Results 13,181-13,200 of 13,224 for speaker:Pat Gallagher

Seanad: Licensing of Indoor Events Bill 2001: Committee and Remaining Stages. (7 May 2003)

Pat Gallagher: Each fire authority has one chief fire officer. This chief fire officer, unlike a politician, cannot be on call 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. It would be extremely serious if this power were vested in the chief fire officer alone or in the the county manager. We are vesting this power in the authorised officer, appointed by the fire authority. While it is likely to be the chief fire...

Seanad: Licensing of Indoor Events Bill 2001: Committee and Remaining Stages. (7 May 2003)

Pat Gallagher: I am not sure if there are any county managers who were chief fire officers. It is somewhat irrelevant. The authorised officers, to be appointed by a fire authority county manager, will definitely be chief fire officers, senior fire officer or assistant fire officers. It is not necessary to insert ", through its Chief Fire Officer or Inspection Officer," as they are all covered under the term...

Seanad: Licensing of Indoor Events Bill 2001: Committee and Remaining Stages. (7 May 2003)

Pat Gallagher: I have no difficulty with the principle behind the amendments, which are similar to the amendments tabled in the in Dáil prior to Easter. Of course, a number of years down the road whether the fine is €3,000 or €1.3 million on indictment, it may need to be increased. That is a problem that has always existed. This matter will be resolved and responsibility for the indexation of fines is...

Seanad: Licensing of Indoor Events Bill 2001: Committee and Remaining Stages. (7 May 2003)

Pat Gallagher: I am pleased to have the opportunity to clarify what I said earlier. I do not want any ambiguity whatsoever. This has to be totally black and white. I said that if it was not to be index-linked, €3,000, on summary, or €1.3 million, on indictment, in the year 2020, for example, would not be a great deal. I was merely making the point that index-linking would overcome all difficulties....

Seanad: Licensing of Indoor Events Bill 2001: Committee and Remaining Stages. (7 May 2003)

Pat Gallagher: If that was the situation, we would be sitting 365 days of the year to cover every Bill. A fines Bill will include the issue of indexation and will deal with the issue across all Acts of the Oireachtas. There will be no necessity to return to this Bill. The Finance Bill will deal with the entire spectrum and with all Acts of the Oireachtas. It will not be necessary to return to every Act...

Seanad: Licensing of Indoor Events Bill 2001: Committee and Remaining Stages. (7 May 2003)

Pat Gallagher: Section 25 replaces section 5 of the Fire Services Act 1981 with a new section 5, which updates the penalty provisions of the 1981 Act and brings them into line with current practice. Indexation will then take over. It also removes the complicated procedures for dealing with offences under sections 18(2), 20 and 37 as set out in the old section 5(3) of the Fire Services Act 1981. This...

Seanad: Licensing of Indoor Events Bill 2001: Committee and Remaining Stages. (7 May 2003)

Pat Gallagher: Section 30 deals with the closure notice to be inserted into the Fire Service Act 1981. These amendments have been recommended by the parliamentary counsel and are mainly textual or technical in scope. Their purpose is to improve the text of the Bill and provide for greater clarity in the provisions of the section.

Seanad: Licensing of Indoor Events Bill 2001: Committee and Remaining Stages. (7 May 2003)

Pat Gallagher: No. The amendments are mainly textual or technical in scope. For example, amendment No. 12 inserts a comma after the word "declares" in page 22, line 22; amendment No. 13 inserts the word "or" after the word "served," in page 22, line 23 and amendment No. 20 inserts the words "and obtained" after the word "sought" in page 23, line 45. The amendments seek to improve the Bill, not to provide...

Seanad: Licensing of Indoor Events Bill 2001: Committee and Remaining Stages. (7 May 2003)

Pat Gallagher: I thank the Senators who participated in the debate on Second and Committee Stages. Amendments tabled by the Government were important and I thank the House for accepting them unanimously. The amendments which have been approved here will be considered by the Dáil as soon as possible and the Bill will hopefully be enacted at an early date. I wish to respond to an issue which is in the public...

