I thank the Deputy, who rightly raises this issue with me regularly. It is important we continue to keep the focus and pressure in terms of justice on these matters.
Since the events of 14 December 2022, in which Private Seán Rooney was killed, and Trooper Shane Kearney and other personnel from the 121st Battalion were injured, the Government has consistently expressed determination that all of the facts and circums…
TDs / Simon Harris
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Members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them
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I should have also said that an independent inquiry is being undertaken by Mr. Michael Delaney SC, which is ongoing. This review is examining the internal tactics, techniques, processes and procedures employed by the Defence Forces with a view to determining whether there are any lessons to be learned from the circumstances surrounding Private Rooney’s death. Mr. Delaney is expected to present a report to me in quart…
I am aware that the UN is providing information but my satisfaction will depend on whether the family are satisfied, so I want to keep in close contact with them. I had the honour of meeting John McNeela at the national day of commemoration. When I met him, I credited the Deputy regarding his advocacy of the family's situation. We are committed to rectifying this in primary legislation and I spoke to my Secretary Gen…
Let me check that with the Attorney General as well.
I thank the Deputy for his question and for the opportunity to discuss the considerable investment made by my Department in the Defence Forces over the past five years. This is much-needed investment when we have to do more in terms of our national security and defence. The Defence Forces infrastructure development plan, IDP, sets out a programme of project delivery for the years 2023 to 2027. The programme reflects …
I acknowledge the Deputy's family's proud tradition of service in our Defence Forces. I know that he will very much agree that investing in our defence infrastructure is not just about investment in buildings or vehicles. It is actually an investment in our people, in keeping them safe, providing them with the best equipment and ensuring they are trained to the highest possible standard. It is about ensuring our sold…
These are very significant developments that have taken place. Regarding the need to develop a national maritime security strategy, the waters over which we have exclusive economic authority are about seven times larger than the land mass of this country, so we have to have a better understanding and better security structures in place regarding that. This is why we are leading on the national maritime security strat…
There are currently 80 uninhabitable residential Defence Forces buildings. None of these uninhabitable properties can be brought up to a habitable standard without significant work. Many of them were built prior to the introduction of building regulations, for example. As such, considerable work will be needed to bring them up to modern standards. Consultants were commissioned to assess the condition of the Defence F…
The Deputy is not wrong, but it is a balance to do with what is a sensible investment. Are we better off spending money on new accommodation projects and getting on with that and driving forward on that? We see the 775 beds that have been completed since 2020. Nearly €50 million was spent on that. There are 12 other accommodation projects under way, providing in excess of 500 additional beds. That is 775 plus 500. We…
I would have to get the Deputy a detailed building-by-building breakdown, but my understanding is the ones assessed to be uninhabitable are deemed so because there is a very significant requirement of work to bring them into any sort of line with modern building regulations, rather than it being more preferential to have something laid out in a different way. I am happy to get the Deputy more information on it but we…
May I begin by expressing the shock and sadness that we, as a country, are feeling about the deeply tragic and upsetting scene unfolding in Donabate. As a country, we have been gripped for weeks by the search for this missing little boy. Until today, we did not know his name, but we know it now. His name was Daniel. Until today, we had not seen his face, but now the image of this beautiful little boy is seared into o…
I do not want to be too argumentative the first week back but the Sinn Féin proposal to help people with their energy bills was to subsidise these massive energy companies. Its proposal was to give our taxpayers’ money to the energy companies. That was bonkers, in fairness, but I believe Sinn Féin reflected on it and changed its policy. Sinn Féin was not a big fan of the energy credits and I do not believe it committ…
I thank Deputy Bacik. I do not know her councillor, Corina Johnston, but I heard her on “Morning Ireland” this morning. I thought she spoke for so many people and for her community on the very tragic situation. I thank her for that.
I thank the Deputy and her party for their constructive engagement. Of course, we will give consideration to Deputy Smith’s Bill. From an Irish perspective, literally around now 15 young…
Yes, we can and will take action at national level. There is a political consensus on that. We all gave commitments during the election. I am happy to do that, but the Deputy will also remember the previous Government's position was always whether we could get to a point where Europe might act. That looked very remote when this genocide started. It now looks like a distinct prospect. We have got to try to see this th…
I thank the Deputy for his kindness and solidarity. I very much appreciated the very kind letter I received, on behalf of his parliamentary party, from Deputy Jen Cummins. I look forward to all of us working on a cross-party basis, as suggested by the Ceann Comhairle, on safety in public life. I thank the Deputy very much for that.
The Deputy is entirely correct in the way he summed up the most horrific and tragic s…
The short answer is "Yes". There is a commitment in the programme for Government to do that and it needs to happen as quickly as possible. I heard the chair of the national review panel in recent days. She was very robust in her explanation of the work it does and her confidence that this work could be done in a manner that would be expeditious and thorough. It has independent legal advisers but the point about putti…
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue on behalf of his constituents. It is an issue he raises regularly. I think the Deputy and I agree on this but it is certainly my position and that of the Government that wind energy is a good thing. Renewable energy is a good thing. The health consequences of not having good clean renewable energy far outweigh other issues in terms of health implications. Let us think of all …
I am quite sure my Fine Gael councillors agree with me on wanting to get this right and this being about a balance in terms of planning. I am sitting beside the Minister for Health and I make the point more broadly that the health impact of climate change and the climate emergency is very real. We all know in our communities, and I think we agree on this across the House, that the health implications of people breath…
But the ownership is not-----
I do not want to be argumentative because it is an important issue to the Deputy's constituents but------
-----the ownership issue is a different issue. I am talking about how we are going to power the country and how we are going to have clean air-----
Offshore is a very important part and my constituency will see a significant amount of that, but this is about getting the planning guidelines right. There are lots of different views about health and climate as well-----
I must look at those points the Deputy makes. What I am saying to him, and more importantly to his constituents, as well as people I meet across the country looking for guidelines on this, is the publication of new revised guidelines is a priority for the Government-----
-----and we will have an opportunity to have consultation on those guidelines-----
-----so communities can directly have their say in the coming months. The Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, is leading on that for us.