Results 2,221-2,240 of 46,081 for speaker:Simon Harris

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (10 Jul 2024)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy McGrath for raising the issue relating to Dundrum House Hotel and the views of his community on it. I will raise it directly with the Minister for integration, Deputy O'Gorman, and ask him to come back to the Deputy on his request for a meeting.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (10 Jul 2024)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Harkin for raising this matter. I am aware that the INMO has raised it with the HSE and that the HSE is engaging with the Department of public expenditure and reform. It seems to be an anomaly. Not to be dismissive of it, but I think a solution should be found. I will seek an update on it from both the Department of Health and the Department of public expenditure for the Deputy.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (10 Jul 2024)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy O'Dowd for his kind words and good wishes in terms of my engagement with the British Prime Minister next week. I see this as a moment of reset for Anglo-Irish relations and I take my responsibility as co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement on behalf of the Irish Government very seriously, as I know Prime Minister Starmer takes his responsibility as co-guarantor of that...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (10 Jul 2024)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Gould for raising this important matter. It is not a question of the Government coming in here and saying, "We are doing a wonderful job on this", nor, I hope, is it a question of the Opposition coming here and just saying, "You are doing a terrible job on this", like a Punch and Judy show. It is a reality of outlining to the Irish people, including the people of Cork, the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Jul 2024)

Simon Harris: I do not want to personalise this to Ukraine but the Deputy is talking about people living in one area and having to move to another. That is often because we find there is a building that is half-used for which the taxpayer is paying. I cannot stand over that either. All of this is hard; none of it is easy but it all has to be done in a compassionate way. These are human beings with...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (10 Jul 2024)

Simon Harris: Can I, with the indulgence of the House, give Members an update on Ms Tori Towey, which I have just received in real time? I do not want to take away from Deputy McDonald's question but I have just been informed that the travel ban has been lifted. Embassy staff will take Tori to the airport as soon as she is ready to go. The embassy, of course, will continue to follow up on the case,...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (10 Jul 2024)

Simon Harris: I had a very good meeting with the new consultant surgeon who is heading up a paediatric spinal surgery unit, Mr. David Moore. Deputy McDonald may have met him. He is a very accomplished individual and I must say that I left the meeting with a great degree of confidence in terms of the work that he is undertaking. I will have to come back to the Deputy directly, and will do so today, on...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (10 Jul 2024)

Simon Harris: Deputy McDonald raised an important issue there and I was getting an update on Tori Towey at the same time. I apologise if I did not do her question the justice it deserves and I am happy to come back on it. On Deputy Bacik's point, the Child Law Project has done incredible work in shining a light on what is extraordinarily difficult, and it should be doing that. I am very eager to meet...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (10 Jul 2024)

Simon Harris: I will absolutely commit to doing more than one-off payments for people with disabilities across a range of areas. I am now chairing the Cabinet committee on disability, which met again last week. Myself and the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, have met with a number of advocacy organisations in recent weeks. On the specifics of payments, I have to...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (10 Jul 2024)

Simon Harris: I am not disputing that but I just want to make the point that we genuinely have, from memory, more than 200 vacant funded posts currently. We are working intensively with the HSE. I met the chief executive of the HSE on this last week to discuss how we can improve recruitment and retention to our CDNTs, but also how we can grow the therapy places in our colleges. I will send the Deputy a...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (10 Jul 2024)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Murphy for raising this issue, which he has raised in this House previously. I will ask the Minister for communications to specifically revert to him on the points he made today.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Jul 2024)

Simon Harris: We did not need the Housing Commission to tell us we needed to increase housing targets.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Jul 2024)

Simon Harris: Hang on a second. We are doing it but we do it in a clear, methodical, evidence-based way. I clearly announced before I became Taoiseach that we needed to build 250,000 more homes between 2025 and 2030. Many people scoffed at that - not people in this House, in fairness - and said it was not possible or credible. Now ESRI research, Housing Commission reports and the CIF indicate it is...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Jul 2024)

Simon Harris: It only includes direct Exchequer funding.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Jul 2024)

Simon Harris: You were there.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Jul 2024)

Simon Harris: I enjoyed my visit to Scariff and meeting the Deputy there. I apologised for the Deputy not receiving a formal invite and I wish him well with his new-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Jul 2024)

Simon Harris: The Deputy was looking out for the others. I thank him. I appreciated seeing him there and wish him well with his new role in the European Parliament. The Deputy raised a number of elements and I will try to work through them. We need to be honest with people on accommodation. The Deputy rightly raised the situation of a young man doing his best to get educated and get to work. That...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Jul 2024)

Simon Harris: I agree with the last point. Of course we have to put systems in place and built a sustainable migration system. I assure the Deputy a huge amount of work is under way daily to make that happen. We will have another Cabinet committee on migration tomorrow. The Minister for integration, the Minister for Justice and others are working intensively on this. I am very proud of their work....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Jul 2024)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Ó Ríordáin. He has made me feel even stronger about the point I made in my first response about the importance of the Equal start programme. I was not aware of the statistics on three-year-olds, but they are stark. I am pleased that the Equal Start programme, which is like DEIS for pre-school, will begin this September with 32,000 of the youngest children...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Jul 2024)

Simon Harris: This Government takes the housing crisis extremely seriously. It is the biggest societal challenge we face. It is an intergenerational challenge that causes significant anxiety across the country. The Deputy knows we take it seriously and he knows some of the figures he never mentions when he stands up to speak on this issue. That is his prerogative. We now live in a country where more...