Results 1-20 of 45,480 for speaker:Simon Harris

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Official Engagements (8 May 2025)

Simon Harris: I will engage on that.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Official Engagements (8 May 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for her own service and the unique insight she brings to debates in this House having served in Lebanon with our Defence Forces. I very much welcome the opportunity to update the House on my recent visit to Lebanon. A central focus of that visit on 26 March was on my meetings with the Lebanese Ministers for foreign affairs and defence. At those meetings, my first with...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Defence Forces (8 May 2025)

Simon Harris: I am smiling because this is one of the questions I get asked most frequently when I go around the country. The Deputy is right that our barracks often have good facilities and communities ask if they can get in too. Obviously, there are requirements from a security point of view, but there is also the issue of wanting our communities to be familiar with them. There have been good...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Defence Forces (8 May 2025)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 163 and 164 together. It is a fair point. It is a matter of lies, damned lies and statistics. It depends on when one measures the point. I am going to say progress has been made in the last year and the Deputy is going to say, "Actually, if you look back over a number of years", and both could be true. The reality is that there are some encouraging...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Defence Forces (8 May 2025)

Simon Harris: I am always conscious when speaking to this that people who are not friends of Ireland look in on these proceedings, so as regards national cybersecurity, let all of those who look in be aware that we have cybersecurity structures in place. We have an excellent National Cyber Security Centre. As Deputy Heneghan reminded us earlier, however, there is so much we need to do in this space. The...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Official Engagements (8 May 2025)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 167, 182 and 203 together. Let me first, as we always do when we speak about this, extend our deepest sympathies to the family of the late Private Seán Rooney and thank him for his service. None of us can fathom the unimaginable pain and grief of his family. I want them to know that we think of them and are motivated every day by getting them truth...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Naval Service (8 May 2025)

Simon Harris: Deputy McGrath knows from his own community and constituency the importance of the pride within which the Naval Service is held across our country, particularly in the part of the country where he lives because people are so familiar with the service there. I look forward to visiting Haulbowline with him in the time ahead. The Naval Service currently has a fleet of eight commissioned...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Naval Service (8 May 2025)

Simon Harris: The Deputy is right. We have to invest more in defence. In fairness, a lot of work was done, much of it by my predecessor, the Taoiseach, in terms of the Commission on the Future of the Defence Forces. That was a very helpful and important piece of infrastructure. What we do not need to do, however, is every time we try to spend some money on defence, everybody asks about funding for...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Naval Service (8 May 2025)

Simon Harris: My officials and I will keep in close contact with the Deputy on those issues as well. I thank him for his words of tribute to members of the Defence Forces. I am very conscious that, this week, men and women who have served in the 125th battalion in Lebanon are beginning to return home. I was in Renmore Barracks, where the 126th battalion is getting ready to be deployed to Lebanon. I met...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Defence Forces (8 May 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy O'Rourke for raising the question and the opportunity it provides to discuss some of the various investments and infrastructure improvements that are either currently under way, or are being planned, at Gormanston Camp in County Meath. As I know the Deputy will be aware, this training installation has now been designated as the Defence Forces’ Joint Induction Training...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Defence Forces (8 May 2025)

Simon Harris: I will read my note to give the Deputy the up-to-date figures. I am told that in 2024, 577 recruits were inducted, consisting of 451 Army, 46 Air Corps and 80 Naval Service recruits into the Permanent Defence Forces. As of 28 February, which is the last date I have for figures, 34 recruits were inducted so far this year. On 19 March 2025, Gormanston welcomed its largest recruit class at 72...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Defence Forces (8 May 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Smith for bringing that matter to my attention. I will, in consultation with my officials, reflect on that judgment, and no doubt in my engagement with representative bodies. I look forward to visiting a number of their conferences and we will have an opportunity to further discuss that. I am happy to come back to the Deputy once I have considered the issue.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Naval Service (8 May 2025)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 161, 168, 184 and 188 together. The Naval Service currently has a fleet of eight commissioned vessels. These eight vessels consist of two P50 class large patrol vessels, four P60 class offshore patrol vessels, and two P70 inshore patrol vessels. The military authorities have advised that three of the P60 class offshore patrol vessels are currently...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Naval Service (8 May 2025)

Simon Harris: I will indeed keep the Deputy briefed on this matter. I am very happy to visit the harbour in Dún Laoghaire with him and Oireachtas colleagues. I know this is an issue of real interest to people in Dún Laoghaire, to the people on the east coast, and to the Naval Service. In addition to the operational benefits this could well bring, there is also a secondary benefit, which is the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Naval Service (8 May 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank my colleague, Deputy Noel McCarthy, and I thank him for inviting me to Haulbowline, which he has done for a number of weeks. I very much look forward to visiting it with Deputy McCarthy and with colleagues in Cork because I am pleased to say we are investing heavily in improving the building infrastructure at Haulbowline. We have had a particular focus in recent years on trying to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Naval Service (8 May 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy. I know that he and his family have a proud family history of serving our State through the Naval Service. I thank them and all families across our country who have proud traditions with Óglaigh na hÉireann. I welcome the fact we now have the largest Defence Forces budget that we have ever had in our country, but we have a long way to go in terms of investing...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Meetings (8 May 2025)

Simon Harris: Deputy Connolly is referring to meetings between officials from the Department of Defence and the Irish Defence and Security Association. As she is aware, the IDSA was established in 2021. Its mission is: to ensure Ireland develops appropriate, leading edge and trusted defence and security capabilities in the land, sea, air, space and cyber domains, in order to protect our society, create...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Meetings (8 May 2025)

Simon Harris: I hope the Deputy will let me take a look at the minutes and let my office provide her with clarity as to where they are. I hope she will give me feedback on that. My note tells me that, in summary, the minutes of the meeting on 2 October largely refer to preparations for the Department's participation in an IDSA event held in November and that the minutes of the meeting on 12 December...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Meetings (8 May 2025)

Simon Harris: I am not sure whether the Deputy would use that sort of language outside the House. It is quite an extraordinary thing to say about an association established with the mission "to ensure Ireland develops appropriate, leading edge and trusted defence and security capabilities in the land, sea, air, space and cyber domains". The Deputy has said the most extraordinary things about the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Meetings (8 May 2025)

Simon Harris: The Deputy attaches to everything-----