Results 501-520 of 19,808 for speaker:Micheál Martin in 'Written Answers'

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Middle East (13 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: I am acutely aware of the dire situation faced by civilians in Gaza. For this reason, calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and access for humanitarian supplies is the central focus of my engagement. Ireland has repeatedly called on the Israeli authorities to end the practice of administrative detention completely. We have also repeatedly highlighted the applicability of...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Military Aircraft (13 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: Under the terms of the Air Navigation (Foreign Military Aircraft) Order, 1952, all foreign military aircraft wishing to overfly, or land in, the State require diplomatic clearance from the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Diplomatic clearance is subject to strict conditions, including that the aircraft is unarmed; that it carries no arms, ammunition or explosives; that it does not engage in...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Diplomatic Representation (13 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: The Consulate General in Sydney works closely with the Embassy of Ireland in Canberra to promote and protect Ireland's interests in Australia, to strengthen political and economic relationships, to support the work of the State Agencies, to provide citizen services to the Irish community, and to promote cultural ties and people-to-people connections between Ireland and Australia. In...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Official Engagements (13 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: I formally invited Minister Billström to Dublin when I wrote to him on 13 July 2023 congratulating him on the successful Swedish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Ireland and Sweden share excellent relations, featuring a long history of aligned values, and close and likeminded work at United Nations (UN) and European Union (EU) level. At the UN, our cooperation in...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Foreign Birth Registration (13 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: With regard to the specific FBR application about which the Deputy has enquired, the Passport Service requested further supporting documents from the applicant on 29 May 2023. Further documents were subsequently received on 26 July 2023 and were processed in November 2023. However, the application remains incomplete. A member of the FBR team has contacted the applicant in this regard. The...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Middle East (13 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: Since the start of this crisis, my Department has worked with the relevant authorities to facilitate the exit from Gaza of those Irish citizens, and accompanying dependents, who have expressed a wish to leave. We continue to advocate with the authorities in relation to those Irish citizens and dependents who have not yet been permitted to leave. The authorities have made clear that the...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Middle East (13 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: Since the start of this crisis, my Department has worked with the relevant authorities to facilitate the exit from Gaza of those Irish citizens, and accompanying dependents, who have expressed a wish to leave. We continue to advocate with the authorities in relation to those Irish citizens and dependents who have not yet been permitted to leave. The authorities have made clear that the...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (13 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 144 and 145 together. With regard to the specific applications about which the Deputy has enquired, the Passport Service has reviewed the applications and progressed as appropriate.

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (13 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: With regard to the specific application about which the Deputy has enquired, supporting documents for this application were received on 11/01/2024. This application is within the standard turnaround time and has not yet reached its issue by date.

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (13 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 147 and 148 together. With regard to the specific applications about which the Deputies have enquired, the Passport Service has issued passports to the applicants.

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Northern Ireland (13 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: I welcome the restoration of the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive and look forward to the North South Ministerial Council resuming its full operations. There have been contacts over the past week between the Government and the newly appointed Ministers in the Executive. In these contacts, Minister indicated our readiness to engage constructively with the Executive on areas where North...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (13 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: With regard to the issue outlined by the Deputy, it appears that the applicant submitted a document to the Department of Justice in the course of her naturalisation application. The Passport Service does not have access to documents submitted to the Department of Justice. It would be advisable for the applicant to contact the Department of Justice with regard to the document in question.

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (13 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: With regard to the specific application about which the Deputy has enquired, this application is within the current turnaround times and has not yet reached its issue by date. The turnaround time for Post Passport applications is 8 weeks. The public offices of the Passport Service in Dublin 2 and in Cork operate a four-day Urgent Appointment service for renewal applicants. The Dublin...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Official Engagements (13 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: Ongoing, high-level political engagement with the United States on critical issues for Ireland is a priority for the Government and building strong, strategic political partnerships is a key objective in "Global Ireland: Ireland’s Strategy for the US and Canada 2019–2025". During my visit to Washington, DC, this month, I had a range of political engagements with key contacts...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (13 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: The Passport Service is successfully meeting high demand for passports with turnaround times at or well-ahead of target and no backlogs. In 2023, over 1 million applications were received and over 950,000 passports were issued. So far in 2024, the Passport Service has issued over 110,000 passports. The Passport Service is well-resourced to meet forecasted demand for 2024. My Department has...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Middle East (13 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: I remain deeply concerned by Israeli policies regarding settlements. All Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, are illegal under international law. Ireland has consistently and repeatedly drawn attention to the unlawfulness of settlements. Continuing, and indeed increasing, Israeli settlement activities dangerously imperil the viability...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (13 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: The proposals set out in the General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2023, to prohibit the Defence Force Representative Associations from making a public statement or comment concerning a political matter, is already provided for in Regulation, namely the Defence Force Regulation (DFR) S.6, which states that “No public statement or comment concerning a political matter shall be...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (13 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: It is the case that since 23 January 2020, the holder of the post of Director of Military Prosecutions (DMP) cannot be a member of a Representative Association. This point is set out in Defence Force Regulation (DFR) 02/2020, Section 4(1) and Section 6(2). The draft Defence (Amendment) Bill proposes to confirm that position and to further include the post of the Military Judge (MJ)....

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (13 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: The establishment for the Permanent Defence Force (PDF) was recently increased by 89 to 9,589 to account for the first cohort of Commission on the Defence Forces (CODF) transformation appointments. Personnel in training are counted as part of the 9,589 establishment level. As at 31 December 2023, the strength of the PDF was 7,550 personnel. The requested breakdown of the establishment,...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (13 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: To answer the Deputy's questions, since its establishment in 1974, the UNDOF mission has helped maintain an area of separation over 75 kilometers long between the Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights, thereby substantially contributing to fulfilling its UN mandate. In recent years, the region has encountered varying escalations of conflict, which have affected the UNDOF area of...