Results 21-40 of 4,902 for speaker:Neale Richmond

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Environmental Investigations (5 Nov 2025)

Neale Richmond: The Department of Climate, Energy and Environment, on behalf of which I am taking matter, is responsible for setting the policy and legislative framework within which the key environmental regulators discharge their functions, including the agency with regard to the environmental licensing of large industrial installations. The Minister for Climate, Energy and Environment, Deputy...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Social Welfare Benefits (5 Nov 2025)

Neale Richmond: I thank the Senator for his extremely emotive and clear advocacy in his contribution. The telephone support allowance is a weekly payment of €2.50 for people on certain social welfare payments who are getting both the living alone increase and the fuel allowance. The primary objective of the telephone support allowance is to support access to critical communications infrastructure...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Social Welfare Benefits (5 Nov 2025)

Neale Richmond: I agree with the Senator that we need to ensure that older people are not left behind in an increasingly digital world. In this regard, I commit that the Government will not be found wanting. The Senator rightly cites and commends the volunteers of ALONE. It is a brilliant organisation to which we are all indebted. As previously outlined, the Department of Social Protection provides...

Committee on European Union Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals: Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (5 Nov 2025)

Neale Richmond: Go raibh maith agat, Leas-Chathaoirleach, and I am very grateful to him and the members of the committee for giving me the opportunity to engage with the joint committee on the implementation of the SDGs internationally. Ireland is proud of our long and ongoing commitment to the SDGs. The committee will be aware that, in 2015, together with Kenya, Ireland played a leading role in building...

Committee on European Union Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals: Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (5 Nov 2025)

Neale Richmond: Go raibh maith agat, Deputy Murphy. We were going to take questions in a row.

Committee on European Union Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals: Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (5 Nov 2025)

Neale Richmond: That is brilliant.

Committee on European Union Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals: Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (5 Nov 2025)

Neale Richmond: There are a couple of questions I am going to focus on, and they relate to each other. The first and most important question, from Deputy Murphy, was about why we spend money on ODA. ODA is, crucially, an investment from the Irish Government. In this budget, we have managed to agree on an allocation of €840.3 million, the highest it has ever been since Irish Aid was created by the...

Committee on European Union Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals: Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (5 Nov 2025)

Neale Richmond: When it comes to Sudan in particular, let us not beat around the bush. This is the worst humanitarian situation in the world at the moment. The level of forced displacement is beyond comprehension. The level of deprivation and the level of violence is absolutely vicious. We saw that just ten days ago when the siege of El Fasher was completed, with very deadly consequences. Ireland is...

Committee on European Union Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals: Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (5 Nov 2025)

Neale Richmond: I am grateful to all members for their questions. I will group some of them, but I would like to start, if I may, by responding to Deputy Crowe's specific points because they are apt and follow on succinctly from the points made by Deputy Michael Murphy. It is clear. First and foremost, the work of Irish Aid is subject to a series of external and internal independent audits and we make...

Committee on European Union Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals: Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (5 Nov 2025)

Neale Richmond: I am sorry.

Committee on European Union Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals: Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (5 Nov 2025)

Neale Richmond: Go raibh maith agat. I compliment the members of the committee because all of the issues that have been raised are European issues. Let us not forget that. We may be talking about matters in Sudan, Afghanistan or Gaza but there is an EU lens to all of this. That is crucial ahead of Ireland taking up the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. In relation to Deputy Gogarty's...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Humanitarian Aid (5 Nov 2025)

Neale Richmond: Sudan is now the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with nearly 12 million people forcibly displaced and over 20 million people facing crisis levels of hunger, in what is a preventable crisis. Ireland has provided substantial amounts of humanitarian assistance in responding to the crisis. In 2025, we have provided €14.3 million through UN agencies, and Irish and...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Referendum Campaigns (4 Nov 2025)

Neale Richmond: A Private Members Bill on Extending Voting Rights in Presidential Elections to citizens in Northern Ireland and the diaspora was debated in Dáil Éireann on 24 May. The Government did not oppose the motion. As was noted during the debate, extending voting rights to citizens outside this jurisdiction would require a referendum and the Government continues to reflect on the matter.

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Departmental Funding (4 Nov 2025)

Neale Richmond: The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade provides funding to a range of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) through a series of grant schemes dedicated to delivering on the Government's priorities at home and abroad. These include supports for international development, development education in Ireland, reconciliation on the island of Ireland, emigrant support, disseminating information...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Foreign Policy (4 Nov 2025)

Neale Richmond: Ireland's international development programme, based on our policy, A Better World, is having a transformative impact on the lives of millions of people who are furthest behind, in over 130 countries. The Irish Aid Civil Society Partnership, which provides multi-annual funding to Irish NGOs working on development and humanitarian assistance, reached 4.2 million people in 2024 alone. ...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Diaspora Issues (4 Nov 2025)

Neale Richmond: Under Global Ireland 2025, we have opened 25 new embassies or consulates general around the world from Wellington to Vancouver. Two new consulates general will become operational in 2026, in Malaga and Melbourne. A key priority for all our missions is to develop, deepen and modernise our engagement with the diaspora. This work is underpinned by the Emigrant Support Programme, which is...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: International Relations (22 Oct 2025)

Neale Richmond: Ireland has had diplomatic relations with Sudan since 1984, with accreditation changing from our Embassy in Cairo to the Embassy in Nairobi in 2016. A Sudanese Embassy was established in Dublin in 2016. The most recently accredited Ambassador of Sudan to Ireland departed in 2023, with a Chargé d’Affaires ad interim currently in post. On 20 October, the EU Foreign Affairs...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: International Relations (22 Oct 2025)

Neale Richmond: I am aware of the report to which the Deputy refers. We remain deeply concerned by the devastating conflict in Sudan, which has led to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. More than 150,000 people have already been killed and some 12 million people forcibly displaced. The Government is gravely concerned by reports that arms continue to reach parties to the conflict, despite...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Ukraine War (21 Oct 2025)

Neale Richmond: I am grateful to Deputies O'Meara and Lahart for raising this very timely issue. Ireland condemns Russia’s escalation of large-scale aerial attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. In recent weeks, Russia has launched thousands of drone and missile attacks into Ukraine, some of which have been the largest aerial attacks since the start of the war, resulting in high numbers of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Ukraine War (21 Oct 2025)

Neale Richmond: Another figure that the Ukrainian ambassador cited was that 1,000 drones are being built every day in Russia. Those drones are not being used for delivering a cup of coffee or medicine, we all know that, stark as it is. The sanctions package is very interesting. An Irishman, David O'Sullivan, has the EU responsibility of monitoring sanctions and seeing how they impact. I attended a...