Simon Harris

We have provided the health service with funding which will enable it to increase the numbers of people working in the health service, including in community healthcare, like healthcare assistants. I will ask the Minister for Health and the HSE to directly revert to the Deputy on the situation in south Tipperary and see what can be done to assist. The HSE should be in the business of seeking to re…

I have not yet had the opportunity to see the programme but I intend to see it. I have heard quite a bit about it over the course of the week. The Deputy can be assured the Government will be looking into the issues raised on the programme. I will ask the Minister for Finance to directly respond to the Deputy. I am not aware of any such issues, nor would I necessarily be. The point about the Centr…

I certainly will. I will talk to the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, and no doubt he will engage with the Garda Commissioner, who decides the allocation of gardaí across the country, on that matter. I was at a Cabinet committee discussion on justice and Garda recruitment issues this week. There are some encouraging signs. The programme for Government commits to further increase the capacity of Gard…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I know it is an issue of importance to many people, including people in Dublin West, commuters and people going about their business and encountering these toll charges. The Deputy has made some very interesting suggestions that merit further examination. As she knows, TII has a role in this. She has called on it to give consideration to this. I will certa…

I will speak directly to the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill on this matter. We have made good progress on cancer care and cancer treatment in recent years in this country and it is important we build on that. We have a national cancer strategy. We are increasing our capital investment in health as well. I will try to understand the rationale around those timelines and whether there is anything …

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter for her constituents in Castlecomer. The Deputy and Councillor Michael Doyle have been working on this issue of greater water capacity in Castelcomer and the wider area so I thank them for that. Uisce Éireann can confirm, as the Deputy and her constituents know, that there are supply and demand issues on the Castelcomer water supply zone. This h…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. It is a really important one and particularly important in her constituency. I am proud of the work we have done together to try to bring some level of closure at this point to families who were quite frankly abandoned for far too long in terms of the State apology and the initial phase of compensation. The Deputy is absolutely right that there was to be …

What I would say to them is that love is love and they live in a Republic where equality must be at the core of all that we do. Homophobic attacks and violence are crimes and there needs to be zero tolerance of them. The Minister for education reminds me that this week is Stand Up Awareness Week, an important initiative by Belong To in our schools. I thank it for the work it is doing. Perhaps this…

We have been working on this together over the past while. We meant what we said during the election. Having a childcare system that is fit for purpose, empowers parents, is affordable and accessible, and has quality at its heart is a core priority for this Government. If we can get this right over the course of this Government, we can transform childcare in a way that other parts of society and o…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I was familiar with this in times gone by and would have had engagement with the family, as I know so many representatives over the years have, both in Wicklow and in government. I will ask the Minister of State with responsibility for fisheries, Deputy Dooley, to update me on the matter, to come back to the Deputy directly and to see if we can have some …

Yes.

I will only unilaterally agree on behalf of the Government but it is a very sensible suggestion. This is certainly not a new area but it is a relatively new area that Members in this House, people in local authorities, citizens and people new to our country are all trying to grapple and engage with. I am not seeking to be divisive here but the debate should not be hijacked by anybody nor should an…

Today, the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, and I met Tom Fletcher, as did the Taoiseach and, I think, the President. Tom Fletcher is the humanitarian chief of the UN and he has just come back from Gaza. He is literally one of the few people you can speak to who has been on the ground in Gaza. As the Deputy correctly alluded to at the start, the fragility of the ceasefire is very real. It was g…

Yes, is the short and blunt answer. The Deputy has probably heard in recent days that there are now plans for a reconstruction conference on Gaza. This is likely to be in Cairo next month. We need to see where the invitations go but Ireland will certainly be represented there at a senior level. There will be an opportunity for Ireland, along with other international partners, to see what more we c…

The European Union welcomes the peace plan. It is imperfect, as all peace plans are. We also have to be very honest that there is a lot of high-level detail in the peace plan. As phase two commences and we begin to flesh out what some of these things look like and how they operate it is going to be a real challenge. Yes, we have got to keep the pressure on Israel 100%, and we also have got to keep…

That remains my position and that of the Government. I think it is objectively fair to say, and there is not much disagreement on this across the House, that the immediate focus has been on the humanitarian aid and supporting the peace plan, on seeing the ceasefire and the hostages being released and looking at practical ways that we can help. International law remains international law and breach…

My position remains the same as I outlined in this House many times. Of course, I am going to discuss and engage with Government colleagues on this and the Government will obviously make its decision as a collective and present its legislation to the Oireachtas. I will dutifully debate that back and forth in this House. I need to allow that process to take its course. I have respect for the way th…

I agree that just because we are a small country is not a reason not to do something. More and more over recent years in the European Union, many coalitions of small and medium-sized countries have come together to work on issues and that has helped move the dial at European level and sometimes at an international level. Recognition was one, as was the fact that we went from being one of only two …

Like the Deputy, I welcome the announcement that Israel and Hamas have agreed on the first phase of a deal to end the horrors in Gaza and to try to bring about peace. I also warmly welcome the release of 20 Israeli hostages after two long years in captivity. Every effort must also be made to find and release the bodies of the remaining hostages. Our focus must now be on preserving the ceasefire an…

We are taking action under the International Court of Justice. That is how it works. That is how we hold people to account at international level. We support the international courts and make a submission. It used to be the demand of the Opposition that we would do that. We have done that. We remain committed in respect of that but we also remain committed to the peace plan. I presume that is a pl…

Fundamentally I do not disagree with what the Deputy said. I would like to see the occupied Palestinian territories not occupied. I would like to see a Palestinian state. I would like to see a peace plan that provides an opportunity for a state of Palestine alongside a state of Israel and people living in peace and security in both of them, so yes, we should move ahead with the occupied Palestinia…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of the abducted children. It was brought up yesterday at the Foreign Affairs Council by the Commissioner and the European Commission now intends to hold a specific summit on this in early 2026. That is in addition to the other activities under way in the various international coalitions, including some Ireland is part of. The Deputy is right to put a spotli…

I am satisfied that the tightening up of the sanctions regime is of significant assistance but I am also clear that there are always people looking to get around the sanctions. Russia is always looking to get around the sanctions, to be specific. That is why when the package comes forward - we need to see the 19th package agreed, I hope this week - we need to start preparation of the 20th package …

I genuinely believe the US Administration and President Trump want to see an end to the war. I believe they want to see a ceasefire. It is fair to say that there have been different tactical or strategic approaches to how to bring that about on both sides of the Atlantic. Europe has been clear on the sanctions and the need to exert maximum economic pressure. However, - and I say this quite objecti…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 92 and 162 together. Responsibility for the regulation of foreign aircraft landing or overflying the State is shared between Departments. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has primary responsibility for the regulation of foreign military and other foreign state aircraft, while the Department of Transport leads on the regulation of civil aircraft. Under t…