Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

If we rewind back nine or ten months, an awful lot of people in Ireland, particularly those employed in multinational companies, were very concerned about the threat of tariffs. We have entered into a bit of a frozen situation in that regard. Some headway was made but I would not say the deal that was arrived at was necessarily perfect in every manner or means. The situation as is has already had …

The Taoiseach will be aware that Heba Muraisi is now on the 72nd day of her hunger strike in New Hall prison in Britain. Two more people have been on strike for more than 50 days so they could die any day. They are very much in that lethal period. Ms Muraisi has not been tried or convicted but has been in prison for a year, well over the usual six month pre-trial detention limit. The Taoiseach doe…

I ask the Taoiseach to make contact.

I ask the Taoiseach to make contact.

The Taoiseach is familiar with Cork Educate Together Secondary School. It is a school, which should be in our constituency, but since 2018 it has been based in the building of Griffith College on the north side of the city. In that temporary location, it has no access to PE facilities. Its special education facilities are severely constrained and a lot of their 400 students have to get buses acros…

A minute or two ago, I could see the Minister become exasperated at my colleague describing this as cruel as "heartless", but it is important that she understands how this is being felt by people. When people went to their chemist or learned about this, it was very hard for them to understand why a government would come to such a decision because these blister packs are essential to people who hav…

It is reasonable for people to draw that conclusion. There is an obligation on the Minister to demonstrate that she will find a solution to this. That is why we have brought this motion to the Dáil. The Government is not opposing it, which I welcome, but we need a solution. A lot of our community pharmacists are being stretched very thin as things are. The agreement the Minister needs to reach wi…

85. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Defence the capacity of the Defence Forces and security forces generally to respond to drone incursions in Irish aerospace and to respond to reported suspicious drone activity near Dublin Airport during the visit of President Zelenskyy. [72050/25]

The presence of drones in Dublin Bay during the visit of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was the source of much commentary internationally and domestically. We are facing into a crucial year in which security, and the ability of this State to ensure the safety and security of high-level meetings and the people attending them, will be under a good deal of scrutiny, which needs to come through. We ne…

To be clear, there is no doubt but that the presence of drones such as this in our airspace is a threat to our national security. The neglect of the Defence Forces by the past three Governments, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil in their various turns, has created a threat to our national security. The Minister spoke about bringing forward the radar picture, the anti-drone system and counter unmanned air …

There are many comments I would like to make but the first relates to the timeline. It sounds extremely tight. It will be purchased within the first half of the year but that is not a lot of time for the personnel to get used to this and ensure protocols are in place and so on. What struck me most was clearly the visit of President Zelenskyy was very welcome and worthwhile but the Minister has tal…

87. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Defence further to recent Dáil debates, her views on past health and safety measures in the Air Corps; the actions she intends to take to support former aircraft maintenance and ancillary personnel; whether she intends to ensure their medical needs are met; and the other supports that can be offered to the category as a whole. [72051/25]

This is probably the Minister's first time debating this particular matter but the issue of the potential adverse health outcomes for former aircraft maintenance personnel in the Air Corps has been discussed a lot over the years. Many people who served in aircraft maintenance believe many have suffered very severe health outcomes, including untimely deaths, because of exposure to dangerous chemica…

The reality is that this is not an issue that has only arisen in Ireland. We know that in other jurisdictions such as Australia and the Netherlands exposure to very powerful, strong and dangerous chemicals caused adverse health outcomes for personnel in those locations. Australia took a sensible approach. Officials evaluated the situation trhough the study of health outcomes for aircraft maintenan…

The Minister is right that the men and women of the Defence Forces are its greatest asset. The weight of this needs to be emphasised. The Air Corps Chemical Abuse Survivors, ACCAS, group has identified what it believes to be 110 untimely deaths. It has used that language advisedly because the link needs to be proven in that regard. However the group has questions and concerns over that many deaths…

88. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Defence for an update on the capacity in the Naval Service, in terms of personnel, specialist personnel and fleet; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [72052/25]

We have had a fair bit of discussion in recent weeks in on capital investment, but there is obviously the need for current investment. Our Naval Service has serious challenges because of a lack of specialist staff. Some of that is because of their attractiveness to employers in the private sector. The State invest in training people but then they are lost and not retained. That is holding back the…

The key question I raise here and my key concern about the Naval Service is to do with specialist personnel. The Naval Service such as it is today requires people with very high skills. Many of them gain these skills within the Naval Service, but we have had the embarrassing situation in the past 12 months that a navy ship was put to sea without a functioning main gun. The reason for that is the N…

It is not merely about small numbers - although the numbers are small - it is also about the proportion and the fact that of the cadre six who went into the 63rd naval cadet class, only two were commissioned. Two thirds of that cadre, however small, left early. That is the issue. Specialist numbers within the Naval Service are critically low despite targeted recruitment. Some of that is due to the…

95. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Defence her views on the matter of entry-level cadet pay; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [72046/25]

We had a discussion a short time ago about specialist staff. Connected to that is the whole issue of cadet training and their experience. There is the issue of entry-level cadet pay. It has been well flagged by RACO, including at the conference a few weeks ago, and the fact that it has not kept pace with some of the other increases in the system.

The Minister said a while ago that she was going to meet all the representative organisations. I welcome that and hope that includes not only those for the Permanent Defence Force but also those for the Reserve Defence Force and the veterans' organisations. I am sure RACO will raise this issue with the Minister. The information she gave was in the longer run, when they are qualified and reach a ce…

97. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Defence the progress her Department has made regarding the establishment of a joint cybersecurity command and other actions related to cybersecurity contained in the Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces. [72045/25]

We have spoken about how potential defence and national security issues will not always be what we have traditionally imagined. Cybersecurity and hybrid threats are going to be significant features of that. The cybersecurity command has been established, which was called for in the Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces. That is very welcome, but progress in the implementation of its plans…

I appreciate that it was not specifically written in the question, but if the Minister has the figure to hand, what does she expect the strength to be by the end of next year? I would appreciate that. The architecture around the whole area of cybersecurity is a little bit complicated in the sense that the National Cyber Security Centre is responsible for protecting the State broadly speaking, the…