Parliamentary questions

Overseas Development Aid Expenditure

Catherine Murphy

126. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the precise timeline to which the Government plans to achieve the target of 0.7% of gross domestic product spending on overseas development assistance, following comments made by An Taoiseach to that effect; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36845/15]

Military Aircraft Landings

Clare Daly

127. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will confirm whether the United States of America gunship, AC-130W, responsible for the horrific bombing of the Médicins Sans Frontièrs hospital in Kunduz in Afghanistan, had passed through Shannon Airport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36842/15]

Middle East Issues

Richard Boyd Barrett

128. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the action the Irish Government or the European Union intends to take to force Israel to cease the increase in civilian deaths in Palestine, particularly those of children, in recent weeks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37692/15]

Foreign Conflicts

Seán Crowe

129. Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he is aware of the Free Otegi, Bring all Basque Political Prisoners home campaign, which pushes for the release of Basque political prisoners, including a person (details supplied), recognising that the person is one the leaders of the Basque peace process, yet the Spanish state reacted to the peace initiatives by imprisoning him; and if he will agree, to raise the case with his Spanish counterpart; and to press the need for the Spanish Government to engage positively in the fledgling peace process. [36926/15]

European Council Meetings

Brendan Smith

130. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the discussions he has had with his European counterparts; or at the European Union Foreign Affairs Council, in respect of the escalating violence in Jerusalem; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36930/15]

EU Membership

Bernard Durkan

131. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which he and his European Union colleagues continue to examine and evaluate the consequences of a possible British exit from the European Union, with particular reference to the potential impact for this country, Northern Ireland, the European Union and Britain; if adequate thought is being given to the full economic and political consequences in the event of an exit of a major power from the European Union; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37689/15]

Undocumented Irish in the USA

Denis Naughten

132. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the progress on the establishment of a visa waiver scheme with the United States of America for undocumented Irish; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37730/15]

Military Aircraft Landings

Mick Wallace

133. Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will guarantee that none of the military planes of the United States of America that have passed through Shannon Airport or Irish airspace in 2015, with permissions granted by his Department under the Air Navigation (Foreign Military Aircraft) Order 1952, were on their way to contribute, through refuelling sorties, to the Saudi-Arabian led bombing campaign in Yemen; if he has been provided with any information from the authorities of the United States of America in this regard; if his Department has requested any such information from these authorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37693/15]

Middle East Issues

Richard Boyd Barrett

134. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade given the continuing and escalating aggression by Israeli forces in the occupied Palestinian territories, resulting in a number of deaths including those of teenagers, if it is now time to call for sanctions to be imposed on Israel; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37691/15]

Dublin-Monaghan Bombings

Brendan Smith

135. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the outcome of any recent discussions that he had with the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Ms Theresa Villiers, and-or with the British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Mr. Philip Hammond, on the need for the British Government to release files and papers pertaining to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36933/15]

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Maureen O'Sullivan

136. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will outline the work on the implementation of the sustainable development goals; and if Ireland will support the disability caucus call for segregation by functional ability. [37695/15]

Foreign Conflicts

Mattie McGrath

137. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his assessment of the Government's actions to highlight the ongoing genocidal activity against Christians, Yazidis and other Muslim minorities in the Middle East by the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36927/15]

Passport Services

Anthony Lawlor

138. Deputy Anthony Lawlor asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the progress being made with the proposed online passport application process; when he anticipates it will be in operation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37838/15]

Human Rights Issues

Seán Crowe

139. Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he is aware, of the ongoing and continued detention of a person (details supplied), a non-violent anti-slavery activist in Mauritania; and that his continued detention is political in nature; and if he will raise concerns regarding the case with his Mauritanian counterpart. [36923/15]

EU Migration Crisis

Bernard Durkan

140. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which he and his European Union colleagues have examined the EU's response to the recent refugee crisis with a view to considering whether the member states could have re-acted more effectively; could have adopted a more co-ordinated and common approach; if the United Nations should be called upon to address this crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37690/15]

Departmental Strategies

Seán Kyne

141. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if, with the impending expiry of the Trading and Investing in a Smart Economy, the Government Trade, Tourism and Investment Strategy 2010-2015, he will outline the work to date on a successor to this strategy; the areas of particular focus; and the envisaged commencement date for such a strategy. [37687/15]

EU Migration Crisis

Brendan Smith

142. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will report on the European Council's action plan with Turkey on the refugee crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36931/15]

UN Committees

Mattie McGrath

143. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the legal obligations that exist directing the Government to act on the reports and recommendations of the United Nations human rights committee; if he will confirm that Ireland, as a sovereign nation, is not obliged under international law to have the constitution and laws amended following the merely advisory reports and recommendations of the same committee; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36928/15]

Northern Ireland Issues

Clare Daly

144. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the contact he has had with Minister of Justice in the Northern Ireland Assembly, Mr. David Ford, and with the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Ms Theresa Villiers, in respect of prisoner issues in Maghaberry, and time being spent on remand. [36841/15]

International Agreements

Seán Crowe

145. Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade recognising that Ireland has signed the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, a humanitarian pledge to stigmatise, prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons, and that nuclear weapons are the only weapons of mass destruction not yet explicitly prohibited under international law, if he will urgently seek to establish negotiations to create the conditions for a treaty to ban nuclear weapons, in order to fill this unacceptable legal gap. [36924/15]