Results 441-460 of 1,115,713 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Ciarán Cuffe OR speaker:Michael McNamara OR speaker:Emer Higgins OR speaker:Mary Butler OR speaker:Paul Kehoe OR speaker:Michael Moynihan OR speaker:Maurice Quinlivan OR speaker:Marc MacSharry OR speaker:Ossian Smyth OR speaker:Michael Lowry OR speaker:Joe McHugh OR speaker:Claire Kerrane OR speaker:Holly Cairns OR speaker:Steven Matthews OR speaker:Neasa Hourigan OR speaker:Peadar Tóibín OR speaker:Thomas Byrne OR speaker:Colm Burke OR speaker:Peter Burke OR speaker:Cormac Devlin OR speaker:Anne Rabbitte OR speaker:Alan Kelly OR speaker:Norma Foley OR speaker:Brendan Smith OR speaker:Marian Harkin OR speaker:Alan Farrell OR speaker:Peter Fitzpatrick OR speaker:Denis Naughten OR speaker:Bernard Durkan)

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defence Forces (17 Oct 2024)

Gary Gannon: I appreciate that the Tánaiste cannot comment in detail on specific incidents but, looking at some incidents over the last four or five years, we seem to have a very cavalier approach to counter-intelligence and threats to the State. The Tánaiste obviously cannot comment on the recent example of Cobalt, although he did comment in the media. He said he was not briefed although a...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defence Forces (17 Oct 2024)

Micheál Martin: There is a national security committee which co-ordinates all of the work. I think there are issues in terms of an accountability chain to the Oireachtas and the Government of the day. That is why there is an examination under way. There needs to be work done on ensuring a proper accountability chain and a framework governing both military intelligence and intelligence activities more...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defence Forces (17 Oct 2024)

Gary Gannon: The Tánaiste might give us some timelines in respect of the evaluation that he spoke of. It is important that this is not used as a political football and that we approach it in a mature way. There are some examples that take us by surprise. Last month, my constituency colleague seemed to come under some sort of misinformation attack from outside the State. A report came in that the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defence Forces (17 Oct 2024)

Micheál Martin: We have good quality intelligence networks in the country. An Garda Síochána does a very good job, as does military intelligence. The Commission on the Defence Forces outlined significant reforms in respect of military intelligence and the majority of its recommendations were accepted by Government. These include strengthening military intelligence capabilities; the establishment...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defence Forces (17 Oct 2024)

Gary Gannon: I have not accepted it. I am wondering why the State is not pursuing it.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defence Forces (17 Oct 2024)

Micheál Martin: I am not saying the Deputy has but, generally, people did in the beginning. People actually did. I was questioned in the Dáil as if it was a fact.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defence Forces (17 Oct 2024)

Gary Gannon: As you should be.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defence Forces (17 Oct 2024)

Micheál Martin: It was not a fact.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defence Forces (17 Oct 2024)

Gary Gannon: It is about your pursuance of it.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defence Forces (17 Oct 2024)

Defence Forces

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defence Forces (17 Oct 2024)

Matt Carthy: 5. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the recruitment target for the Defence Forces; and the number who were inducted and the number who left the Defence Forces in each year from 2020 to 2024. [42033/24]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defence Forces (17 Oct 2024)

Matt Carthy: This question is to adjudicate the performance of the Government in respect of the Defence Forces. Sometimes the Tánaiste says there is unfair criticism. It would be important to set out for the Dáil, in each year of this Government from 2020, the target recruitment for the Defence Forces and, in each year, how many were actually inducted and how many left, in other words, the net...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defence Forces (17 Oct 2024)

Micheál Martin: The military authorities have advised me that as of 31 August 2024, the latest date for which such information is available, the strength of the Permanent Defence Force stood at 7,426. A table containing the requested induction and discharges figures for each year from 2020 to 2024 will be provided to the Deputy. I have acknowledged in the past the recruitment and retention challenges in...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defence Forces (17 Oct 2024)

Matt Carthy: It is hard to ask a supplementary question when I do not have the substantive response to the question I asked. I take the Tánaiste's commitment to provide the precise figures. Here is what we do know from the Tánaiste's response. There are currently fewer than 7,500 members of our Defence Forces, 2,000 below the establishment figure and a whopping 4,000 below the two-figure...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2024)

Cormac Devlin: I thank the Comptroller and Auditor General's office for the report. I wish to ask about An Bord Pleanála because we have engaged with it before. The work programme may be a moot point at this stage, but it is incumbent on us as a committee to ensure that because of the reports that have been compiled on the issues relating to 2022, we have it in our sights for an engagement in the...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2024)

Cormac Devlin: I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach. The Comptroller and Auditor General's office refers to reports that have been compiled on issues in 2022 and onwards. Are those reports now complete and in the Comptroller and Auditor General's possession or what stage are they at? If the reports are published and completed, that has a bearing on how this committee proceeds.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2024)

Cormac Devlin: I thank Ms Drinan for that. We have spoken to An Bord Pleanála before about the internal control report - the second report to which Ms Drinan referred. Allowing for the chairman to have sufficient time and also to ensure this committee is diligent in its work, I suggest that in within the first month or two of 2025 this committee would seek to engage with An Bord Pleanála on the...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2024)

Cormac Devlin: I will come in on that particular piece of correspondence. As the Leas-Chathaoirleach rightly pointed out, the committee worked exceptionally hard on that report following on from the large engagement not only with RTÉ, but also with the other ancillary individuals and agencies. This is another item that needs to reoccur on our agenda as a committee. The committee was very firm about...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Funding (17 Oct 2024)

Micheál Martin: The Defence Vote group comprises of two Votes: Vote 35 - Army pensions and Vote 36 - defence. The 2023 Vote 36 – defence net surplus surrendered to the Exchequer was €18.1 million. This figure includes surplus appropriations-in-aid of €9.1 million, which, as the Deputy will be aware, cannot be used to fund additional expenditure and must be surrendered to the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Funding (17 Oct 2024)

Matt Carthy: People will be astounded to see the Department of Defence surrendering any money back to the Exchequer, considering the challenges that the Defence Forces are currently facing in the retention and recruitment crisis and the ambitions that have been set out, particularly in the report of the Commission on the Defence Forces. I have raised with the Tánaiste on a number of occasions the...