Results 2,701-2,720 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Passport Services (23 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: At the moment we are not. I have not ruled it out, as I have said, but at the moment we are trying to prioritise turnaround times and a response to the public demand where the pressure points are most acute. I am not ruling out a passport office in the North but it is not first on the priority list for now.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Foreign Policy (23 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 100 and 142 together. I thank the Deputy for raising this sensitive and important issue. Recent changes to the abortion laws in Poland are clearly of great concern to many people in Poland and the EU more generally. Ireland has its own recent experience of these issues and we have seen major changes with regard to reproductive health rights in recent...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Passport Services (23 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: I thank Deputies for their co-operation on passports. I know the issue has put a lot of pressure on the constituency offices of all parties. A lot of applications from Northern Ireland come through the offices of Sinn Féin Deputies, if there is a problem. Likewise, there is a perception among the public that if they contact the constituency office of a Government party member, perhaps...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Maritime Jurisdiction (23 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: The answer to the Deputy's last question is that it is a matter for France. My job is to be well informed in regard to what is happening within our EEZ and our territorial waters. It really is a matter for France in terms of its own security exercises and so on outside of that. Military exercises or manoeuvres are traditionally recognised as being a part of the freedom of the high seas,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Passport Services (23 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 99, 101, 104, 107 and 114 together. As there are several questions grouped together, I hope the Acting Chairman will give me some extra time to answer. The passport service is continually working to deliver enhanced customer experience and service delivery to our citizens. As we all know, it has been under a lot of pressure this year. It is experiencing an...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Passport Services (23 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: I take the Deputy's point. We are trying to move the entire system online so that people can interact with the Passport Office from their homes, either through the webchat function or by contacting an efficiently run call centre that answers their calls. That call centre has been under extraordinary pressure in recent months. We have had to add significantly to its size, and that is...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Passport Services (23 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: We are changing our software system. It will not be concluded until next year but, when we do that, we will have more options, such as potentially working with networks such as the An Post network or social welfare offices, for example. That would broaden the service geographically in terms of where people can apply for passports and so on. The fact is that passports are printed in...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Maritime Jurisdiction (23 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: We have been in contact with our French counterparts on this issue and got assurances from them that there will not be any French vessels in the Irish exclusive economic zone, EEZ, during these exercises. It is important to differentiate between Irish territorial waters and the Irish EEZ, which involves international waters for which Ireland is responsible. They are different things....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Maritime Jurisdiction (23 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: It is not common but it happens. What happened here was not unusual. The Irish Aviation Authority was informed of the exercises via standard procedures and the Department of Transport has issued a marine notice to this effect. As a close partner, however, the Government has remained in close contact with French authorities and will continue to do so in the coming period. I compliment...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Passport Services (23 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: I am not saying that there are not cases every week and every day where interventions are needed in order to make sure that the public gets the service it expects. What I am saying is that over the past number of weeks we have issued an average of around 6,000 passports per day, which is in the region of 30% more than we have ever done. When I say that we are recruiting staff, we lose staff...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Passport Services (23 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: That is the average wait time.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Passport Services (23 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: When applicants have to send in extra information, which sometimes happens, that does delay the process. In those cases, we try to have a turnaround time of 15 working days after that. The clock does not go back to the start. We try to have a faster turnaround time. This is all about trying to deliver a better service to the public. We also have to get better at communicating with the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Passport Services (23 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: Passport applications from all citizens across the island of Ireland or abroad are distributed for processing at the three Passport Office locations on the basis of the type of application rather than the place of residence of the applicant. More than 90% of all passport applications, including first-time applications, are now being made through Passport Online. The passport service is...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Diplomatic Representation (23 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: There is no criminal court case. I do not know what Deputy Tóibín is talking about.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Diplomatic Representation (23 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: There is no criminal court case.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Diplomatic Representation (23 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: This line of questioning is not only inappropriate, it is also in bad taste. I have worked closely with Adrian O'Neill, our current ambassador to London, since he took up his post in September 2017. This has been an especially busy period in British-Irish relations, which has seen the UK leave the EU and enter into a new post-Brexit relationship with the latter and Ireland. In this period,...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Diplomatic Representation (23 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: While the Deputy is trying to use this floor to damage people's reputations, I will say that we are lucky to have someone of the calibre and experience of Martin Fraser to take over as ambassador in London. His appointment was approved by Cabinet in the appropriate way along with the appointments of other ambassadors that day. We need experienced people who already have connections and...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Diplomatic Representation (23 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: That is exactly what you are doing.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Diplomatic Representation (23 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: I would expect an Opposition Member of the Deputy's experience to take some time to understand how ambassadors are appointed, how they are recommended and the process whereby recommendations come to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, predominantly from the Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs, and then have to go to Government for approval in the normal way. That is what...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Diplomatic Representation (23 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: We are now appointing perhaps the most experienced civil servant in Ireland in recent years to perhaps the most important position in terms of international relations and diplomacy. He is more than qualified for that job.