Results 561-580 of 1,103,634 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Eoin Ó Broin OR speaker:Imelda Munster OR speaker:Réada Cronin OR speaker:Richard Bruton OR speaker:Paul Donnelly OR speaker:Duncan Smith OR speaker:Malcolm Noonan OR speaker:Richard Bruton8 OR speaker:Sorca Clarke OR speaker:Hildegarde Naughton OR speaker:Peter Fitzpatrick OR speaker:Aodhán Ó Ríordáin OR speaker:Patrick O'Donovan OR speaker:Pádraig Mac Lochlainn OR speaker:Rose Conway-Walsh OR speaker:Barry Cowen OR speaker:Steven Matthews OR speaker:Carol Nolan OR speaker:Martin Browne OR speaker:David Stanton OR speaker:Mattie McGrath OR speaker:Alan Farrell OR speaker:Paschal Donohoe OR speaker:Mark Ward OR speaker:James O'Connor OR speaker:Maurice Quinlivan OR speaker:Roderic O'Gorman OR speaker:Seán Haughey OR speaker:Aindrias Moynihan)

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: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

James O'Connor: I welcome all the witnesses. The Peter McVerry Trust is in the headlines for the wrong reasons, which has prompted a lot of questions that need to be answered around what merits the Charities Regulator getting involved to undertake investigative work. Under Part IV of the Charities Act 2009, the Charities Regulator has the power to appoint investigators to investigate the affairs of any...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

James O'Connor: In how many instances has that happened? As the Peter McVerry Trust grew between 2011 and 2022, I understand that it took over nine separate charities. The trust’s remit is supposed to be housing and homelessness, but the purpose of one of those charities was the advancement of religion, which is not one of the trust’s charitable purposes. The trust is in receipt of...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

James O'Connor: An approximate figure is okay.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

James O'Connor: The reason I ask is there is a lot of grime on the window of the immigrant investor programme, IIP, which I am concerned about. Nobody is quite sure why it was shut down. A number of charities were involved in the process of obtaining it. There are multiple reasons - "issues occurred" and pressure from the European Commission and other aspects at an international level but looking at the...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

James O'Connor: Will Ms Delaney elaborate on that? She said it was not something the Charities Regulator was specifically looking at.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

James O'Connor: I want to be careful; I am not from a legal profession but I want to ask the question because it is relevant. Is Ms Delaney aware of many charitable bodies accountable to the Charities Regulator from an inspection point of view that left that structure and went into a company limited by guarantee structure or out of the charity structure to obtain funds from the IIP?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

James O'Connor: Ms Delaney is not aware of that.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

James O'Connor: I encourage Ms Delaney to do some digging. It has been brought to my attention as a Member of the Oireachtas. I will not bring it up but it has crossed my desk.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

James O'Connor: I will.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

James O'Connor: I will defer to the second round because I am interested some of the responses. Is that okay, Chairperson?

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...

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

Micheál Martin: We have actually expanded expenditure. The bottom line is, in terms of capital expenditure, procurement is an issue in terms of the time it can take to procure, particularly C295s. The bottom line is we are committing to a lot of expenditure, which will come on stream. It does not necessarily fall in any given 12 months. I do not accept the Deputy's characterisation of the budgetary...

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

Matt Carthy: I assure the Tánaiste that I would not suggest to the Government to throw money anywhere because it is quite good at doing that of its own volition, but here is the crux. For the past number of years on budget day or in the budget documents released by the Department, the Tánaiste has said that the budget includes provision for the employment of 400 additional members of the...

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

Micheál Martin: Every year it is put to good use. That is the point I made in my reply. In 2023, it was put to good use. It was used elsewhere across the Vote. That happens all of the time. We are down now to €9 million out of a budget that is close to €1 billion. We need to a sense of perspective here in all of this. I discussed the appropriations-in-aid, which is receipts that come...

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

Defence Forces