Results 121-140 of 46,232 for speaker:Simon Harris

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Middle East (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: I refer the Deputy to Ireland's longstanding position on the two-State solution as set out last week in PQ 31646/25.

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Public Procurement Contracts (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: The Department’s Chief Operating Officer, Deputy Secretary General has overall responsibility for the Department’s procurement function. The Chief Operating Officer, Deputy Secretary General is supported by the Director of Finance and eight staff assigned to the Department’s central procurement function. There are no agencies or public bodies under the...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Public Procurement Contracts (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: In addition to the Chief Operating Officer, Deputy Secretary General and the Director of Finance, there are eight staff assigned to the Department’s central procurement function. The Department actively supports a policy of continuous professional development for all staff working in central public procurement to meet the demand for a capable, technically skilled procurement team...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Public Procurement Contracts (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: The Department’s Contract Register is a platform to assist all business units to record, review, and manage their contracts and framework procurement agreements for goods, services and works. The Register is accessible to all staff through the Department’s intranet. The Register is reviewed on periodic basis to ensure that it is up to date and that all relevant contracts are...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Departmental Reports (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: As the Deputy will be aware, the gov.ie website is a key source of information on government and public services. It is a trusted platform for Government communications, handling approximately 75 million page views in 2024 and was the key communications tool and information resource for the public during Covid-19 in particular. My Department also manages www.ireland.ie, the Government's...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: International Agreements (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: The Government remains committed to reducing barriers for emigrants who wish to return to Ireland, including the commitment under the Programme for Government to establish reciprocal driving licence arrangements with the USA, Australia and Canada. Ireland currently has 21 reciprocal driving licence agreements including with Australia and seven Canadian provinces. In the case of the US,...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 207, 208, 209 and 210 together. The Passport Service is successfully meeting high demand for passports and has issued over 532,000 passports this year to date. My Department engages in comprehensive workforce planning annually, based on forecasted passport demand. Staffing requirements for the upcoming year are formally approved by the Department’s...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Diplomatic Representation (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: The safety and security of the staff of my Department is an absolute priority for me. My Department has been closely engaged on the concerning situation in Iran and the continuing conflict between Israel and Iran. In relation to our diplomats in Iran, I became increasingly concerned about the operational environment for our Embassy there, and the ability of our diplomatic staff to...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: International Agreements (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment has policy responsibility, including at EU level, for Ireland’s energy security, and communicates views in this area. The then Minister of State addressed this topic in the Dáil in November 2023. My understanding is that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Cooperation related to Trade, Transport, and Export of Natural...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Middle East (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: I am deeply concerned about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran and welcomed the extraordinary Foreign Affairs Council on Tuesday 17 June to discuss the issue. At that meeting, I outlined Ireland’s position on the need for urgent de-escalation by both sides and the need for dialogue and diplomacy to resolve this crisis. I highlighted our concern about the disproportionate...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Ukraine War (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment is the national competent authority with responsibility for export controls, which includes the export of dual use goods as well as controls on defence-related exports. Officials of that Department carry out assessments and checks on all export licence applications to ensure, as far as possible, that the item to be exported will be used...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Public Procurement Contracts (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: The Department of Defence is organised across six divisions, each of which is headed by an Assistant Secretary or Director. There are three bodies under the aegis of my Department; the Army Pensions Board, established under the Army Pensions Act 1927, the Ombudsman for the Defence Forces, established pursuant to the provisions of the Ombudsman (Defence Forces) Act 2004 and the External...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Public Procurement Contracts (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: I can confirm that my Department has a Procurement Tracking System (PTS) for tracking procurements. My Department also uses the enterprise grade ‘Oracle E-Business Suite’, which is a suite of integrated business applications, and includes contract management functionality. I can also confirm that these systems are managed and monitored by officials in my Department.

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: My colleague the Minister for Justice Home Affairs and Migration and An Garda Síochána have primary responsibility for the internal security of the State. Among the roles assigned to the Defence Forces in the White Paper on Defence is the provision of Aid to the Civil Power which, in practice, means providing assistance to An Garda Síochána when requested to do so. Where...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: The Army Equitation School's mission is to promote the Irish horse through international competition. To maintain its high standards, the school acquires suitable Irish bred horses through a rigorous process. After a suitable horse has been identified that meets an existing gap in the Equitation School’s portfolio of horses, the owner is invited to bring the horse to McKee Barracks...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Departmental Projects (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: I can advise the Deputy that my Department has no infrastructure capital projects being built or commissioned that are currently late in their delivery nor currently over budget.

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Departmental Contracts (24 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: I can confirm that neither the Department of Defence or the Defence Forces have purchased from or have contracts with the company referred to by the Deputy.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (19 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Moynihan so much for raising this and for his advocacy on behalf of Conor and Dean and so many children and patients more widely across our country who want us to get this right in terms of access to medication. I could point out that we have made good progress. From 2021 to 2024, we allocated an additional €128 million for new medicines. That facilitated the...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (19 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising that issue. I absolutely will follow it up directly with the Minister for Health. As the Deputy said, we want all of our public servants, including our front-line emergency staff, to work in fit-for-purpose but most importantly safe environments. That sounds like a very serious situation. I will directly speak with the Minister for Health and ask that we...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (19 Jun 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy McGrath very much for raising this important matter. I will speak with both the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan, with regard to that and see if we can find a resolution that works for everybody and most particularly works for the children. As the Deputy said, their excitement was palpable with regard to this. Let me talk to the two...