Results 121-140 of 1,055 for speaker:Tom Clonan

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)

Tom Clonan: By Government majority, any future Government can send any number of Irish troops to any conflict anywhere in the world.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)

Tom Clonan: That is a yes. So Ms Maguire is saying yes, it is a removal of the triple lock and yes, any future Government could send any number of Irish troops anywhere in the world at any time for any purpose such as peacekeeping, peace enforcement and full combat operations.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)

Tom Clonan: The safeguards are notional. They are hypothetical.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)

Tom Clonan: We are talking about the future. When you remove the triple lock, there is no safeguard in law other than the understanding that any future Government can send any number of Irish troops anywhere in the world for peace enforcement - full combat operations - on the basis of a simple Government majority. That, to my understanding, is not a safeguard. It is the complete removal of any...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)

Tom Clonan: No, what is the largest formation that can be deployed overseas now?

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)

Tom Clonan: No, what is the largest unit the Defence Forces are capable of sending overseas?

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)

Tom Clonan: It is a battalion.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)

Tom Clonan: What component of that unit do we comprise?

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)

Tom Clonan: How many troops can we send?

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)

Tom Clonan: What is the logic of increasing the number from 12 troops to 50 troops? What is the significance of the number 50? What is the strategic or military thinking informing such a number?

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)

Tom Clonan: There is, therefore, no military context. It is purely a notional figure.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)

Tom Clonan: Finally, based on the precedent of sending 12 troops to Afghanistan, if this change were enacted, would it mean that the Government, the Cabinet, at any point, without Dáil approval, could send 50 troops to any mission anywhere in the world?

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)

Tom Clonan: I thank Ms Maguire very much.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)

Tom Clonan: I thank the witnesses for all the answers they have provided. Some of the questions have been difficult but they have been clear in their answers. I agree with Senator Kyne to an extent that there are elements of the triple lock that are problematic for now. However, this is not modifying the triple lock; it is simply removing it. Deputy Ryan O'Meara asked if politicians should always be...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)

Tom Clonan: So with a simple Government majority, it can send any number of Irish troops anywhere in the world?

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)

Tom Clonan: There is no safeguard in law.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 May 2025)

Tom Clonan: I raise the issue that has come to light from an internal cable that was published by Reuters, which is the statement by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the processing of all F, M and J visa applications should be halted. The US authorities say they want to introduce increased vetting of the social media profiles of, particularly, students applying for J1 visas. That has an immediate...

Seanad: Ireland's Economic Outlook: Statements (28 May 2025)

Tom Clonan: I thank the Minister for coming to the House. I thank my colleagues for sharing time with me. I hear in the Minister's remarks the alarm bells we have heard so many times before about impending economic shocks. He referred to them as shocks that may become more frequent. I entered the workforce in 1987, almost 40 years ago, so I have lived through recession, boom, recession, catastrophic...

Seanad: Ireland's Economic Outlook: Statements (28 May 2025)

Tom Clonan: I see the Minister disagrees with me, but in our lived experience with a disabled child, we saw the entire collapse of all of his services, supports and therapies. That is a situation from which disabled citizens in this country have not recovered. That is why we have children unable to obtain proper diagnoses or surgical treatments on the spinal or urological waiting lists. It is why we...

Committee on Defence and National Security: Business of Joint Committee (15 May 2025)

Tom Clonan: I echo everyone's congratulations on Deputy Conway-Walsh's appointment as Cathaoirleach. I look forward to working with her for the next couple of years. I agree with her regarding the prioritisation of the discussion of the triple lock. There has been a lot of misinformation and disinformation in public discourse in the past number of months. My research has ascertained that there have...