Results 661-680 of 34,832 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Supplementary)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

Seán Fleming: We will have a list of the grants we are paying out this year, which we will shortly supply it to the committee. The Covid fund was mainly for staff in the Passport Office. That is where we have the largest concentration of Department of Foreign Affairs staff. We had them working at home for a period, but we are now bringing people back. Staffing in the Passport Office was the main area...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Supplementary)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

Seán Fleming: I thank the Chair for his very good comments and remarks. He mentioned his visit to Morocco and that he found great acknowledgement and appreciation of the effort Ireland has made. It is good to hear that being said here at home. He also mentioned the great work by Ambassador McIntyre out there. Our mission is to increase the number of embassies we have around the world. The most...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Supplementary)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

Seán Fleming: I am sorry. I missed that question. I was distracted.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Supplementary)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

Seán Fleming: There is a development in regard to MLAs in Northern Ireland having access, similar to Oireachtas Members, for public representatives.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Supplementary)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

Seán Fleming: Yes, it is a very good system. I personally visited the call centre in Limerick last year and the calls were coming in at a rate of knots. While I was there, the clock was showing queries increasing and there was a separate facility on the screens showing queries coming in from public representatives. The centre was very active. In 95% of cases where there are difficulties, it is always...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Supplementary)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

Seán Fleming: Yes. The renewals are outstanding. There are no plans to open other offices. People have asked for other areas to be considered as well but new offices are not required given that more than 90% of people are doing it online. Three years ago, the footfall was high but that has fallen away now. There are no immediate plans for a new office. We think the system has improved by leaps and...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Supplementary)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

Seán Fleming: Initially, we rent in nearly every place because it is the quickest way of getting in and we can see if the premises are suitable. Ultimately, we like to purchase more because it is better in the long term. We have had a good discussion in Washington. It may mean selling the old building in due course if it is no longer of suitable scale or fit for purpose. We are involved in 177 premises...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Supplementary)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

Seán Fleming: The reason it is coming from Vote 27 is the vast majority of funding we spend in Colombia goes through Vote 27 and that is why the funding for the premises there would tend to come from that. I have been in some of the countries I have been privileged to visit in Africa this year. I found the majority of embassy staff are directly involved in the projects on the ground. In some countries,...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Supplementary)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

Seán Fleming: I take the point that you have to have knowledge in an area before you can deal with the area. As stated previously, the funding is directed exclusively to non-lethal support in line with the programme for Government, and to supply medical equipment, food, personal protective equipment and fuel. Through the European Union Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine, the Defence Forces...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Supplementary)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

Seán Fleming: I think I am making it clear what our funding is directed to.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Supplementary)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

Seán Fleming: That is a case that is ongoing for some time and I did not bring a note for the Supplementary Estimate on that topic. We will send an information note to the committee.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Supplementary)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

Seán Fleming: We will address that in the note we send back.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Supplementary)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

Seán Fleming: The note to the committee will cover that. I do not have detailed information on that to hand.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Supplementary)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

Seán Fleming: I appreciate the points the Deputy makes. On the €2 million requested for the International Fund for Ireland, that is a fund and other countries contribute to it. We expect the programme costs will amount to approximately €20 million during the term of the strategy, which runs to 2025. There is a call for further funding just now, as opposed to next year. It is a matter of...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Supplementary)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

Seán Fleming: In all of our visits abroad, we meet people from both sides of the equation and it works both ways. Even though we schedule meetings with diaspora groups, Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland regularly ask us in the Department to meet Irish businesses that want to do business in the countries we are visiting. IDA Ireland also asks us to meet its clients that are interested in investing back...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Humanitarian Aid (28 Nov 2023)

Seán Fleming: I propose to take Questions Nos. 97, 98 and 99 together. We are deeply concerned by the severe humanitarian and human rights crisis in Sudan caused by the ongoing conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Since the conflict began in April, over 6.2 million people have fled their homes and nearly 25 million people, half of the population, are in...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Middle East (28 Nov 2023)

Seán Fleming: Ireland's long-standing development and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been provided as an integral part of our contribution to the achievement of a just, enduring and stable peace based on a two-State solution. So far this year, we have provided a total of €29 million in development and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people this year. The focus...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Programmes (28 Nov 2023)

Seán Fleming: 676. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development when a decision will be announced in respect of a programme (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51873/23]

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Supplementary)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

Seán Fleming: As I mentioned, the amount involved would not be major and we still continue to support the Palestinian people and to provide funds rather than being in a position to deduct or recover some of the funds we provide. As I said, we do not have powers of enforcement. Our position is clear but we do not want that to get in the way of providing the aid we provide on an ongoing basis. We do not...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Supplementary)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

Seán Fleming: Those are two separate issues that should not be conflated. That is all I am saying.