Results 15,521-15,540 of 16,849 for speaker:Dermot Ahern

Written Answers — International Agreements: International Agreements (10 Nov 2005)

Dermot Ahern: With regard to the proposed International Arms Trade Treaty, ATT, the General Affairs and External Relations Council, at its meeting on 3 October 2005, acknowledged the growing support throughout the world for an international treaty to establish common standards for the global trade in conventional arms. The Council also agreed that binding standards, consistent with the existing...

Written Answers — Partnership for Peace: Partnership for Peace (10 Nov 2005)

Dermot Ahern: My most recent discussions with European counterparts on the issue of Partnership for Peace, PfP, took place at the security forum of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, EAPC, in May this year. The EAPC security forum, which was inaugurated this year, is intended as an annual informal ministerial meeting which provides an opportunity for in-depth discussion of important security policy...

Written Answers — Foreign Conflicts: Foreign Conflicts (10 Nov 2005)

Dermot Ahern: While the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, remains difficult, there have been some encouraging signs. The major priority continues to be the organisation of national elections early next year, which will mark the culmination of the transition process inaugurated by the 2002 Sun City peace accords. These local, legislative and presidential elections are expected to take...

Decentralisation Programme. (10 Nov 2005)

Dermot Ahern: A whole system was decentralised to Pakistan.

Diplomatic Representation. (10 Nov 2005)

Dermot Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 67 together. I was appalled by the reported statement by President Ahmadinejad on 26 October on the existence of the state of Israel. Officials of my Department immediately contacted the Iranian Embassy in Dublin to convey the Government's clear view that the reported comments of the President were entirely unacceptable. The ambassador of Iran was not in...

Diplomatic Representation. (10 Nov 2005)

Dermot Ahern: The Iranian ambassador is not in residence in Dublin. Previous to the President's comments, we were made aware from newspaper reports of the detention but we only received official word in the past week to the effect that he is no longer the ambassador. I note the Deputy's response to the Iranian President's comments. The EU response was issued last Monday. It was a very strong response from...

Diplomatic Representation. (10 Nov 2005)

Dermot Ahern: The Deputy has put the issue very well. As I have said, the result of the UN summit and the review conference on NPT was nothing short of a disgrace and I said as much in my statement on behalf of Ireland at that time. It was, and is, hypocritical for the larger powers, that already have nuclear arms, to put a strong emphasis on non-proliferation when in fact, the NPT is also a disarmament...

EU Directives. (10 Nov 2005)

Dermot Ahern: The Government attaches priority to the transposition of EU legislation into Irish law. My colleague, the Minister of State with responsibility for European Affairs, Deputy Treacy, chairs an interdepartmental committee which meets regularly and has as one of its functions the monitoring of this transposition. The Government is committed to attaining the agreed transposition target of 1.5% as...

EU Directives. (10 Nov 2005)

Dermot Ahern: Between 2000 and 2005, Ireland was supposed to transpose 1068 directives and has, to date, transposed 1045, which is not a bad record. In fact, if one looks at the figures for when this Government came into office, we are now three times better than we were at that time, in terms of the percentage. In 1997, the transposition deficit figure was 5.4%, which was probably one of the worst in the...

Departmental Staff. (10 Nov 2005)

Dermot Ahern: I am circulating with my reply a table indicating the number of staff recruited by the Department of Foreign Affairs over the past five years. It should be noted that a number of staff will also have left the Department during this period on transfer to other Departments or offices. Others will have retired or resigned, or availed of the option to take career breaks or special leave. I am...

Departmental Staff. (10 Nov 2005)

Dermot Ahern: The Department has no problem fulfilling its functions with the existing cohort of staff personnel. In regard to engaging 500 consultancies over the past five years, 87% of them are in the area of overseas development aid. Most of them are small time related consultancies because we do not have this expertise within the Department. They ensure value for taxpayers' money in regard to the...

Departmental Staff. (10 Nov 2005)

Dermot Ahern: I do not know if there is an age limit. I do not have the figures, but if there is, I can get the figures for the Deputy. I would not like to think there is an age limit other than the normal limit that exists in the public service.

Nuclear Armaments. (10 Nov 2005)

Dermot Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 59 together. Negotiations between the EU three and Iran are suspended following Iran's decision on 8 August 2005 to recommence conversion of uranium at its Isfahan facility. This action was in breach of the Paris Agreement signed by Iran and the EU three, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, in November 2004. Under this agreement, Iran, inter alia,...

Nuclear Armaments. (10 Nov 2005)

Dermot Ahern: A review has not taken place. We have full confidence in the three countries involved. We are fully informed and briefed at all the meetings that feed into the GAERC meetings that I attend. We get full and frank disclosure of the discussions that take place. It is difficult as it is a stop start issue as regards the relationship with Iran. It is important we engage with them in a diplomatic...

Nuclear Armaments. (10 Nov 2005)

Dermot Ahern: I do not honestly know. They maintain they have made a decision to put in place nuclear energy facilities in their state which is their entitlement under the NPT. It was made clear to me when I met the Iranian ambassador to the UN that they had made a policy decision to go nuclear and that they were putting in place facilities. He had with him a member of the Iranian Parliament who said that...

Undocumented Irish. (10 Nov 2005)

Dermot Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 3 together. Immigration has become a highly sensitive and divisive issue in the United States since the tragic events of 11 September 2001. As a result, the position of our undocumented citizens in the US has become progressively more difficult. The quality of daily life for those affected has worsened with constant stress and anxiety as well as sadness...

Undocumented Irish. (10 Nov 2005)

Dermot Ahern: I acknowledge the work Deputy Allen's party and all parties have done on this. The Kennedy-McCain Bills are on one side of the spectrum and other proposals exist on the other side of the spectrum, which are very restrictive. In recent times the United States administration has made suggestions on how this matter might be addressed. President Bush has not commented specifically on this other...

Undocumented Irish. (10 Nov 2005)

Dermot Ahern: Defending the rights of Irish citizens abroad is part of the remit of my Department. There is nothing more I can do to defend the rights of undocumented Irish in the United States. I have been in the United States six times in the past nine months, albeit on other business on some occasions but I raised the issue of the undocumented Irish every time. Last week, I had a meeting with former...

Undocumented Irish. (10 Nov 2005)

Dermot Ahern: That causes grave concern. I accept that such people contribute greatly to the US economy, as undocumented people generally do. Those who argue against the Kennedy-McCain measure, suggest that the 11 million undocumented people must return whence they came in order to apply for legal resident status. That is a totally impractical suggestion, however, because the US economy could not deal with...

Human Rights Issues. (10 Nov 2005)

Dermot Ahern: Torture is among the most abhorrent violations of human rights. It undermines the inherent dignity of the person and is, therefore, unacceptable and unjustifiable. Ireland, through a range of legal and policy measures, has signalled its recognition that freedom from torture is a right which must be protected and promoted. Among the conventions to which Ireland is a party are the European...