Results 5,021-5,040 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Recent Meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council and the UN Security Council: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (9 Nov 2021)

Simon Coveney: It is good to be back in meetings in person, and I look forward to many more sessions on the issues that will be raised today. I thank the committee for the invitation to the meeting. I will say a few words at the outset on a selection of significant issues which have featured on the agendas of the EU Foreign Affairs Council and the UN Security Council since I met the committee to discuss...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Recent Meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council and the UN Security Council: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (9 Nov 2021)

Simon Coveney: I might come back to that question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Recent Meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council and the UN Security Council: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (9 Nov 2021)

Simon Coveney: I will respond to the question from Deputy Gannon first, because it was specific. In that regard, I met with the Jewish community in Ireland on this issue. For me, if Ireland is to be credible and effective internationally in respect of being critical of the policy of the Israeli Government towards Palestinians, then we must be clear concerning how that is seen and interpreted by other...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Recent Meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council and the UN Security Council: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (9 Nov 2021)

Simon Coveney: Sorry, I was asked a question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Recent Meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council and the UN Security Council: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (9 Nov 2021)

Simon Coveney: No, I am not-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Recent Meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council and the UN Security Council: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (9 Nov 2021)

Simon Coveney: I did not quote what the Deputy said.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Recent Meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council and the UN Security Council: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (9 Nov 2021)

Simon Coveney: The point I am making is I would like Ireland to be an influential country in this space. I visited Israel and Palestine for the fifth time in four years last week. Had it not been for Covid, I probably would have been there for the eighth time. I am investing on behalf of the members, because I know many people in this room and in the Dáil and Seanad care deeply about this issue. I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Recent Meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council and the UN Security Council: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (9 Nov 2021)

Simon Coveney: To be honest, I am not sure the Irish Government will be able to influence banks in either Israel or Palestine. We have spoken and will continue to speak directly to the two organisations involved to understand how we can be helpful in practice, in terms of protecting the work they do. That includes how they are financed. Being designated as illegal because of links to terrorism is very...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Recent Meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council and the UN Security Council: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (9 Nov 2021)

Simon Coveney: The Deputy has asked a question and I have answered it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Recent Meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council and the UN Security Council: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (9 Nov 2021)

Simon Coveney: The Deputy has asked a question and I have answered it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Recent Meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council and the UN Security Council: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (9 Nov 2021)

Simon Coveney: I hear what the Deputy is saying but I also believe the ambassador made a clear distinction between the two things. I will come to Brexit last because I would like to deal with Belarus and the Richard O'Halloran case first. On Belarus, we are very much involved in the discussion, as the committee would expect. Irish people have solidarity with the plight of Belarusian people and what...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Recent Meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council and the UN Security Council: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (9 Nov 2021)

Simon Coveney: Which resolution?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Recent Meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council and the UN Security Council: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (9 Nov 2021)

Simon Coveney: It is on climate.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Recent Meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council and the UN Security Council: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (9 Nov 2021)

Simon Coveney: I will respond to Senator Joe O'Reilly's questions. He spoke on Afghanistan. I will follow up on what the Chair has just said and give an update on the number of Irish citizens, as well as Irish residents who may be Afghan citizens still in Afghanistan but who want to come home. So far, 106 Irish citizens, that is, Irish passport-holders, have managed to get out. We have helped them do...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Recent Meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council and the UN Security Council: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (9 Nov 2021)

Simon Coveney: I am aware of the Palestinian prisoners currently engaged in a hunger strike, including the concerns raised by the International Committee of the Red Cross regarding the health of two detainees. I also note the statement from the UN special rapporteur on 21 October, calling on Israel to either release or charge the prisoners and to completely end the practice of administrative detention....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Recent Meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council and the UN Security Council: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (9 Nov 2021)

Simon Coveney: Ireland is all for reform of the Security Council. We would like to see the veto either not used or limited to use in specific areas. France, in particular, has made efforts to try to limit the use of the veto in certain areas, especially in respect of war crimes, accusations of war crimes and when humanitarian law is being breached, by the use of chemical weapons, for example. The idea...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Recent Meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council and the UN Security Council: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (9 Nov 2021)

Simon Coveney: The international community is trying but it has limited leverage with the Taliban, to tell the truth. Of course, we want to advocate for a more inclusive government, and we are doing so. We want to advocate for women's rights and particularly the rights of girls in terms of education and employment and so on, and we are doing so. However, are we being successful in protecting women's...