Results 1,521-1,540 of 46,232 for speaker:Simon Harris

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (26 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: The military authorities have provided the requested information as set out in the attached tables which will be provided to you. They advise that it has only been possible to provide the establishment figures for the Defence Forces from 2013 to date and the strength figures for the Defence Forces from 2010 onwards. When a member of the Permanent Defence Force signs up for enlistment they...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (26 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: Implementation of the White Paper programme has progressed in planned phases since 2015. This phased process was kept under review across the years and was subject to change or update as issues arose and other business dictated. Decisions about which projects to progress at any stage took into account the priorities set out in the Programme for Government, available resources, and initiatives...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Naval Service (26 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 18 and 36 together. I would like to start by acknowledging the important role played by the members of the Reserve Defence Forces and I would like to thank them for their continued commitment. I had the opportunity to meet with their representative body recently, RDFRA, and we had a very constructive discussion of the continued development of the Reserve....

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (26 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: The Defence Forces has informed my Department that the current situation in the Area of Operations (AO) where our Defence Forces operate in Lebanon remains one of significant instability. Though there has been a notable decrease in kinetic activities since the start of the recent Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, but significant uncertainty remains regarding future actions of actors in the...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (26 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: A table containing requested strength figures, as provided by the military authorities for each year from 2020 to 2024, will be provided to the Deputy. We have previously acknowledged the recruitment and retention challenges in the PDF. To address these, a range of measures have been introduced. The maximum age of recruitment has increased to 39 years for those roles that had a recruitment...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (26 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: The Defence Forces Tribunal of Inquiry was established to examine the effectiveness of the complaints processes in the Defence Forces concerning workplace issues relating to discrimination, bullying, harassment, sexual harassment and sexual misconduct. The Tribunal also has the power to investigate the response to complaints made regarding the use of hazardous chemicals within Air...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (26 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: Ireland joined the Partnership for Peace Programme with NATO in 1999. Over the course of the last 26 years of membership Ireland has benefited from this partnership and has also contributed to it, be it through contributing to UN mandated NATO led missions, Defence Capacity Building initiatives, hosting of training courses or through Trust Funds. It is a long standing partnership built on...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (26 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: The military authorities have advised that as of 31 December 2024, the strength of the Permanent Defence Force (PDF) stood at 7,557 personnel consisting of 6,099 Army, 739 Air Corps and 719 Naval Service. The current agreed establishment strength of the PDF is 9,739. I have outlined in response to an earlier PQ the range of significant measures undertaken to address recruitment and...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Naval Service (26 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 24 and 43 together. The Naval Service is the State's principal sea-going agency tasked with a variety of defence and other roles. While the main daily tasking of the Naval Service is to provide a fishery protection service in accordance with our obligations as a member of the EU, it also carries out a number of other non-fishery related tasks including...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (26 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: My Department was notified in July 2024 that the properties in question were being considered for inclusion on the derelict sites register. My officials have been engaged with Dublin City Council to clarify the position with these properties. One house, number 18, is currently occupied. Of the remainder, I must add that none of these properties can be occupied without considerable...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Departmental Meetings (26 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: As the Deputy is aware, the Irish Defence and Security Association (IDSA) was established in 2021 with a mission “to ensure Ireland develops appropriate, leading edge and trusted defence and security capabilities in the land, sea, air, space and cyber domains, in order to protect our society, create jobs, drive research and enhance Ireland’s economic growth”. ...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Departmental Funding (26 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: There are two Votes in the Defence Vote Group, Vote 36 (Defence) and Vote 35 (Army Pensions). The provisional outturn for 2024 for Vote 36 (Defence) indicates a net surplus to be surrendered to the Exchequer of €9.0 million. This figure includes surplus Appropriations in Aid of €8.2 million, which, as the Deputy knows, cannot be used to fund additional expenditure and must...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Naval Service (26 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: The military authorities have advised me that the strength of the Naval Service, as at 31 December 2024, the latest date for which this figure is available, stood at 719 personnel of an agreed establishment strength of 1,094. There are approximately 150 persons currently in full time training and therefore not available for assignment to Sea Going duties without significant disruption to...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (26 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: A table containing requested induction figures, as provided by the military authorities for each year from 2019 to 2024, will be provided to the Deputy. I am advised that a total of 708 personnel were inducted into the Permanent Defence Force in 2024. The induction figure for last year compares very favourably with previous induction figures of 415 in 2023 and 435 in 2022 and, in fact,...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Departmental Funding (26 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: The Programme for Government sets out the Government's commitment to making significant investment in the defence sector over the coming years, and this builds on the already considerable investment made in recent years. In that regard, the expenditure outturn for 2023 was €208 m in capital and €697 m in current. The provisional 2024 outturns stand at €187 m and...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (26 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: The military authorities advise that as of the 31 December 2024, the latest date for which the requested figures are available for, the strength of the Permanent Defence Force stood at 7,557 personnel. The recruitment and retention challenges in the Defence Forces have been previously acknowledged. To address these, a range of measures have been implemented. These include an increase in...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (26 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: A consultant was commissioned by the Defence Forces to assess the condition of the vacant housing in barracks and its suitability for conversion/refurbishment to provide for additional single living-in accommodation for Defence Force personnel. A report for comment has recently been furnished to my Department and is currently being reviewed by my officials. Once my officials and the Defence...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (26 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: I believe the Deputy may be referring to the Dublin City Coroner’s request to access certain information in support of the inquest which has been opened into the death of Private Rooney on 14th December 2022 in Lebanon, whilst serving as part of the Irish contingent in UNIFIL, and in particular the two UN reports linked to the incident. I consider it critical that full cooperation...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Cybersecurity Policy (26 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: The response to cyber threats remains a whole-of-Government challenge, with the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications taking the lead role and with inputs in the security domain from An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces. The primary cybersecurity role of the Defence Forces is defending and securing the Defence Force’s own networks and systems. To...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Departmental Policies (26 Feb 2025)

Simon Harris: The European Union (Resilience of Critical Entities) Regulations 2024 (S.I. No. 559 of 2024) were signed into law on the 15 October 2024. The Regulations sets out a range of duties and responsibilities for the competent authorities in relation to increasing their resilience. As part of this new regulatory framework my Department has commenced developing the first national strategy for the...