Results 2,381-2,400 of 46,235 for speaker:Simon Harris

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...

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

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy McDonald. Absolutely, step one is to get Tori and her mother, who is out there actively supporting her at this very distressing time, home. For this to happen, the travel ban needs to be lifted. It is the current block in terms of Tori coming home. The immediate request and demand of Ireland is that this happens. With regard to the issue of legal representation, I am...

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

Simon Harris: Where are you working?

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

Simon Harris: On what is probably our last exchange, I wish Deputy Ó Ríordáin well. His election to the European Parliament is a major milestone for him and his party. I genuinely wish him well as he continues to represent Dublin and Ireland, albeit in a different capacity. I say to all those elected to the European Parliament that everybody in the House is rooting for them. When they go...

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

Simon Harris: I agree with every word Deputy McDonald said on this issue. I thank her and Deputy Kerrane for engaging with me on this matter, along with Deputy Feighan. This is a really distressing case. It is important that everybody around the world, including in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, know that we are speaking with one voice in this House on this situation. An Irish woman - an Irish...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Staff (10 Jul 2024)

Simon Harris: The staffing complement of the Government Press Office at the Department of the Taoiseach over the past twenty four months is outlined in the below table: Timeframe: Team composition: From July 2022 to November 2022 One Assistant Principal Officer (Press Office Manager) and four Higher Executive Officers (Government Press Officers) ...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Commissions of Inquiry (10 Jul 2024)

Simon Harris: A comprehensive evaluation of how the country managed COVID-19 will provide an opportunity to learn lessons from our experiences in dealing with a pandemic. It will include a review of the whole-of-government response to the pandemic and how we might do better and be in a stronger position if another pandemic or other similar type event were to occur. It will include a consideration of...