Results 12,141-12,160 of 12,596 for speaker:Willie O'Dea

Written Answers — Defence Forces Recruitment: Defence Forces Recruitment (26 Jan 2005)

Willie O'Dea: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1291 to 1293, inclusive, together. A total of 28 non-commissioned officers have been commissioned as officers in the Army, Air Corps and Naval Service since 1999. The numbers and categories commissioned in each year are detailed in the following tabular statement. Year No. Category 1999 2 2 — Electrical Engineer Officers, Naval Service ...

Written Answers — Defence Forces Recruitment: Defence Forces Recruitment (26 Jan 2005)

Willie O'Dea: The military authorities advise that the information sought is not immediately available due to archival work being carried out at present on the relevant records. I will write to the Deputy with the information as soon as it becomes available.

Written Answers — Ministerial Appointments: Ministerial Appointments (26 Jan 2005)

Willie O'Dea: Since my appointment as Minister for Defence the only appointments I have made were to the Civil Defence Board, which is a body under the aegis of my Department. Chief Supt. John T. Farrelly was appointed to the board in October 2004, on the nomination of the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána. Commandant Kevin Houston was appointed in November 2004 on the nomination of the Chief of Staff...

Written Answers — Defence Forces Equipment: Defence Forces Equipment (26 Jan 2005)

Willie O'Dea: The safety and health of Irish personnel serving overseas is always of paramount concern to me and it is my policy and practice to ensure that Defence Forces personnel are appropriately equipped to carry out their mission. The ongoing equipment modernisation programme ensures that the Defence Forces are fully equipped with the most modern of equipment for their day-to-day roles on overseas...

Leaders' Questions. (26 Jan 2005)

Willie O'Dea: Where is the Deputy's party getting the money to buy those votes? It is robbed money.

Leaders' Questions. (26 Jan 2005)

Willie O'Dea: Robbed money.

Leaders' Questions. (26 Jan 2005)

Willie O'Dea: Robbed money.

Overseas Missions. (26 Jan 2005)

Willie O'Dea: The Government is strongly committed to providing whatever support it can within available resources and capabilities, including the provision of Defence Forces personnel, to the humanitarian relief operation in south-east Asia following the recent tsunami disaster. As soon as the scale of the disaster became clear, the Department of Foreign Affairs deployed a high level technical assessment...

Overseas Missions. (26 Jan 2005)

Willie O'Dea: I sincerely hope we do not see anything even remotely resembling this incident again in the near future. Deputy Timmins's idea is a good one and I will take it up with my colleagues. The Department of Defence will examine this when considering the deployment of members of the Defence Forces Reserve abroad. Many of the same considerations will apply, such as security of employment and adequate...

Humanitarian Relief. (26 Jan 2005)

Willie O'Dea: I propose to take Questions Nos. 94, 117, 123, 136 and 1268 together. As I stated in response to an earlier question on this issue, the Government is strongly committed to providing whatever support it can within available resources and capabilities, including the provision of Defence Forces personnel, to the humanitarian relief operation in south-east Asia following the recent tsunami...

Humanitarian Relief. (26 Jan 2005)

Willie O'Dea: To the best of my knowledge, the funding has been increased at least twice. The Minister for Finance has advised us that there is still capacity to increase the emergency fund that is used in such circumstances. No decision has been made on this as yet but we will examine the question when the technical assessment group issues its final report to us.

Humanitarian Relief. (26 Jan 2005)

Willie O'Dea: The reply was contained in my response to Deputy Timmins. We are dealing with the sovereign governments of three countries in the region, not just a single unit. We have deployed the military personnel that were requested of us. It has been indicated to us by the team of the Minister for Foreign Affairs that a small number of further logistics experts of the same type may be required. If so,...

Fisheries Protection. (26 Jan 2005)

Willie O'Dea: The State's fishery protection capability, as provided by my Department, is delivered by the Naval Service and the Air Corps. The main day-to-day role of the Naval Service, which is equipped with a total of eight vessels comprising one helicopter-carrying vessel, five offshore patrol vessels and two coastal patrol vessels, is to provide a fishery protection service in accordance with the...

Fisheries Protection. (26 Jan 2005)

Willie O'Dea: In response to the Deputy's first question I am not aware of the detail of how navies operate in other countries. We have an obligation to protect Irish assets, namely, the exclusive Irish fishery area. I have outlined the measures we are taking and the resources we are deploying to do that. It is not true to say now, whatever might have been so in the past, that the greater percentage of...

Fisheries Protection. (26 Jan 2005)

Willie O'Dea: I would have no difficulty raising this matter at European level but it is a national issue. In 1998 the Government instigated a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers on Naval Service output and how this could be increased. As a result, the naval output in patrolling activity has increased by approximately 35% in the last four years. Even last year it had increased over the previous year. Given...

Fisheries Protection. (26 Jan 2005)

Willie O'Dea: I suspected that Deputy Timmins might want to emphasise and highlight that point on the basis that the public is entitled to know. Obviously there are more Irish vessels to be found in the Irish patrol area and unfortunately statistics show that they are boarded proportionately more often than should be indicated by their numbers. That is an unfortunate statistical fact.

Search and Rescue Service. (26 Jan 2005)

Willie O'Dea: The Irish Coastguard has overall responsibility for the provision of maritime search and rescue services within the Irish search and rescue region. The Air Corps had been providing search and rescue services off the north-west coast but withdrew in October 2004 following a handover of this role to CHCI, a private operator, which also provides the service at the country's other search and...

Search and Rescue Service. (26 Jan 2005)

Willie O'Dea: The answer to the last part of the Deputy's question is "no". I have not had any such representations. I emphasise to the Deputy that in regard to emergencies on land, including those that require the air ambulance service, the Air Corps will continue to be available. In regard to what happened in the north west, there are four search and rescue bases in the country, namely, Dublin, Shannon,...

Search and Rescue Service. (26 Jan 2005)

Willie O'Dea: No, I did not mention its capacity.

Search and Rescue Service. (26 Jan 2005)

Willie O'Dea: Cost is certainly a factor, but the primary factor is guaranteeing safety and a 24-hour service. For the information of the House my predecessor, the former Minister, Deputy Michael Smith, outlined to the House on a number of occasions that his decision to change the position in regard to the north west was taken following a considered assessment of the capacity of the Air Corps to return to...