charles Flanagan: I thank both of the witnesses for the manner in which they responded to our questions. I am conscious of the time and of their schedule. I thank them for being with us. I acknowledge the points they made about how Ireland might intensify its role in providing assistance. In the meantime, the sponsoring of a prisoner who has been adverted to by members. The acceptance of children and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Situation in Belarus: Discussion with Ms Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (15 Jul 2021)

Charles Flanagan: I thank Ms Tsikhanouskaya. We repeat our call for free and fair elections. On behalf of the committee, allow me to send our best regards to Ms Tsikhanouskaya's husband, Sergei, to the many politically motivated detainees in Belarus and to the people of Belarus, in whose case we take a particular interest in these times of difficulty and challenge. I will formally bring matters to a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Distribution of Covid-19 Vaccines to Developing Countries: Discussion (9 Feb 2021)

Charles Flanagan: Perhaps we could start with Dr. McMahon.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Distribution of Covid-19 Vaccines to Developing Countries: Discussion (9 Feb 2021)

Charles Flanagan: I thank Dr. Harkin. I leave the final word to Dr. Nabarro.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Appointment of Special Envoys and Update on Afghanistan: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence (31 Aug 2021)

Charles Flanagan: As I have not received any apologies, I take it we have a full complement of members. I am pleased we are meeting with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence, Deputy Coveney, to discuss the appointment of special envoys and receive an update on the current situation in Afghanistan. The Minister is very welcome. I also welcome from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Niall Burgess,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Appointment of Special Envoys and Update on Afghanistan: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence (31 Aug 2021)

Charles Flanagan: On the matter of questions, we are now dealing with the special envoy issue. I call Deputy Cowen, followed by Deputy Brady and Senator Joe O'Reilly.