Results 2,901-2,920 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Naval Service (14 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: The Naval Service is the State's principal sea-going agency and is tasked with a variety of defence and other roles. The primary day-to-day tasking of the Naval Service is to provide a fishery protection service in accordance with the State's obligations as a member of the European Union. In terms of fishery protection the Naval Service is tasked with patrolling all Irish waters from the...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (14 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: The following table details the number of women members of the Permanent Defence Force who have left, by month, to the end of May 2022: Month Jan Feb March April May Total No. of Discharges 2 6 14 2 0 24 As the Deputy will appreciate, personnel leave the Permanent Defence...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (14 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: The Reserve Defence Force (RDF) is comprised of the First Line Reserve, the Army Reserve (AR) and the Naval Service Reserve (NSR). The Government remains absolutely committed to the advancement of the RDF. The White Paper on Defence is quite clear that there is a continued requirement to retain and develop the Reserve and the Government remains fully committed to this. The...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (14 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: It is Government policy to increase female participation rates at all levels of the Defence Forces, including the Reserve Defence Force (RDF), in order to increase capability and to better reflect the society from which the Defence Forces are drawn and serve. As of 30 April 2022, the effective female strength of the RDF is 194 members. In line with current policies and commitments, a number...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (14 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: The Reserve Defence Force (RDF) is comprised of the First Line Reserve (FLR), the Army Reserve (AR) and the Naval Service Reserve (NSR). The combined effective strength of the AR and NSR, at year end, for the past five years is set out below: Year AR & NSR Effective Personnel (at year end) 2021 1,489 2020 ...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (14 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: The current establishment figure of the Defence Froces is 9,500. The Department does not maintain costings for increasing the strength of the Permanent Defence Force as outlined by the Deputy. This would require detailed consideration of the capability requirements underpinning such an increase and consideration of associated personnel issues, including organisational structures as well as...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (14 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: The White Paper on Defence 2015, reinforced by the White Paper Update 2019, sets out the Government’s medium term policy for Defence. It is recognised that the principal demand drivers of Defence capital requirements are the ongoing renewal, retention and acquisition of military equipment along with the development and upgrade of Defence Forces built infrastructure. The acquisition of...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (14 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: The principal demand drivers of capital expenditure for the Defence Forces are the ongoing renewal, retention and acquisition of military equipment along with the development and upgrade of Defence Forces built infrastructure. Capital funding allocations are framed within the overarching multi-annual National Development Plan and provided through Vote 36 (Defence). To this end, Vote 36...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (14 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 919, 920 and 921 together. In the period in question, 2015-2022, a total of €11.3 million has been received in respect of property sales. Public Financial Procedures require that such receipts are brought to account as Appropriations-in-Aid. The table below sets out the annual amounts of these receipts. Defence Property Sales 2015-2022: ...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Departmental Staff (14 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: My Department currently provides a number of staff to support Ireland's engagement in the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy and the related EU institutions, including the European External Action Security, the European Defence Agency and the European Commission. To this end, officials from the Department are assigned to the Political and Security Committee (PSC) delegation within the...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (14 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: The information requested could not be readily ascertained in the timeframe set out for reply and I will revert once the information is available to me.

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Departmental Meetings (14 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: On 7 June 2022, I met with my Finnish Defence Counterpart, Mr. Antti Kaikkonen, in Helsinki. This meeting was one of a number of meetings which took place during my visit to Finland and Sweden in my capacity as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence. Discussions with Minister Kaikkonen were dominated by the situation in Ukraine and the continuing illegal war which is causing extraordinary...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Prison Service (14 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: I am unable to comment on the pay of medical practitioners in the Prison Service. The Government remains fully committed to addressing pay and conditions across the Defence Forces, however. The current public service pay agreement, ‘Building Momentum – A New Public Service Agreement 2021 – 2022’, provides for increases in pay and allowances to all public servants,...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (2 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: In October 2021, the Passport Service established a temporary phone line to respond to Oireachtas Members' queries on urgent passport cases. I am aware that many Deputies are receiving a large number of passport queries from constituents due to the continued high demand for passports. Since last week, the number of staff on the Oireachtas Urgent Query Service...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Radon Gas Levels (2 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: Following the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report of last week, my Department noted that one of our offices is located in a high risk radon area. Accordingly, my Department is taking immediate steps to ensure that radon testing is undertaken both in that office and all of our home offices , in accordance with EPA requirements and our commitment to staff wellbeing and the...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (2 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 236 and 259 together. With regard to the specific applications about which the Deputy has enquired, the Passport Service has provided an update to the applicant as to the steps they must take to progress their passport application.

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (2 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 237, 240, 241, 245 and 249 together. With regard to the specific applications about which the Deputies have enquired, the Passport Service has issued passports to the applicants.

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (2 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 238, 239, 242, 243, 244, 246, 248, 250, 253 and 254 together. With regard to the specific applications about which the Deputies have enquired, the Passport Service has provided an update on the status of the passport application to the applicant.

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (2 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: With regard to the specific application about which the Deputy has enquired, the Passport Service has reviewed the application and it is being processed within the current average turnaround times. The Passport Service has provided a status update to the applicant.

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (2 Jun 2022)

Simon Coveney: The Passport Service requires a number of supporting documents for first time applications to validate the applicant’s identity as well as to establish their entitlement to Irish citizenship. For first time applicants who have been granted Irish citizenship through naturalisation, the Passport Service requests the applicant’s original passport from their country of birth as part...