Results 161-180 of 46,698 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: I certainly do not, although I have studied the period-----

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: -----from the early 20th century right through. We can be well enlightened by what happened in the 1920s. We had the Army mutiny later. It was Kevin O'Higgins who laid down the essential principle that those who wear the uniform of the State serve the State. We will deal with that later in other aspects of this legislation. There are fundamental principles but, obviously, the passage of...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: If the Chair will allow me to intervene, I was supposed to make an opening statement which would have dealt comprehensively with that point. That is not how things have worked out. I do not want to-----

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: I just want to make the point. I took the Chair's willingness to try to be focused and efficient on this matter, but I had a statement on that, because it is not the case that this was somehow produced while completely ignoring the work of the committee. That is not the case.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: I am not going to, I had an-----

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: Sorry?

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: We would have written to the committee. We have letters here which indicate it. I had an opening statement that the Chair said he would prefer I did not read, and which would have explained this. We can get into propaganda and politics if we wish, but that is not the case.

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Birth Certificates (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: Entitlement to Irish citizenship is determined by the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended, under which Irish citizenship may be obtained by birth, by descent, or by naturalisation. If a person or their parent was born on the island of Ireland before 1 January 2005, they are an Irish citizen and they can apply for an Irish passport without making an application for...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: The Passport Service has issued over half a million passports to date in 2024. The Customer Service Hub has responded to over 200,000 queries this year and is now handling up to 16,000 queries per week. The Passport Service is well staffed with a total of 850 staff currently, and is in an excellent position to deliver the level of demand forecasted for this year, even with the busy...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Human Rights (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: The human rights situation in Iran remains a matter of serious concern. This includes freedom of expression and opinion, freedom of peaceful assembly, arbitrary arrest, and torture in detention, among others. There are concerns in particular about the treatment of religious and ethnic minorities, political activists, human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, labour rights activists,...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Departmental Advertising (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: The Department of Foreign Affairs uses advertising and public awareness campaigns primarily to promote essential services to citizens at home and abroad such as passport and consular services. In recent years, public awareness campaigns in relation to COVID-19 travel restrictions and Brexit have formed a significant part of campaigns. The Department engages the services of a third-party...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: With regard to the specific application about which the Deputy has enquired, supporting documents for this application were received on 2nd May 2024. This application is within the standard turnaround time and has not yet reached its issue by date.

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Naval Service (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: The Defence Forces Infrastructure Development Plan (IDP) sets out a programme of project delivery for the years 2023 to 2027. The Programme reflects the complex environment in which the Defence Forces operate and the corresponding need for appropriate infrastructure to provide for accommodation and training of personnel, as well as the maintenance and storage of equipment for land, sea and...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Naval Service (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: I am advised that it is intended that the new acquisitions will initially be berthed and operate from the Naval Service facilities at Haulbowline. As part of the wider Naval Service Regeneration Plan, the question of developing Forward Operating Bases in other locations around the Country is under active consideration. I can advise that the Naval Service have examined potential locations and...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Departmental Advertising (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: The following table sets out the amounts spent by my Department relating to the placing of advertisements in online/digital media platforms. The total amount spent by the Office of Emergency Planning from 2019 to date relating to the placing of advertisements in online/digital media platforms is €41,611.14 broken down as follows: Company Expenditure ...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: Yes, I think we should stick to them. Maybe, if my statement could be taken as read and I could circulate it to the secretariat, we could come back at another time and talk through it.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: It is up.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy does not have to take it as read if she does not want to. I was told before I came in here that I would have an opportunity to make a statement-----

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: It was cleared with the secretariat of the committee that I would make a short statement setting out the context of how we took on board the work of the committee on the pre-legislative side. Substantive correspondence went to the committee but that correspondence was not reflected in the subsequent report of the committee. In that correspondence, we signalled change in respect of some...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: We can organise that, no problem.