Results 8,321-8,340 of 18,325 for speaker:Brendan Smith

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Review of Foreign Policy and External Relations: Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (26 Feb 2014)

Brendan Smith: Unfortunately, there were more incomplete issues than I believed.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Review of Foreign Policy and External Relations: Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (26 Feb 2014)

Brendan Smith: I welcome the Minister of State's statement. I will be very brief because I already had the opportunity to contribute at the meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade which the Tánaiste attended and through parliamentary questions, as the Minister of State knows. I refer to the need to include in our policy the development of an all-Ireland framework. The...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (25 Feb 2014)

Brendan Smith: 125. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills in view of the submission by school management and professional bodies to his Department on the need for an external assessment model to support the process of school-based assessment in the Junior Cycle Framework, if he will be proposing a model of external assessment; if he will provide information regarding same; and if he will make a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (25 Feb 2014)

Brendan Smith: 139. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills in view of the submission by school management and professional bodies to his Department on the resources needed for the successful implementation of the new Junior Cycle Framework, if he will consider lifting the moratorium on posts of responsibility in order that schools can appoint appropriate personnel to educational leadership posts,...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Foreign Conflicts (25 Feb 2014)

Brendan Smith: 169. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide an update on the outcome of discussions at the recent EU Foreign Affairs Council in relation to the serious unrest in Ukraine; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9662/14]

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Human Rights Issues (25 Feb 2014)

Brendan Smith: 168. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on the UN Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea; if he will raise these very serious findings at the next EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9661/14]

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Northern Ireland Issues (20 Feb 2014)

Brendan Smith: 45. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he has had any recent discussion with the Northern Ireland Secretary of State and with members of the Northern Ireland Executive in relation to the proposed Bill of rights; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8804/14]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Credit Unions (20 Feb 2014)

Brendan Smith: 62. To ask the Minister for Finance the position regarding a credit union (details supplied) which is not being allowed to hold an annual general meeting for the second year in a row as a result of the Central Bank of Ireland refusing to accept the credit union’s auditor’s value in use of the credit union’s building; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Water and Sewerage Schemes Provision (20 Feb 2014)

Brendan Smith: 170. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the position regarding a proposal by Monaghan County Council (details supplied); if urgent consideration will be given to the finalisation of this application and the approval of funding for this particular project which is long awaited; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8803/14]

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Water and Sewerage Schemes Provision (20 Feb 2014)

Brendan Smith: 177. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the position regarding a proposal by Monaghan County Council (details supplied); if urgent consideration will be given to the finalisation of this application and the approval of funding for this particular project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8878/14]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Disability Support Services Provision (20 Feb 2014)

Brendan Smith: 244. To ask the Minister for Health if services for young adults with special needs in the Kingscourt area, County Cavan will be provided in County Cavan as was the case up to late 2013 (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8865/14]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Housing in Developing Countries: Habitat for Humanity (19 Feb 2014)

Brendan Smith: I welcome the contributions and I compliment Habitat for Humanity on its work in many deprived communities. The figure of 1.6 billion people living in inadequate accommodation - to put it mildly - is a frightening statistic. The other statistic often quoted is that 1 billion people go to bed hungry every night. These two statistics are really a terrible indictment of the international...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Overseas Development Aid Provision (19 Feb 2014)

Brendan Smith: Like Deputy Seán Crowe, I welcome the recent announcement of the further allocation of funding for Syria and the adjoining region. I take the opportunity to emphasise again the need for assistance for the region, although I fully understand there are many competing demands. Am I correct in thinking the Minister of State said the percentage of GNP spent this year on overseas development...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Overseas Development Aid Provision (19 Feb 2014)

Brendan Smith: The measurement of our overseas development aid is dependent on national income. There are always competing demands, even in good times, for increased expenditure and we must manage expectations in other areas in which there is public expenditure. I appeal to the Minister of State in this regard. Is the percentage based on national income? I would prefer if the Minister of State were more...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Overseas Development Aid Provision (19 Feb 2014)

Brendan Smith: 4. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his Department’s strategy in achieving the 0.7% GNP target for overseas development aid by 2015 as outlined in the Programme for Government 2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8252/14]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Overseas Development Aid Provision (19 Feb 2014)

Brendan Smith: The policy on international development, One World One Future, is a good strategy and, as the Minister of State, Deputy Joe Costello, stated at a meeting of the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade to discuss the Department's Estimates, builds on the 2006 White Paper on Irish Aid, rightly emphasising the importance of development co-operation as a central feature of our foreign...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Dublin-Monaghan Bombings (19 Feb 2014)

Brendan Smith: 1. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the recent discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Secretary of State or British Foreign Secretary in relation to the motions passed unanimously by Dáil Éireann requesting the British Government to release the papers and-or files pertaining to the Dublin-Monaghan bombings of 1974; and if he will make a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Dublin-Monaghan Bombings (19 Feb 2014)

Brendan Smith: The Dublin-Monaghan bombings of 17 May 1974 resulted in the death of 33 civilians and the wounding of almost 300 people, the highest number of casualties in any one day during the conflict known as the Troubles. The loyalist paramilitary group, the UVF, claimed responsibility for the bombings. There are various credible allegations that elements of British security forces colluded with the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Dublin-Monaghan Bombings (19 Feb 2014)

Brendan Smith: I thank the Tánaiste for his reply. Would he agree that the motions put forward and unanimously endorsed by all in this House in 2008 and 2011 requesting the British Government to allow access by an independent international judicial figure to all original documentation held by the British Government relating to the atrocities that occurred in this jurisdiction, and which were inquired...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Dublin-Monaghan Bombings (19 Feb 2014)

Brendan Smith: I welcome the Tánaiste's comments. Would he agree that the Justice for the Forgotten, in particular Margaret Urwin and Anne Cadwallader, are doing excellent work in campaigning for truth and justice for the victims of the Dublin-Monaghan bombings and other atrocities, some of which occurred in my own constituency? It behoves all of us, coming up to the 40th anniversary of those...