Results 4,221-4,240 of 15,491 for speaker:Eamon Gilmore

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Irish Language (17 Oct 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: All parties to the Good Friday Agreement recognised the importance of respect, understanding and tolerance in relation to linguistic diversity, including in Northern Ireland, the Irish language and the languages of the various ethnic communities, as part of the cultural wealth of the island of Ireland. In the St Andrews Agreement, the British government committed to introducing an...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: EU Presidency Expenditure (17 Oct 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: Our forthcoming EU Presidency is an excellent opportunity to foster closer North-South links across a wide number of areas of cooperation. This will be the first time that Ireland has held the Presidency of the EU during a time when the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement are fully operational. As such, this is a unique opportunity to deepen our cooperation with the Executive, and...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Foreign Conflicts (17 Oct 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: I propose to take Questions Nos. 13 and 59 together. The people of Syria have been devastated by eighteen months of brutal violence. The numbers are horrifying – more than 19,000 killed in the violence, 2.5 million people in Syria in desperate need of assistance, over 1.2 million Syrians displaced within their own country and over quarter of a million Syrians now refugees in...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: State Visits (17 Oct 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: President Michael D. Higgins, accompanied by Mr Joe Costello T.D., the Minister of State at my Department with responsibility for Trade and Development, recently concluded an official visit to Chile, Brazil and Argentina. The visit provided a valuable opportunity to build upon existing links with these three countries. The busy schedule included comprehensive meetings with the Presidents of...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Middle East Peace Process (17 Oct 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: Ireland has consistently stressed that conditions in Gaza are already intolerable, that problems in areas such as education, sewage and drinking water are progressively worsening, and that these conditions, allied to a growing young population and huge unemployment, are creating textbook conditions for militant groups to flourish and recruit. The recent UN report ‘Gaza in 2020’...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Diplomatic Representation (17 Oct 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: Ireland’s diplomatic network includes 56 Embassies, 7 multilateral Missions and 10 Consulates General and other offices overseas. In addition to their country of primary accreditation, many Ambassadors are also accredited to additional countries on a non-resident basis which enhances the cost-effectiveness of our external representation. Our missions abroad perform a wide range of...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: The Gathering (17 Oct 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: The inclusion of tourism, as well as trade and investment, in the Government’s Trade Strategy, is a recognition that tourism, as a labour-intensive sector, has a very strong role to play in employment creation and in economic recovery. My Department has always played an important and active role in promoting Ireland as a tourist destination, in particular through our Embassy Network,...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Northern Ireland Marching Season (17 Oct 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: This summer’s parades in Northern Ireland were once again marred by outbreaks of violence, most significantly in North Belfast where there were serious disturbances in the Ardoyne on 12 July and in the Carrick Hill/Carlisle Circus area over several evenings in late August and early September. Such violence is totally unacceptable. The disturbances in Carrick Hill/Carlisle Circus...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: World Trade Negotiations (17 Oct 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: Since 2002, the EU has been negotiating a series of new Economic Partnership Agreements with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States. The Agreements are required as a result of World Trade Organisation (WTO) rulings that the unilateral trade preferences previously granted to the ACP countries established unfair discrimination between developing countries. The negotiations have been...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Overseas Development Aid (17 Oct 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: My colleague, the Minister of State for Trade and Development, Mr Joe Costello T.D., visited Washington in September and held discussions with senior officials from the World Bank. Ireland works closely with the World Bank through the Department of Finance and through the Government’s aid programme, Irish Aid, which is managed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Middle East Peace Process (17 Oct 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: External trade policy and controls are an EU competence, not a national one. And most or all settlement produce (which is probably a very small volume) reaches us as imports from other EU countries. A ban on importation can therefore only be enacted at EU level. In relation to the possibility of such a ban at EU level, I refer the Deputy to my reply to Priority Question 4 today on this...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Consular Services (17 Oct 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: As the Deputy will appreciate, there are three parts to his question which I will answer accordingly. Firstly, the issue of encroachment on the land of the Masai people by safari companies. Ireland has been to the fore in highlighting the challenges facing pastoral communities such as the Masai people, the violation of their human rights and the need to find sustainable solutions to land...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Human Rights Issues (17 Oct 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: I propose to take Questions Nos. 23 and 38 together. The Government has made clear its concerns on this case at every opportunity to the Bahraini authorities. We have repeatedly raised this case with the Bahraini Ambassador in London and through our Ambassador in Riyadh who is accredited to Bahrain. Officials in my Department again conveyed our strong concerns to the Bahraini authorities...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Undocumented Irish in the USA (17 Oct 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: I propose to take Questions Nos. 24 and 61 together. The welfare of the Irish abroad is a very important priority for the Government. There are particular concerns in the United States where addressing the position of the undocumented Irish and reforming our migration arrangements are priorities for the Government in its contacts with the US Administration and Congress. The...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Foreign Conflicts (17 Oct 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: I propose to take Questions Nos. 25 and 63 together. In his address to the UN General Assembly on 25 September last, President Obama said: “America wants to resolve this issue through diplomacy, and we believe that there is still time and space to do so. But that time is not unlimited.” This is consistent with the serious, patient and protracted efforts of the United States...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Foreign Conflicts (17 Oct 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: During my visit to the UN General Assembly in New York last month, I met with the UN Secretary General on 29 September for a wide-ranging discussion which covered also the crisis in Syria. SG Ban and I reviewed the current disheartening situation on the ground in Syria, with mounting casualties now estimated at well over 20,000 people killed in the past twenty months. We agreed that it was...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: EU Enlargement (17 Oct 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: I held discussions with the Serbian Foreign Minister, Mr Ivan Mrkič, in New York on 27 September, during which the issue of Serbia’s EU perspective was touched on, particularly in the context of the requirement for a visible and sustainable improvement of relations with Kosovo. I confirmed that we were looking forward to working with Serbia during our six-month Presidency. On...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: EU Presidency Expenditure (17 Oct 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: I and other members of the Government are committed to using Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the EU to tackle the greatest challenge facing citizens across the EU today which is to create jobs by stimulating economic growth. This will be the major overarching theme of the Irish EU Presidency. Over the past 20 years the Single Market has boosted Irish exports and created...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Middle East Peace Process (17 Oct 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: There is growing concern about this issue within the EU. Some 82 projects which have received funding from the EU or its member States have been damaged or entirely destroyed by Israeli actions in this period, with damage estimated at €30 million. While I am not aware of any Irish-funded work which was destroyed, some of the projects had been funded by the Humanitarian Response Fund,...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Trade Mission Numbers (17 Oct 2012)

Eamon Gilmore: Proposals for Trade Missions to be led at Ministerial level in 2012 were submitted by Enterprise Ireland last December simultaneously to the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and to me for consideration and approval. The agreed programme for this year was presented to the Export Trade Council at its 16 February meeting. It is still too early to discuss the EI programme of Trade...