Results 1-20 of 7,031 for speaker:John Lahart

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (16 Oct 2025)

John Lahart: In the programme for Government, we made a commitment to reduce the cost of childcare for a child to €200 per month under the national childcare scheme. Along with hard-pressed families, I strongly welcomed this. A problem arises when providers pull out of the core funding scheme. In some cases, a provider of multiple facilities pulls one of its facilities out but keep others in for...

Confidence in the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade: Motion (15 Oct 2025)

John Lahart: That is not true.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Update on Current Situation in Ukraine: H.E. Larysa Gerasko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland (14 Oct 2025)

John Lahart: I thank Ms Gerasko for her very comprehensive briefing. It is her first visit to the new foreign affairs and trade committee and we are very grateful for the time she has put into the very detailed presentation. It brings us right up to date. I will go straight to questions. Senator Ahearn has the floor.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Update on Current Situation in Ukraine: H.E. Larysa Gerasko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland (14 Oct 2025)

John Lahart: I thank the ambassador and the Senator. I call on Deputy Ó Laoghaire.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Update on Current Situation in Ukraine: H.E. Larysa Gerasko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland (14 Oct 2025)

John Lahart: I thank the ambassador. I am the final speaker in this round. She mentioned that in the first six months of this year 30,000 guided aerial bombs, over 11,000 Shahed drones, 9,000 other types of attack drone and more than 1,000 missiles, including ballistic ones, were used. Will she talk about the drone attacks and give a little more detail? We have no conception of this here. It is just...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Update on Current Situation in Ukraine: H.E. Larysa Gerasko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland (14 Oct 2025)

John Lahart: How big is it? Is it as big as a helicopter?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Update on Current Situation in Ukraine: H.E. Larysa Gerasko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland (14 Oct 2025)

John Lahart: When they discard their weapons, do they turn back for Russia?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Update on Current Situation in Ukraine: H.E. Larysa Gerasko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland (14 Oct 2025)

John Lahart: They fly into structures.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Update on Current Situation in Ukraine: H.E. Larysa Gerasko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland (14 Oct 2025)

John Lahart: Observing.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Update on Current Situation in Ukraine: H.E. Larysa Gerasko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland (14 Oct 2025)

John Lahart: Intelligence.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Update on Current Situation in Ukraine: H.E. Larysa Gerasko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland (14 Oct 2025)

John Lahart: Are the drones that have been sighted in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland observation drones? They are intelligence-gathering.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Update on Current Situation in Ukraine: H.E. Larysa Gerasko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland (14 Oct 2025)

John Lahart: Okay. Does anybody want to go into a second round? Senator O'Loughlin.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Update on Current Situation in Ukraine: H.E. Larysa Gerasko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland (14 Oct 2025)

John Lahart: On the trade piece the ambassador mentioned, could she let us know if there is anything this committee can do? If there is a trade delegation or anything like that in 2026, she could bring it before this committee. I am sure it is something committee members would consider positively. We are at her service if there is any engagement on trade that she wants to embark on.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Update on Current Situation in Ukraine: H.E. Larysa Gerasko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland (14 Oct 2025)

John Lahart: Some Irish parliamentarians were part of the recent electoral observation mission in Moldova. We saw at first hand the interference that takes place, but on this occasion it worked out positively. Some years ago, Russia invaded Ukraine and thought it would overrun Ukraine in a matter of weeks. Three years later, the ambassador is here. As we say in Ireland, we have her back. This is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Update on Current Situation in Ukraine: H.E. Larysa Gerasko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland (14 Oct 2025)

John Lahart: Ms Gerasko can rest assured that more and more of her ambassadorial colleagues who represent countries in central and eastern Europe - it is not just the Scandinavian countries - who come here to meet informally with me or with some of the Chairs of the other committees or who come before this committee raise the issue of the heightened tension and levels of anxiety they feel because the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Update on Current Situation in Ukraine: H.E. Larysa Gerasko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland (14 Oct 2025)

John Lahart: Apologies have been received from a number of colleagues: Senator Joe O'Reilly, Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl, Deputy Cathy Bennett and Deputy Brian Brennan. There is a British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly meeting this weekend. I advise members of the constitutional requirement that they must be physically present within the confines of the Leinster House complex in order to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Update on Current Situation in Ukraine: H.E. Larysa Gerasko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland (14 Oct 2025)

John Lahart: I am going to stop the ambassador there. We can come back to this. I will ask some follow-up questions but I need to move on. A few of our MEPs have raised this directly in the European Parliament. Our colleague, Barry Andrews, is one who has raised the matter consistently.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Update on Current Situation in Ukraine: H.E. Larysa Gerasko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland (14 Oct 2025)

John Lahart: Therefore many of the drones just have one mission, one use, and disintegrate on impact.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Update on Current Situation in Ukraine: H.E. Larysa Gerasko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland (14 Oct 2025)

John Lahart: The committee will now go into private session. I thank Her Excellency and her team for attending.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Update on Current Situation in Ukraine: H.E. Larysa Gerasko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland (14 Oct 2025)

John Lahart: They disintegrate. They are once-off.