Results 81-100 of 6,660 for speaker:Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Committee on Defence and National Security: Update on Issues in the Reserve Defence Force: Discussion (25 Sep 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: No, it was an excellent answer. I acknowledge the point about patriotism, and we see in other jurisdictions people talk about surge capacity but, whatever one chooses to call it, the ability to scale up is crucially important. I wish to come to the pay piece in a different way. I apologise; perhaps I should know this. The issue of the nature of decisions people make occurs to me. There...

Committee on Defence and National Security: Update on Issues in the Reserve Defence Force: Discussion (25 Sep 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I imagine it would be coming up if it was.

Committee on Defence and National Security: Update on Issues in the Reserve Defence Force: Discussion (25 Sep 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I have to leave the meeting temporarily, but I will be back for the second round.

Committee on Defence and National Security: Update on Issues in the Reserve Defence Force: Discussion (25 Sep 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I have one or two brief questions. It leads on from Senator Kyne's question. I apologise if this was touched upon. When there is, with any organisation, a smaller-than-desired number of people who will very likely be spread unevenly around the country, if you look at a map of the State, are there very particular and obvious gaps with regard to RDF capacity? The Commission on the Defence...

Committee on Defence and National Security: Update on Issues in the Reserve Defence Force: Discussion (25 Sep 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Okay. I have one final question. The witnesses talked a bit about the kinds of duties that are there with regard to working with the Defence Forces such as patient transit and all that kind of stuff. On the trajectory, there is an ambitious enough target. I think it is 3,800 in 2028. In order to achieve that, is there enough in expanding the incidence of the types of duties that are...

Committee on Defence and National Security: Update on Issues in the Reserve Defence Force: Discussion (25 Sep 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: You are not going to run up against a ceiling with any of the types of duties that exist currently.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Wastewater Treatment (24 Sep 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I thank the Minister of State. It is important that representations are made from the offices of the Minister of State and-or the Minister to Uisce Éireann in relation to this issue. I say this because the response seems to offer two potential causes for the malodour without necessarily nailing the company's colours to the mast as to whether it is the low water levels and the summer,...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Wastewater Treatment (24 Sep 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: This matter relates to issues that the communities in Mahon and Blackrock in the south-east of Cork city are experiencing. Fundamentally, the answers people are looking for is how and when the problem that exists is going to be fixed. They have not received such answers. When a resolution will be found is not something the communities in question have a sense of at this point. The main...

Education (Affordable School Uniforms) Bill 2025: First Stage (23 Sep 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: The summer months should be a time of respite and enjoyment for families. However, for far too many families it is a time of stress and worry as they try to figure out how to get on top of back-to-school costs. The costs are absolutely enormous, as the research by the Irish League of Credit Unions and others have identified. Many families are getting into debt or struggling with their...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (23 Sep 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: The Minister will be aware that in April there was a lot of concern in the Cork city area about the amalgamation of units across four Garda stations into two units, in Carrigaline and Douglas, and Bishopstown and Ballincollig. Subsequently, and after many years of campaigning on behalf of the people of Cork, with public representatives and Cork Chamber of Commerce and so on, I am glad to see...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Engagement with UNRWA Deputy Director John Whyte (23 Sep 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I apologise for being late to the meeting, but I had a question in the Chamber. I thank UNRWA for the incredible work that is being done. Mr. Whyte has detailed in his statement the number of UNRWA staff who have been killed or injured and the circumstances under which they must be working. It is very important work. I might ask some questions about the situation on the ground, but I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Engagement with UNRWA Deputy Director John Whyte (23 Sep 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Yes. I have two further questions for this round. I hope to come in with some other matters if we have a further round. UNRWA operates on the basis of a mandate that is renewable. In recent months, unfortunately, another UN-mandated deployment or mission, albeit a very different one, namely UNIFIL, has not had its mandate renewed for post 2027. Is there any fear on Mr. Whyte's part about...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Engagement with UNRWA Deputy Director John Whyte (23 Sep 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: One of the things I suppose I find hard to get my head around is the day-to-day existence of the typical staff of UNRWA. Maybe Mr. Whyte can clarify this. It is something I suppose I probably struggle to understand, but I imagine the vast majority of the staff are from Gaza. What proportion of them would be, either originally or currently, from outside of the Gaza area? I suppose travel...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Engagement with UNRWA Deputy Director John Whyte (23 Sep 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Since the dawn of human conflict, ever since there has been conflict and destruction, disease has almost always followed. On top of the direct injuries from bombings, the lack of food, the breakdown in water systems, sewage systems, etc., and the situations people are living in, it seems that the risk of the spread of disease is greatly heightened. I wonder if there is something Mr. Whyte...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Defence Forces (18 Sep 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Some of what exists on the various campuses dates from a different time in the context of what is expected in terms of accommodation, but also with respect to family arrangements and so on. It is nonetheless the case there is a housing crisis so it is easy to understand why people feel frustrated. We have members of the Defence Forces who are struggling to find accommodation, especially...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Defence Forces (18 Sep 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Related to a previous question, one of the considerations should be former Defence Forces personnel who, for various reasons, have low incomes and find it difficult to find accommodation. Obviously it should have the same standards the Minister has in mind. That should also be a consideration when we are looking at residential blocks. I am aware there will be a detailed assessment of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Defence Forces (18 Sep 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: 15. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the number of residential Defence Forces buildings that are currently not habitable, and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49304/25]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Defence Forces (18 Sep 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Our Defence Forces camps have a large number of residential buildings, many of which are either not in use or uninhabitable. About 85% of the buildings in Cork are uninhabitable, while the number across the State is 153, with 71 buildings unoccupied and 79 uninhabitable. I appreciate that the circumstances are a bit different from those when they were first built, but there is still scope...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Military Neutrality (18 Sep 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I will raise three points. I have made most of my primary arguments but I have three matters to clarify. I am not specifically addressing Deputy Clendennen, but there has been talk of misinformation. Some Government Deputies have tried to say that the issue of the triple lock has nothing to do with neutrality. The idea that the legislation that references how Irish troops are deployed...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defence Forces (18 Sep 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Fianna Fáil was not.