Simon Harris

I thank Deputies Boland and Ó Murchú. Their questions overlap. With regard to what we heard from the business community and what we can do, there are a couple of things. I was struck by the great sense of uncertainty, even from very senior business leaders in the United States who are, no more than the rest of us, waiting to see the level of detail. It was good to get an insight from them in terms…

While engaging and negotiating as part of the European Union, we need to continue to engage with the US Administration and to take every opportunity to share information. I genuinely believe - and I say this respectfully - the relationship is much more complex and interdependent than is sometimes articulated by the US Administration. It is much more interdependent, two-way and bilateral. We will c…

I thank Deputy Ó Murchú for the question. I hope we can share the same view on this across this House. The programme of passport service reform has been very impressive. I was in Balbriggan with Deputy Boland recently. I am very proud of the work being done in the passport office there and in other passport offices. The Passport Office has come through the Covid pandemic and managed to reform the …

I would like to see progress on the issue of reminders. I am sure the gardaí would like to see that too, to make the process as efficient as possible for everybody. I will follow up on that directly. I echo the Deputy's request that everybody check their passport. We do our very best at times when people need to travel at short notice. It can happen to anybody for reasons of bereavement or other t…

So please check your passport. Maybe in that moment of harmony, we can conclude.

I have respect to the sensitivity of the issue. The issue relates to my other Department, the Department of Defence. I am aware that the Department is in direct contact with the Rooney family. We will continue to do that. I made it clear to the Lebanese authorities that the family intends to travel for the trial and it is important that there is real progress. We will keep in touch about the matte…

I thank Deputy Doherty for raising the question on children's disability services. I want to begin where he began by welcoming the special rapporteur from the United Nations for the occupied territories to Ireland and thank her for her work. With a representative of the United Nations in our country, I want to join with all Members of this House and with the Secretary General of the United Nations…

I am not rowing with Deputy Doherty today. He seems nearly disappointed that I am saying I am going to resolve the matter. He is right to highlight this issue. He is right to call on us to resolve the issue, and we are going to do that. I am not going to stand up and defend something that cannot be defended. A scheme was announced in good faith, people applied, and the funding now needs to be prov…

I thank Deputy Bacik for the common-sense suggestion she made regarding a briefing for the Opposition. I apologise but with various international travel and the like over the last while there has been a bit of a lacuna. I suggest that on Monday we have that briefing for Opposition parties either with me or, if my diary does not allow, with senior officials because we need to get that flow of infor…

I, too, welcome that. On the occupied territories Bill, my office was in touch with Senator Black yesterday to arrange for me to meet with her. I will come back to the Deputy once that has happened. In the vein of controlling what is within our control, and we can talk about this more when we have our briefing and engagement, it is imperative that we look at what is within our control and what con…

I thank Deputy O'Callaghan for raising what is one of the most serious issues we face in the public service and in the lives of children with disabilities, namely, access to therapy provision and the process they go through to gain that access. To be clear, the waiting lists for assessment of need are far too long. This is having a significant negative impact on the lives of children and their fam…

That is a fair question but the Deputy would rightly ask me a different question if I came in here and said the State was going to contest the cases, as that would not be a compassionate or decent approach to take on this issue. The law is clear on the 2022 High Court judgment. I am saying three things to the parents. First, we need to reform the system, potentially including the law, and the Mini…

That is not what I am saying.

We are not.

I am so sick and tired of the Deputy misrepresenting my position and demeaning all that we do as sweet words. I would really love - I am not sure I would actually - if some time she were in Brussels with me at some of these meetings where we are working extraordinarily hard on these issues. She could ask any other member state, or indeed the Israeli Government, if they feel Ireland is not taking a…

Sure, the Deputy does not trust me.

So dismissive.

It is not in our name.

It is a disgraceful slur. It is not in our name. How dare you.

The Taoiseach is entirely correct to meet representatives of the Jewish community, as do I. Antisemitism is disgusting and despicable. There are hostages who have been taken from the people and families of Israel and they need to be freed. The carry on of Hamas is utterly despicable, parading children's caskets like some sort of sick, twisted act of propaganda. Hamas needs to be condemned and we h…

We condemn it. If the Deputy wants to talk about genocide, read our submission to the ICJ.

It must be exhausting for Deputy Connolly to think she alone carries responsibility and care for this. We care passionately and we are acting. I am proud of the actions of the Irish Government, and so are many people across the country and so is the government of Palestine.

That is just objectively not fair or true. The Government is committed to further reform of the insurance sector. We have demonstrated this with clear commitments in our programme for Government and in developing a new action plan for insurance reform that would build on the actions delivered in previous reforms. Since the establishment of the Injuries Resolution Board, we have delivered direct sa…

-----and 95% of the actions were delivered by the previous Government under the action plan on insurance reform. That included the strengthening of the Personal Injuries Resolution Board, rebalancing the duty of care, the establishment of an insurance fraud co-ordination office and the introduction of the personal injury guidelines.

No, we are not.