Parliamentary questions

19. Deputy Maeve O'Connell asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence to report on his Department’s work in conjunction with the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration on the establishment of a national security authority. [36394/25]

20. Deputy Maeve O'Connell asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence to report on his Department’s work in conjunction with the Department of the Taoiseach, on the development of the national security analysis centre’s national security strategy statement. [36396/25]

21. Deputy Maeve O'Connell asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the number of times the Defence Forces has engaged in static guard and cash escorts for the Central Bank in each of the past four years. [36397/25]

22. Deputy Maeve O'Connell asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence to report on the work of the Joint Task Force on Drug Interdiction. [36398/25]

23. Deputy Maeve O'Connell asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence if the Defence Forces continues to provide security on campus at any prisons across Ireland. [36399/25]

24. Deputy Maeve O'Connell asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence his views on the planned withdrawal of tasking the Defence Forces from the provision of static security at a premises (details supplied). [36400/25]

198. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence to list all the public services contracts worth €10 million or more, which have been granted by himself or the forerunner for his Department, or other State bodies in the past five years; the value of each contract; the length of term of each; the expiration date of each contract; and whether any contract was discontinued du…

199. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the reason the Defence Force Regulations made by him under the Defence Acts 1954 to 2015 are not laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas or included in the electronic Irish Statute Book or made public, whether pursuant to section 3 of the Statutory Instruments Act 1947 or otherwise; if the Defence Force Regulations have been exp…

15. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence if, further to Parliamentary Question No. 256 of 19 March 2025, he will set out the steps that have been taken to date to implement the Programme for Government to introduce a new management system for the Curragh Plains; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34604/25]

16. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence if, having regard to the expeditious manner in which he and his Department dispersed earlier encampments this year on the Curragh Plains, his Department will move with equal alacrity to seek the removal of the current very large illegal encampment now relocated to the Rathbride Road, including a number of vehicles, caravans, a…

17. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the total cost incurred by his Department from 2020 in clean-ups of the Curagh Plains following illegal encampments; any legal costs incurred; for an indication of the man hours required to deal with the situation on the part of employees of the Department of Defence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34606/25]

18. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence if, in light of the recognised importance of An Garda Síochána's police liaison officer network in embassies abroad, particularly in recent high-profile extradition operations, he is convinced that a similar network of military attachés in embassies of Ireland abroad would be beneficial for the State's security and defence partnership…

19. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence for an update on the 2015 White Paper on Defence proposal to explore the creation of a military attaché network, a proposal which was recommended for urgent introduction by the Commission on the Defence Forces; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34688/25]

20. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the reason it has taken his Department ten years to explore the creation of the military attaché network, while other Departments and agencies have significantly increased their global presence in embassies of Ireland abroad in the same timeframe; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34689/25]

21. Deputy Cormac Devlin asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence if consideration is being given to the acquisition or long-term leasing of a dedicated strategic or tactical airlift capability for the Defence Forces, either independently or in partnership with other EU member states; if such consideration includes the C-130 Hercules or the Airbus A400M, or participation in multinational initia…

229. Deputy Mark Wall asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence to provide an update on a situation (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33591/25]

230. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence if his Department has a designated head of procurement; if each agency or public body under his Department’s remit also has a designated head of procurement; and if so, to list those entities, along with the name or grade of the person holding that role. [33637/25]

231. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the number of staff within his Department and its agencies who hold a formal procurement qualification or certification (for example, CIPS, NFQ Level 6 or higher in procurement, EU public procurement training), broken down by organisation, in tabular form. [33655/25]

232. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence if his Department and each agency or public body under its remit uses a formal contract management system or procurement tracking platform; to list the systems in use; and if they are centrally monitored or independently operated. [33673/25]

233. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the reason Galway port is being promoted as a potential location for a new Naval Service base on the western seaboard, particularly given that it is a commercial harbour and would likely involve leasing arrangements; if consideration has been given to more central and strategic locations; the reason the State is not prioriti…

234. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence when the four-week public consultation on Ireland's first maritime security strategy, as recently announced, will formally commence; how this consultation will meaningfully shape policy given that a multi-million-euro contract for towed sonar capability has already been signed with a company (details supplied) prior to the c…

235. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence if he will provide an update on the progress being made in relation to an Army pensions case (details supplied); if he will consider an administrative interim solution to the issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33712/25]

236. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence for a full list of all documents, reports, strategies, and resources that have been “unpublished” by his Department over the past ten years (details supplied), including all such materials that have been “unpublished” by divisions, sections and units of his Department that became part of the Minister’s Department followin…

237. Deputy Paul Donnelly asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the number of instances in 2024 and to date in 2025 in which bombs, grenades or improvised explosive devices have been used; and the number of occasions during this period where Gardaí sought the assistance of the Army ordnance corps to manage such cases, in tabular form. [33966/25]

238. Deputy Paul Donnelly asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the number of horses that had trials to get into the Defence Forces Equitation School in the years 2024 and to date in 2025; and of the number of horses that had trials, the number that were successful in being accepted into the equitation school in each of the years in question, in tabular form. [33979/25]