Results 1,181-1,200 of 2,888 for speaker:Colm Brophy

Seanad: Maritime Jurisdiction Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (1 Jun 2021)

Colm Brophy: The amendment will provide that the State would have the same sovereign rights and jurisdiction on the continental shelf as it has in the exclusive economic zone. I want to point out that because international law and maritime zones are developed in a piecemeal fashion, it is not surprising that there are differences between the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf. The...

Seanad: Maritime Jurisdiction Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (1 Jun 2021)

Colm Brophy: I appreciate the sentiment behind the Senator's amendment. The term "land" is already defined by section 2 of the 1976 Act, including land covered by water. The amendment is, therefore, unnecessary.

Seanad: Maritime Jurisdiction Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (1 Jun 2021)

Colm Brophy: This obviously concerns the nature reserves and land owned by the State. It defines such lands, including any foreshore which belongs to the State and the land under the territorial sea of the State. Therefore, as I said, I cannot accept the amendment.

Seanad: Maritime Jurisdiction Bill 2021: Second Stage (31 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: I thank Senators for their early consideration of this technical Bill that will establish in domestic law the framework of different maritime zones of national jurisdiction recognised under international law. Within those zones, a coastal state is entitled to regulate human activity only to the extent permitted by international law. States have different sets of rights in each zone, which I...

Seanad: Maritime Jurisdiction Bill 2021: Second Stage (31 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: Yes, I ask the Acting Chairperson to please bear with me. I will move quickly.

Seanad: Maritime Jurisdiction Bill 2021: Second Stage (31 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: Section 15 clarifies the civil jurisdiction of the State. Sections 16 to 19 replace sections 2 and 3 of the Continental Shelf Act. Section 17 provides a power enabling the Government, by order, to designate seabed. Section 18 sets out the sovereign rights and jurisdiction enjoyed by the State. Section 19 clarifies the criminal and civil jurisdiction of the State. Section 20 provides a...

Seanad: Maritime Jurisdiction Bill 2021: Second Stage (31 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: I am conscious of the time. I know many people have made contributions and I will endeavour to address some. I thank Senators for their consideration of the Bill and the contributions which they made. As I indicated in my opening statement, the Bill will update and clarify the law relating to maritime jurisdiction of the State in a single, accessible, stand-alone enactment, describing the...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: International Relations (27 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: I thank the Deputy for raising what I agree is a very important issue. Ireland has promptly and publicly condemned the coercive forced landing of a Ryanair aircraft on Sunday last and the subsequent detention of Roman Protasevich and Sofia Sapega. We have raised our concerns over this incident with our EU and international partners, including at a meeting of UN Security Council members. We...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: International Relations (27 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: I fully agree with what the Deputy said about the seriousness of this act. There is no question but that the international hijacking, effectively, of an aircraft and forcing it to land is totally unacceptable. I reiterate we are working with our international partners in response to this. We are determined to ensure accountability and will continue to support measures that seek to make...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Middle East (26 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: The plight of children in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) has been at the centre of Ireland’s response to the recent hostilities. As Minister Coveney stated at the UN Security Council on 16 May, children must never be made prisoners of history. Ireland has a longstanding commitment to improving access to and the quality of education in the oPt. Education has been central...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Election Monitoring Missions (25 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 303 and 310 together. The OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) manages its election observation mission through a core team of experts, which leads the monitoring and is directly recruited, which can be supplemented by long-term observers (LTOs) and short-term observers (STOs) nominated by OSCE Member States. Applications...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Election Monitoring Missions (25 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 304, 305 and 311 together. I refer the Deputies to the comprehensive response to Parliamentary Question No. 777 of 24 March 2021 on international election observation. In light of the global COVID-19 pandemic and associated public health considerations concerning international travel, Ireland has not nominated volunteer election observers since March 2020....

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Foreign Policy (25 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: I would like to begin by welcoming the announcement of a ceasefire which began on 21 May. The humanitarian consequences of the hostilities have been devastating and two million people in the Gaza Strip, who were already suffering extreme hardship, including poverty, food insecurity and the Covid-19 pandemic, are now suffering the consequences of another cycle of violence. On 19 May,...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Covid-19 Pandemic (25 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: Ireland is playing its full part in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including to ensure fair and equitable access to vaccines for all. Last year, Irish funding to the World Health Organisation (WHO) was quadrupled, given its role as lead UN agency for health and co-host of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator. Launched in April 2020, the ACT Accelerator, is a...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Departmental Records (18 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: I thank Senator Mullen for raising this matter. The Department's authentication and apostille unit is responsible for the authentication of documents to be used abroad, as the Senator stated in his contribution. The unit provides the essential consular services to Irish citizens and businesses by verifying a document's origin and by confirming a signature and seal or stamp appearing on it...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Departmental Records (18 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: Unfortunately, Senator Mullen expresses an alarming lack of knowledge on what it takes to produce a passport. There is not just a single machine, as I hope the Senator is well aware. In a number of instances, there is a process of authentication of documents and all the necessary things. These are essential protections to ensure our passports, which are highly valued-----

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Departmental Records (18 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: -----as passports are protected and not issued in error. Senator Mullen's figures on the Passport Office are, unfortunately, also out of date, as he may be aware from previous replies.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Departmental Records (18 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: I beg Senator Mullen's pardon. First, he raised something which was not in his matter to which I am responding, because his lack of knowledge and information on it was regrettable.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Departmental Records (18 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: The functioning of the Passport Office has significantly improved, as Senator Mullen might have been aware if he had attended the other times I talked about it, and we are clearing that backlog. As for the matter the Senator did raise today, the staff are working diligently to carry out their work. There is a delay because the service required a certain amount of space and way of delivering...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Departmental Records (18 May 2021)

Colm Brophy: We had to reallocate the work practices, as to how we deliver the service during Covid-19, but we will clear the backlog. By the way, we process more than 290,000 passports in a normal year and we are well within our capacity limits to deliver the passports.