Results 26,981-27,000 of 33,175 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I acknowledge the Deputy’s long-standing interest in this matter but I put it to him that if he wants me to include the phrase “bona fide” in primary legislation, there must be a definition of what that means. What does the Deputy mean by “bona fide” and does he believe there are groups that are not bona fide?

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: It may have been counter-productive.

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: Is that not a matter for the local authority to determine? I said to the Deputy earlier in the Dáil Chamber that he frequently talked about the need for local authorities to be strengthened, the need for proper local government and governance. With that in mind, why should I, as Minister, prescribe in legislation how the members of a local authority should work with members of the...

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I have reviewed all of them in the way the Deputy would expect me to.

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: Does the Deputy believe the CEO of the local authority should play no role in the running of ports?

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: How would we determine the bona fides of those to be included in this group? The Deputy is asking me to put this into primary legislation. It would be a matter of good practice for a port, or any unit of infrastructure, to have a way to structure its engagement with the community in which it is located. For example, in Grangegorman Dublin Institute of Technology, DIT, with which I am very...

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: Let me move on to the model of integration and how-----

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I will outline how this could work in the future. In primary legislation one does not leave the detail to be worked out somewhere else. When one looks to introduce concepts or prescribe how matters should be dealt it in primary legislation, one has to detail how something such as this could work. I have been clear on the issue of engagement with different ports and their future governance...

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I fully accept the Deputy has had a very constructive attitude to the Bill. He has mentioned, and I have heard him list, the many things in the Bill that he supports. I acknowledge that fully. I hope that those who are watching the proceedings will see we are having a genuine exchange of informed views on the Bill. I am in a different place from the Deputy on this matter. Let me give...

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I apologise to Deputy Boyd Barrett. I just wanted to check something with my officials.

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I will not be accepting this amendment. I am not accepting it for four reasons. The first of these is that the amendment prejudges the decision I am going to make. It is important that I, as Minister, and the Department have the ability to make what we believe to be the appropriate and effective decision for a port. Again, I want to make clear my hope that this Bill will be passed through...

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I will explain to the Deputy from where TEN-T classification comes. The definition does not come from me, it comes from the European Union. There is a significant amount of legal and policy work done by the EU to define the criteria for a potential TEN-T port. I have sought to align the definitions in Ireland's legislation with the EU's definition of what constitutes a TEN-T port. However,...

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: We need to be very clear here. This has been a long-standing policy framework of which the board of Galway Port is aware. It is not a case of it - or anybody else - being able to apply for TEN-T funding and then having it refused. There are very clear criteria in place regarding what is and is not a TEN-T port. I am not going to comment - as the Deputy has not commented - on the...

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: No, absolutely not. The criteria are: that passenger traffic volume exceeds 0.10% - that is, 0.10% of the total annual passenger traffic volume of all maritime ports of the EU; that the total annual cargo volume exceeds 0.10% of the corresponding cargo volume; that the port is located on an island; the port provides the sole point of access to the region within the comprehensive network; and...

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: During 2020.

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: It will be a review of the European Union framework and the ability or inability of ports to apply for this funding.

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: It is my ambition to have the Bill passed before Christmas, within the coming weeks. This depends on how long Report Stage takes in the Dáil and the length of time it takes in the Seanad. If the Bill is passed by Christmas, I will aim to make as many of the decisions as I can on ports of regional significance promptly thereafter.

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: Why should it be State run?

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: First, I genuinely tried to deal with the substance of the Deputy's amendment earlier. Second, I have listened carefully to the Deputy on the need for a category such as the one described in terms of ports of regional significance. We have followed up on our national ports policy by making the arrangement available through law. If ports of regional significance are dissolved into the local...

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: There are two broad points in relation to what Deputy Ó Cuív has said. First, he is absolutely wrong to describe this as a Bill of the status quo. He would only have to have been privy to some of the earlier debates between Deputy Boyd Barrett and me to say that this is anything but a Bill of the status quo. This is looking to take a serious view of the governance structures in...