I thank the Deputy. The short answer is that we do. We are trying to get to a sustainable position where we do not see peaks and troughs, but rather a consistent, good and high-quality service with turnaround times that are at least in line with the office's expectation. I am pleased to say that at the moment, the times are ahead of expectations. Of course, and I say this respectfully to all of our constituents and t…
TDs / Simon Harris
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Members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them
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Contributions to debates 2,972 in all
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Debates they spoke in most
Plus 2,685 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Wicklow 29 November 2024 to now
- office Taoiseach 29 November 2024 to 22 January 2025
- party Fine Gael 29 November 2024 to now
- office Minister for Defence 23 January 2025 to 25 March 2025
- office Minister for Foreign Affairs 23 January 2025 to 25 March 2025
- office Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade 26 March 2025 to 18 November 2025
- office Minister for Defence 26 March 2025 to 18 November 2025
- office Minister for Finance 18 November 2025 to now
The short answer is we will keep this under review. I am pleased to see that so many applications are being made online. Regardless if someone lives in Cork, Dublin or anywhere else in this great country, he or she is able to apply for a passport. More than 93% of applications came that way last year and people can get passports in a time-efficient manner.
In terms of the office we have in Cork, which plays a valuab…
I propose to take Questions Nos. 15, 20 and 37 together.
I thank Deputy Connolly. It is an honest question and let me give an honest answer, which is, I do not know yet. I want to engage in the first instance. I take the point that Senator Black is looking to sit down with me. I will make sure that happens in the coming days. I have been meeting my officials on this issue, too.
The decision we will have to make is …
We have to be accurate. I do not believe it was legally possible in 2018 to pass this Bill. The Deputy says we have had ample time since 2018, but the moment that created a potential legal path forward - it was no more than a potential legal path forward - was the ICJ advisory opinion. I find it odd in this Dáil that it is suggested that Ireland and the Irish Government are not supportive of the people of Palestine, …
We have joined that case.
I believe our words do mean something. They mean that, at a time when many countries were turning their backs on UNRWA, the humanitarian agency that gets assistance to the very people the Deputy wants to help, we pledged €20 million more.
Yes, and I deplore the decision of the Knesset on that, but instead of backing away, we supported UNRWA with €20 million more. The Deputy referenced the ICJ case. We have sought to join it and have made a submission, something that many in the House said we would not do. We have seen how other countries have responded negatively to our decision, but I believe we are on the right side of history by doing it.
Every av…
-----and work with the Deputy, and that legislation will need to be enacted. However, I need to make sure that anything we do is lawful. I am happy to work constructively with the Deputy on that.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 25 and 29 together.
Chomhghairdeas and congratulations to Deputy Moynihan on his election to the Dáil. I look forward to working with him constructively. I will undertake to pursue the issue of Foras na Gaeilge and revert to him directly on it, as I share his views on the importance of it having funding certainty.
I was delighted to make an early visit in my role as Tánaiste and Min…
I thank Deputy Moynihan. As he knows, the Taoiseach and I are really committed to the shared island initiative. The good news is we are now seeing what was a concept delivering very practical results on the ground, with so many projects progressing. I could mention the restoration of the Ulster Canal, as one example I visited recently, or the transformative education project at the Magee College campus of the Ulster …
In answer to both Deputies' questions, I absolutely will. I congratulate Deputy McGuinness on his election too. He can take it as read that I am very happy to continue that engagement and to work with him on a cross-party basis on this issue.
In the brief time available to me, I will return to the issue of the Omagh inquiry because I want to be very clear on this. When I was in Belfast - this was on the first day of…
I do not need to dismiss the Sinn Féin housing policy because the people of Ireland did.
Sinn Féin must be one of the only Opposition parties in the European Union to actually see its vote collapse in the general election, down by 5.5%. It lost the election.
This is a very serious issue, and I repeat that an issue that is serious deserves a serious response. When I was elected leader of my party and then Taoiseach less than a year ago, I made it very clear that we all needed to work together to fix housing for once and for all. At the start of this new Dáil, we should not seek to divide on this matter. We should actually seek to come into these Houses with constructive i…
The completion figures for last year are disappointing; that is true. When we look at the past three years together, however, we have significantly exceeded the housing targets that were set. We significantly exceeded them in 2022 and 2023. We now have good momentum, with in excess of 60,000 commencement notices over the past year. This will, of course, as night follows day, translate into increased completion figure…
I have already made very clear to the Deputy about the programme for Government, negotiated by parties who won a clear majority in the last election and working with Independents, and what we have agreed to do in the programme for Government. That is what our focus is on; moving forward with the delivery of homes with real solutions for people.
If the Deputy is seriously suggesting housing statistics cost his party …
Ceann Comhairle, I have to be allowed to speak in this House. We are not getting back to last-----
She could not clarify that you could even access a loan or a mortgage under Sinn Féin's plan. The banks have still not confirmed that. His party would have pulled away the first-time buyer scheme-----
-----it would have scrapped the help-to-buy scheme and it would have ended the first home bridge the gap scheme.
The Deputies do not like it. They seem to think their job is just to critique.
Their job is also to put forward alternatives-----
They put forward alternatives that were emphatically rejected by the people who interpreted them-----
They failed to deliver, they lost the election and we are getting on with the job.
I thank Deputy Connolly for raising the issue of infrastructure and I want to get straight to that. I acknowledge the huge impact the storm has had on people right across the country and most particularly, people in the west and the north west. I am very conscious of the fact we can read out figures showing how many people have been reconnected to power and very good progress has been made, but that is obviously cold…
I hear the Deputy and I hear her advocacy for her county and her region, and for good reason. We will review the national development plan and our capital plans. We intend to publish that as a Government in the summer period. This will be an opportunity to map out what the increased level of capital funding will mean for the lifetime of this Government and provide that pipeline of capital funding. It will absolutely …