Results 61-80 of 45,231 for speaker:Simon Harris

Written Answers — Department of Defence: United Nations (8 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: To answer the Deputy's question, the Defence (Amendment) Act 2006 primarily concerned the authorisation of the despatch of contingents or members of the Permanent Defence Force for service outside the state, under a range of duties including as part of an International United Nations Force, as sanctioned by a resolution of the Security Council or the General Assembly of the United Nations. ...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (8 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 270 and 271 together. I am advised by the military authorities that as at 28 February 2025, the latest date for which such figures are available, the whole time equivalent strength of female personnel in the Permanent Defence Force (PDF) stood at 565 or 7.5% of the total strength of 7,502 personnel. In line with current policies and commitments, a number...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Departmental Properties (8 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: There are no vacant or derelict buildings owned by my Department in the area referred to by the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Departmental Meetings (8 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: The Gender Recognition Act comes under the remit of my colleague, the Minister for Social Protection. I am advised that the report of the Review Group for the Gender Recognition Act included a recommendation that legal recognition should be made available to people who are non-binary. This recommendation will, in part, be informed by an impact assessment on existing legislation that would...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (3 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for bringing this situation to my attention. It must be a very stressful time for Filip, his mother Kasia and the family, made all the more stressful by this confusion, to put it mildly. I suggest that the Deputy, with the family's permission, send the details to my office and I will link with the Minister for Health and the head of the HSE and l ask that they provide...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (3 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for the important question. I will ask the Minister with responsibility for older people to meet her to discuss what more can be done. We are spending more on home support now than ever before. The home support budget for this year is the largest ever at €840 million, delivering more than 24 million hours of home support to more than 60,000 people at any one...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (3 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy and I join him in thanking Colin Dempsey for his work on this project and bringing it to the Deputy's attention, and the Deputy, in turn, bringing it to the attention of the Dáil. He is right that everyone wants to see an efficient public transport system but other issues also matter. Safety and inclusion also matter. As we go about out daily lives, all of us want...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (3 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy. I do indeed know Carnew well as I represented it until the Electoral Commission took it off me. I am sure it is well represented now. Regarding IPAS centres, I am not familiar with that one. It is always important that communities are informed. However, I am also very proud to live in a county that has welcomed so many people from migrant communities and people...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (3 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: The Deputy is right. Survivors should never read that information third-hand or in the media. The Minister, Deputy Foley, shares that view. I will speak to her about what can be done to update the survivors directly and to apologise for any way in which that information has been disseminated and put into the public domain in a way that is not sensitive to the survivors and does not attach...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (3 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising the issue and I thank Mick Finnegan for his incredible advocacy on this issue. He has been in Leinster House on many occasions because of his advocacy work. I sincerely thank him for that. I will speak directly to the Minister involved and I will come back to the Deputy.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (3 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I take those parents extraordinarily seriously. Parents are busy and have a lot going on, particularly parents of a child with special needs. To come and sleep out at the Dáil shows the sense of real frustration, worry and concern they feel right now. Some 369 of the 400 classes for next September have been sanctioned as of...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (3 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for the ongoing work he has done to promote closer relations and engagement throughout this island. Of course, he is right. The Good Friday Agreement committed to facilitating a number of initiatives, including the widespread availability of TG4 in Northern Ireland. I will certainly raise that issue, the issue of BBC Radio Ulster and all the other issues the Deputy has...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (3 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. He is right. We are in a phase now when it comes to trade policy and our economy where we have got to keep influencing what we can influence, including the United States and the EU but we also have to control what we can control. As to what we can control, we can help companies diversify and help open up new markets throughout the world to Irish...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (3 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I agree with him that we need to continue to invest in the bases for our ambulance service. I will certainly seek an update from the Minister for Health on the plan for the new ambulance base at the Tipperary hospital in Clonmel. My understanding from conversations I have had is that the Minister hopes to bring forward the HSE capital plan this...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (3 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I like "páistecare"; it is a good way of putting it. What emerged during the election period is that while all parties had different areas of focus, they all said that something significant needs to happen on childcare. I take the point, and while it is not for me to tell committees how to do their work, but as they are established, a focus on how we can advance a proper...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (3 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I thank those workers and everybody who works in the Oireachtas complex for the important role they play in how this place and our democracy functions, and the broadcasting of all that to the public. It is not out of any lack of sympathy or respect for the workers and the issues the Deputy raised but this is a matter for the Oireachtas. We have had...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (3 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: The Government will have members on it too, and Government parties certainly take precarity of employment seriously.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (3 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy, and I hear his frustration on behalf of his constituents. My understanding is that in April 2024 a delegation of Cork County Council officials and representatives from the Union Hall Save Our Pier Committee had a meeting with the then Minister and the assistant secretary general for the seafood and marine division in the Department headquarters in Agriculture House. At...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (3 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Indeed, I heard him comment on it publicly this week as well. I first admire his guts in putting forward radical ideas on energy policy. That is worthwhile in this Dáil because energy and security of energy supply is really important for homeowners, businesses and for broader security reasons. The best advice available to me in Government is...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (3 Apr 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. As he rightly said, the National Transport Authority, NTA, has a responsibility for transport planning in the greater Dublin area and the development of the Luas red line extension to serve Poolbeg is currently one of the projects they are giving real consideration to. Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, is the sponsoring agency for the proposed...