Seanad: Licensing of Indoor Events Bill 2001: Second Stage. (15 Apr 2003)

Pat Gallagher: I welcome the opportunity to appear before the Seanad today to discuss the Licensing of Indoor Events Bill 2001, the primary purpose of which is to ensure public safety at large-scale indoor events. The Bill is set out in three Parts. Parts 1 and 2 relate to the licensing system for indoor events while Part 3 relates to amendments to the Fire Services Act 1981. Like anyone else going out for...

Seanad: Licensing of Indoor Events Bill 2001: Second Stage. (15 Apr 2003)

Pat Gallagher: I thank Senators from all sides for their very constructive contributions to this all important debate on the Licensing of Indoor Events Bill 2001. I appreciate it is some time since the Bill was originally initiated as it took a long time to get into the queue. It is almost complete and I have no doubt we will get the necessary co-operation from the House with a view to ensuring we can...

Seanad: Licensing of Indoor Events Bill 2001: Second Stage. (15 Apr 2003)

Pat Gallagher: The legislation also covers churches, a subject Senators may wish to discuss at a later date. As far as venues are concerned, each event will require a licence as crowd management issues vary with the type of gig and audience profile. A rave gig with a teenage audience would require a high level of crowd control, whereas a classical concert would not. For example, a Daniel O'Donnell concert...

Seanad: Licensing of Indoor Events Bill 2001: Second Stage. (15 Apr 2003)

Pat Gallagher: It can vary from time to time. Senator Quinn raised a question concerning the recommendations of the Farrell, Grant Sparks report on fire safety and services, including the proposal to establish a national fire authority. A number of recommendations are being considered by the Minister. We can all agree that there are many positive recommendations to improve the delivery of fire services. It...

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2003: Committee and Remaining Stages. (2 Apr 2003)

Pat Gallagher: The amendment proposes to give primacy to tertiary roads in the context of extra revenue generated by the increases in motor tax set out in the Bill. I cannot accept it as to give statutory priority to a particular class of road such as tertiary roads would set a most unwelcome and inflexible precedent. Senator Tuffy, supported by Senator Bannon, is saying the €65 million should be spent on...

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2003: Committee and Remaining Stages. (2 Apr 2003)

Pat Gallagher: It was less than €500,000 in comparison to a contribution in my county of €3 million and a contribution in Galway of €5 million.

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2003: Committee and Remaining Stages. (2 Apr 2003)

Pat Gallagher: I hope the Senator's council will be able to respond when we raise this matter with it. The 2003 Estimate for this area is €432,000 compared with €410,700 last year. We must be realistic about this. I am making an obvious point. If there are problems in this area, local authorities have a duty and a responsibility to contribute some of their resources to address them. A number of local...

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2003: Committee and Remaining Stages. (2 Apr 2003)

Pat Gallagher: This is a matter for each local authority and we will look at it on an authority by authority basis. Senator Tuffy mentioned Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, which under the 2003 allocation receives €9 million, though there is nothing for tertiary roads. However, if one goes back a few years it received €127,000 for that sector. This is a matter of priorities but if her local...

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2003: Committee and Remaining Stages. (2 Apr 2003)

Pat Gallagher: The effect of this amendment would be to eliminate altogether the existing relatively low surcharge that applies to taxing one's car on a quarterly rather than annual basis. Fractions of a euro are rounded downwards for motor tax purposes and the proposed amendment would make it cheaper to tax a car on a quarterly rather than an annual basis. There would also be additional administration...

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2003: Committee and Remaining Stages. (2 Apr 2003)

Pat Gallagher: I appreciate the points the Senator makes. Everyone can face financial pressure and I readily accept that motor taxation is expensive for young people. More importantly, however, their insurance costs are much too high, a problem I hope will be rectified by the steps being taken by the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The annual rate of motor taxation for cars in...

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2003: Committee and Remaining Stages. (2 Apr 2003)

Pat Gallagher: As the House is aware, the purpose of the increases in motor tax is to fund local authorities' general purpose and road funds in 2003. The level of increase in motor tax rates provided for in the Financial Resolution passed by the Dáil on 12 December last, and provided for in this Bill, is set at 12%. The Senator's amendment would see the increases reduced to 5%. A decision to increase taxes...