Results 8,761-8,780 of 12,596 for speaker:Willie O'Dea
- Bullying in the Workplace. (4 Feb 2009)
Willie O'Dea: I will let the Deputy have the figures for the past four years. All I have with me are the figures for 2007. I remember asking for the figures for 2008, but they do not seem to have arrived. In 2007 there were seven applications for redress of wrongs. Of these, three were not upheld, one was withdrawn and three cases are ongoing. There were four complaints of unacceptable behaviour, one...
- Departmental Staff. (4 Feb 2009)
Willie O'Dea: My Department has nine civil servants serving with a number of different missions abroad as follows: one principal officer based in Brussels whose responsibilities span the delegation of Ireland to the Political and Security Committee and the liaison office of Ireland for Partnership for Peace, who also acts as a representative to European Defence Agency; an assistant principal officer who...
- Departmental Staff. (4 Feb 2009)
Willie O'Dea: From the Permanent Defence Forceââ
- Departmental Staff. (4 Feb 2009)
Willie O'Dea: At the moment it is in excess of 500.
- Departmental Staff. (4 Feb 2009)
Willie O'Dea: I will get that information. The number is small. It is in single figures.
- Departmental Staff. (4 Feb 2009)
Willie O'Dea: There is no immediately plan to do so. However, I will get the number of military personnel, which is very small.
- Departmental Staff. (4 Feb 2009)
Willie O'Dea: I accept that.
- Army Barracks. (4 Feb 2009)
Willie O'Dea: In keeping with the budget announcement last October, the four military posts at Lifford, Rockhill, Monaghan and Longford closed last week with the personnel transferring to Finner, Dundalk and Athlone. I would like to take this opportunity to record my, and the Government's, appreciation of the professional manner in which the closures and transfers were conducted. The military authorities...
- Army Barracks. (4 Feb 2009)
Willie O'Dea: Deputy Deenihan is correct. I gave that commitment and immediately after giving it in the House I spoke to the Army Chief of Staff and his deputy chiefs. I told them if the project could not be completed by 31 January, I would not get too upset. I communicated that to them and they assured me it could be done but that it was a matter for themselves. I admit the situation in Aiken Barracks,...
- Army Barracks. (4 Feb 2009)
Willie O'Dea: I have had no direct complaints from individuals or PDFORRA, their representative organisation. They may have made complaints to the Department or military but certainly have not come to me. The military or Department have not brought these matters directly to my attention. In view of what Deputy Deenihan said, I will ascertain approximately how long the repair works of the new buildings...
- Marine Accidents. (4 Feb 2009)
Willie O'Dea: I propose to take Questions Nos. 100 and 101 together. As I indicated to the House previously, the board of Coiste an Asgard decided in early December last to arrange a second underwater survey of Asgard II. Due to factors outside its control, it was not possible to arrange that survey until last week. However, due to adverse weather conditions, the survey could not be completed...
- Marine Accidents. (4 Feb 2009)
Willie O'Dea: Deputy O'Shea is correct. We did promise last December that there would be a second inspection. However, due to weather conditions, it was not possible to organise it until last week and even when it was organised the weather was so bad the normal type of inspection done in the first instance could not be done. Due to the appalling conditions, all that could be done was to take a sonar...
- Marine Accidents. (4 Feb 2009)
Willie O'Dea: I have not made a final decision on that yet. The fact is that the Asgard is a very popular institution and it is true that it has been a great ambassador for Ireland. The other side of the story, however, is that the ship does not have any historic significance per se as it is only 30 years old. It is called the Asgard but does not have any connection with the original vessel. We must...
- Marine Accidents. (4 Feb 2009)
Willie O'Dea: Deputy O'Shea has posed three questions. First, no matter what happens we will need a replacement if we are to have a sail training season from May to September-October. On my instructions, the board of the Asgard is actively pursuing the question of a replacement. It has examined a number of possible replacement vessels with a view to leasing one for the season at least. I have asked the...
- Marine Accidents. (4 Feb 2009)
Willie O'Dea: I would advise Deputy Deenihan not to take any interpretation from my tone. I am trying to remain neutral in this matter and am awaiting a report from the board. I will communicate with the Deputy as soon as I make a decision.
- Marine Accidents. (4 Feb 2009)
Willie O'Dea: One does not have a dog and bark oneself. We get advice from the board. I can only give a rough estimate of the salvage cost due to the way the system operates. When the salvage operation is commissioned, from the time they start mobilising, one is paying for it. Even if a salvage operation were to take place, our advice is to delay it for a while until the weather improves. There is no...
- Marine Accidents. (4 Feb 2009)
Willie O'Dea: We will see in due course. I know there are some objections to using the Jeanie Johnston. It has been suggested as a replacement vessel for the next sailing season with a view to using it as a permanent replacement for the Asgard. There have been a number of objections to that, however. I have asked the Department to give that realistic consideration. It may well be that the Jeanie...
- Marine Accidents. (4 Feb 2009)
Willie O'Dea: Yes. As I said to Deputy O'Shea, we will have something in the meantime, and the Jeanie Johnston is one of those options.
- Defence Forces Representative Associations. (4 Feb 2009)
Willie O'Dea: The position is that under the terms of the Defence (Amendment) Act 1990, the Defence Force representative associations are prohibited from being associated with, or affiliated to, any trade unions or any other body without the consent of the Minister. Accordingly, the representative associations, RACO and PDFORRA, cannot be affiliated to ICTU at present. A similar arrangement applies to...
- Defence Forces Representative Associations. (4 Feb 2009)
Willie O'Dea: I appreciate what the Deputy has said. The difficulty to date is that it is felt to be inappropriate and that it might be a question of divided loyalties. For example, 2,000 members of the Defence Forces were recently trained to step into the prisons in the event of a threatened prison officer strike. It is felt there might be a conflict of interest in such a situation as they might be...