Results 3,801-3,820 of 47,419 for speaker:Simon Harris

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Jun 2024)

Simon Harris: I will meet them. I will not be able to meet them tomorrow, so I do not want to mislead them, but if the Deputy wants to contact my office, I am happy to arrange to meet them with him and other Oireachtas colleagues from Cavan-Monaghan. I am aware of the issues that the Deputy and other Deputies have raised in the House. Perhaps I will ask the relevant Ministers to attend as well. We...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Jun 2024)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Stanton very much for raising this important issue. The Government remains very supportive of free trade and free trade agreements. Obviously, the Government needs to reflect on the court’s ruling. I will ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Peter Burke, to revert to the Deputy directly in terms of timelines, as I am not across that matter.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Jun 2024)

Simon Harris: I instinctively agree with the Deputy. I know this causes a lot of issues in many constituencies and counties, including my own, where there is someone who is willing and able to drive the bus but is told that, because of an arbitrary age on his or her birth certificate, he or she cannot drive the bus. It is offensive to those individuals and is problematic for our constituents who are...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Jun 2024)

Simon Harris: My thanks to Deputy Shanahan for raising the issues in respect of University Hospital Waterford. My understanding is that 96 additional beds have been announced in the past three years for the hospital, and rightly so. They are needed in Waterford and the wider south east. Specifically regarding the stroke issue the Deputy raised, I will raise it with the Minister for Health. I will...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Jun 2024)

Simon Harris: As is perhaps fitting from a Green Party Deputy, that was the most accurate tribute I have heard to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan. He is a good politician and an even better man. That is certainly my experience. I am conscious that today is a difficult and challenging day for the Green Party – it always is when there are moments of transition – and I wish the Deputy and his...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Jun 2024)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Cairns for her kind words for the Minister, Deputy Ryan, and I congratulate her on her own good news. I know everyone in this House is genuinely delighted for her and for Barry and we wish them all the very best. It is nice to have good news in this place too. I thank her for raising the very important issue relating to the Women’s Aid report and the work relating...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Jun 2024)

Simon Harris: I will be able to very shortly and will be happy to tell the Deputy once I have received a final submission on the issue. My Department, for legacy reasons, as it were, has a role in bringing this project forward. I intend to bring a memorandum to the Government on it very shortly. Once I have brought that final memorandum to the Government and it has made a decision, I will be happy to...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Jun 2024)

Simon Harris: That is my hope.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Jun 2024)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Canney for raising the matter and for his kind words for the Minister, Deputy Ryan, which I am sure he will appreciate. I acknowledge that the Deputy has been pursuing the issue of the western rail corridor and the all-island rail review for some time and we discussed it recently when I became Taoiseach. My colleague, the Minister, Deputy Ryan, is due to bring a memorandum...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Jun 2024)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for his words of tribute to the Minister, Deputy Ryan. I think many could learn from his courteous and civil approach to politics -----

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Jun 2024)

Simon Harris: -----in this House and indeed outside this House as well.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Jun 2024)

Simon Harris: There are many lessons that could be learned from him in that regard. I thank the Deputy for his words about Cara Darmody. I met her as a Minister, not as the Taoiseach. She highlighted a number of things to me then and some of those, I believe, we have made progress on. I look forward to meeting her again on Thursday.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Jun 2024)

Simon Harris: The first thing I will do is familiarise myself with that task force report. I appreciate that a lot of work has been done since then but I will familiarise myself with that. We do need to come at this from all angles. There is, of course, a criminal justice element to this. A lot of good legislation has been passed through these Houses on that. The establishment of the agency is...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Jun 2024)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Smyth for raising with me the issues that were raised in Killygarry, County Cavan last night in respect of these battery energy storage systems. In fairness to her constituents and the important issues, were the Deputy to provide me with a note of those three asks, I would co-ordinate a response across the Government and see if we can establish information for her constituents...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Jun 2024)

Simon Harris: I met Cara and her father, Mark, briefly this morning when I came back from Brussels. I met them in the courtyard of Government Buildings before the Cabinet meeting. I will formally and properly meet Cara this week with, I hope, other relevant Ministers as well. I have here her letter, which she gave me this morning. She is an incredible young person. We have taken a number of steps...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Jun 2024)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Nash. We are having a meeting of the Cabinet committee on health in early July, I believe, and I look forward to seeing whether we can bring progress to that issue of the pay and numbers strategy there because discussions are ongoing between the HSE and the Department of Health. However, there is broad agreement in relation to the pay and numbers strategy. The Minister has...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Jun 2024)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputies. First, in respect of Deputy Bacik's point, I am not sure this always come across in our domestic debates on European positions but four posts are currently being considered in Europe - the European Parliament President, the President of the Council, the President of the Commission and the High Representative for foreign affairs - and the different political groupings at...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Jun 2024)

Simon Harris: How many times do you want to speak on it? Are you voting against the arrangement to allow every Deputy to speak on it?

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Jun 2024)

Simon Harris: There is a serious misrepresentation of the views of President von der Leyen by some in this country. Some have done so for political gain during the European elections. I attended the European Council last night with 26 other prime ministers and presidents. I have not heard any country within the European Union actively propose another name for President of the Commission. While...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Jun 2024)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I spoke yesterday to President Biden and I spoke specifically on behalf of Ireland about the importance of an immediate ceasefire. The president agreed that there was a need for a two-state solution. I think he said that in his read-out of the call. My question to everybody is what more can we do to bring about the circumstances where a ceasefire...