Results 28,361-28,380 of 33,214 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for withdrawing the amendment, which as she said we discussed on Committee Stage. I would appreciate if the Deputy could let me know if the mechanism whereby early payment leads to a reduction in the penalty amount applies to road traffic offences in respect of which clamping has occurred or if it applies to a wider variety of offences. If the Deputy does not have the...

Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy is correct. I would go a stage further. For example, if a vehicle is clamped because it is blocking a public road or the point of exit from an estate, it is in the interests of everyone that the vehicle be moved on from that place. This Bill gives the National Transport Authority the power to put in place a code of practice which it will then enforce. I expect that one of the...

Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I acknowledge that the Deputy raised this matter with me on Committee Stage. I recall that at that time we had a discussion on whether a by-law could be partially revised and that my response was that it could be. On 31 March, I wrote to the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government referencing that the Deputy had raised this matter with me and setting out my view and...

Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: In the communication which I sent to the Minister, Deputy Kelly, I concluded by saying that the Deputy had withdrawn her amendment to this Bill on the basis that I had undertaken to convey to him her request that the Department consider communicating with local authorities to ensure they are aware of the provisions of section 22(3) of the Interpretation Act 2005. It is now up to the...

Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: It is a constant feature of the way the Deputy approaches these matters. If anyone holds a different view, that view is ridiculous or the issue is despicable. What I am doing here is making a much-needed improvement that is overdue in meeting and recognising the needs of drivers with disabilities by extending the number of public lands in respect of statutory clamping places. As a result...

Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: Reference to non-statutory clamping places within the Bill refers to places where clamping is carried out on private land. Where clamping is operated under an existing enactment, these places are referred to in the Bill as statutory clamping places and include the public road and lands belonging to or operated by a State airport, harbours and lands belonging to the Railway Procurement Agency...

Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I followed up on the matter to which Deputies referred on previous Stages of the Bill in respect of the nature of the arrangement organisations such as Dublin City Council might have with private clamping organisations. My Department has been informed by Dublin City Council that there are neither penalties nor incentives relating to the number of cars being clamped. That is the information...

Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: The use of the term “statutory clamping place” in section 13(1)(b) is intended to distinguish between places where clamping is operated on what are generally State lands and where it is carried out on private property. As for vehicles displaying a valid disabled person’s parking permit, the current clamping exemption provided for on public roads is now being extended to...

Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: Again, I am struck by a feature of how Deputy Coppinger engages in these matters. If anyone has a different point of view on any matter, it is ridiculous and I am incapable of understanding the needs of people who have needs-----

Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank both Deputies for their comments, but they make no sense whatsoever. Deputy Catherine Murphy and Deputy Ruth Coppinger are the two Deputies, among other Deputies, who continually stand up and argue for the need for proper power to be devolved to local authorities, yet they want me, through the Bill before the House, to determine national parking policy. They cannot have it both...

Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: That is what the Deputy was referring to. I am picking up on the example used by Deputy Catherine Murphy. We are talking about how parking policy should be administered within areas, and what the Deputies are asking is that that be determined in a piece of primary legislation.

Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: When the Deputies make an argument in the increasing discourse we are in, I am always struck by the fact that they find it nearly implausible that I can have a different point of view from them.

Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: When I put a case forward, it is dismissed as ridiculous, despicable or whatever. I am simply making the point that it was a reasonable choice for the Bill to take and that we would be able to achieve more by regulating how clamping takes place, which is what we have done. The reason we have done that is that there are so many bodies involved in the administration of parking policy that it...

Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputies for their contributions. I will begin where Deputy Murphy finished. She urged that this Bill be focused on parking policy. She correctly said this Bill does not take the approach of dealing with parking policy. It deals with the regulation of clamping, which is something that has not happened before in such a strong and national manner as this Bill proposes. I will...

Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: It is beside the National Sports Campus, it is right beside it. Let us tease this out because we have gone through it on Committee Stage already. Am I to say there are no circumstances at all in which clamping should be allowed within a hospital? There could be circumstances in which clamping is allowed in the hospital. The board of management or the people running a hospital might decide...

Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I move amendment No. 1:In page 5, to delete line 19 and substitute the following:“(3) The Road Traffic Acts 1961 to 2014 and Part 5 may be cited together as the Road Traffic Acts 1961 to 2015.”.This is a technical amendment. As we are now in 2015 and the Bill was drafted in a previous year, the Chief Parliamentary Counsel has updated the legislative reference dates in the...

Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I move amendment No. 3:In page 9, between lines 7 and 8, to insert the following: “Expenses6.The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to the extent sanctioned by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.”.This amendment inserts a standard expenses section in the Bill as a new section...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Traffic Regulations (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank Senator Terry Leyden for raising this matter. I am pleased to come to the Chamber to respond and I acknowledge representatives of the industry in the Visitors Gallery. I see Senator Terry Brennan also has guests in the Visitors Gallery. They are all welcome. The legislation governing the usage of bus lanes is set out in the Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) Regulations 1997, as...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Traffic Regulations (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Senator for raising the issue. My challenge about this matter is not just how the limousine owners or its representatives will respond to this.The measure proposed would set a precedent in the use of bus lanes by other vehicles.  I am confident that bus lanes will become busier as more people use bus transport and more buses are supplied to respond to higher demand.  I...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Taxi Regulations (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: The regulation of the small public service vehicle industry is a matter for the National Transport Authority (NTA) under the provisions of the Taxi Regulation Act 2013. I have referred your question to the NTA for direct reply to you. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a response within 10 working days.