Results 13,201-13,220 of 13,224 for speaker:Pat Gallagher

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

Pat Gallagher: There is no question of the Minister conning anyone. It was suggested in the other House that this would be additional funding over and above last year's figure but when the Minister introduced the Financial Resolution in the House on 12 December, he made it clear that the reason he increased motor taxation was to retain the same level investment in non-national roads. When I addressed the...

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

Pat Gallagher: I thank all the Senators who have contributed to the debate. I thank the Leader of the House and the Seanad staff for their co-operation in ensuring this Bill will be passed by both Houses before the statutory date. This Bill is important as it provides for the local government fund for various local authorities and ensures the increase of the general purpose fund by some 6%. It will also...

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2003: Second Stage. (1 Apr 2003)

Pat Gallagher: The origins of this Bill were established with the passing in the Dáil on 12 December last of a financial resolution which essentially amended the Finance (Excise Duties) (Vehicles) Act 1952 and the Finance (No. 2) Act 1992 in respect of rates of motor taxation and trade plate licences. However, the resolution has only a limited life and to continue its effect, it needs to be replaced by a...

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (1 Apr 2003)

Pat Gallagher: I may not be watching the Senator directly and perhaps I am out of order but it does not mean that I am not being attentive.

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (1 Apr 2003)

Pat Gallagher: I have listened to every word and could perhaps repeat it verbatim.

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (1 Apr 2003)

Pat Gallagher: I thank the Members who contributed to this important debate. As in the Dáil, the contributions were lively and wide-ranging. While many of them were outside my remit in this regard, I will try to deal with them as best I can. The contributions are a fair reflection of the Bill. Some Members who are opposed to the legislation strayed quite a bit away from it. I am not infringing on the...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters. - School Closures. (11 Mar 2003)

Pat Gallagher: I welcome this opportunity to outline to the House the position on St. Joseph's secondary school, Newtownforbes, County Longford. The school is one of four post-primary schools in the area and was established in the early 1950s. Formerly an all girls boarding school, co-education was introduced during the 1970s. In 1989 the boarding element was closed. Enrolments at the school peaked in the...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters. - Company Closures. (11 Mar 2003)

Pat Gallagher: I thank Senator Mansergh for raising this matter on the Adjournment. The Tánaiste learned with grave disappointment of the recent decision by Pall to close its medical filter manufacturing operation in Tipperary with the loss of 155 jobs. The Tánaiste understands that the parent company has made a decision to transfer this line to Puerto Rico. The company currently employs a total of 230...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters. - Tourism Industry. (11 Mar 2003)

Pat Gallagher: I thank the Senator for raising this matter on the Adjournment. It gives me little pleasure to speak about the challenges facing the tourism sector when, for the third year in a row, the industry is facing economic and financial pressures caused by events completely outside its control. The Senator's motion calls for encouragement of the airline and hotel industry to adopt flexible practices...

Seanad: Adjournment Matter. - Schools Building Projects. (5 Mar 2003)

Pat Gallagher: I thank Senator Terry for raising this matter on the Adjournment. The Department's current position regarding the allocation of funding for school projects was outlined by the Minister some time ago and is available on the Department's website. In addition, the capital programme has been published. Full details regarding individual projects, including schools being provided with temporary...

Seanad: Adjournment Matter. - Schools Building Projects. (5 Mar 2003)

Pat Gallagher: I thank Senators Kitt and Ulick Burke for giving me the opportunity to outline to the House on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science the Department's current position regarding the allocation of funding for schools building projects. The capital programme has been published and full details are available on the Department's website at www.education.ie. The programme is designed to...

Seanad: Unclaimed Life Assurance Policies Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (12 Feb 2003)

Pat Gallagher: The Minister for Finance has informed the Dáil that most low value policies are not yet computerised, so that if insurance companies had to personally notify these customers, it would entail a lengthy and substantive trawl of paper records. Considering the value of such policies, this does not seem worthwhile at this time. A balance must be reached between the aim of reuniting people with...

Seanad: Unclaimed Life Assurance Policies Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (12 Feb 2003)

Pat Gallagher: What the Senators have said seems very reasonable. To give an example, one company has approximately 500,000 policies below €500 in value which have not yet been computerised.

Seanad: Unclaimed Life Assurance Policies Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (12 Feb 2003)

Pat Gallagher: I am only giving an example. To personally notify the account holders would involve a manual trawl of paper records. This would be a huge undertaking and we might never see the money from the accounts and the people concerned might never be notified. One would have thought that all accounts would have been computerised but that is not the case. It might be possible to look at this in the...

Seanad: Unclaimed Life Assurance Policies Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (12 Feb 2003)

Pat Gallagher: Some of us are old enough to remember the insurance agents who called bringing only paper files. When insurance agents call to a customer now, they bring a laptop and everything is computerised from the outset. It is somewhat surprising to learn that one company has 500,000 small policies but it does not follow that there is €500 in each of those; some of them could be so low as to not be...

Seanad: Unclaimed Life Assurance Policies Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (12 Feb 2003)

Pat Gallagher: I had information for only one company. Companies do not have this information because they will not deal with it until legislation is passed. It could be some time before we become aware of it. If one company has 500,000 policies, it is likely there are millions.

Seanad: National Spatial Strategy: Statements. (5 Dec 2002)

Pat Gallagher: Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. Tá áthas orm an deis seo a fháil teacht go dtí an Teach chun labhairt ar an straitéis spáisiúil náisiúnta. Ar ndóigh, tá luas na forbartha in Éirinn le deich mbliain anuas suntasach ach tá an dul chun cinn tar éis a bheith míchothram. Tá roinnt limistéir ag forbairt ar bhonn níos tapúla ná limistéirí eile. Tá barraíocht forbartha...

Seanad: National Spatial Strategy: Statements. (5 Dec 2002)

Pat Gallagher: Ar an gcéad dul síos ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a chur in iúil don Teach, a thug am dom féin agus do na Seanadóirí labhairt ar an gceist thábhachtach seo. Gabhaim mo bhuíochas do na Seanadóirí go léir a ghlac pairt sa díospóireacht ar ábhar atá tábhachtach don tír go léir, idir Bhaile Átha Cliath agus an ceantar thart ar an gcathair agus do na réigiúin ach go háirithe.

Seanad: Adjournment Matters. - Roads Projects. (4 Dec 2002)

Pat Gallagher: Gabhaim buíochas don Seanadóir as ucht na ceiste seo a ardú ar an Athló agus deis labhartha a thabhairt dom maidir leis an mhéid atá le déanamh leis na hoibreacha riachtanacha seo. I thank the Senator for raising this matter on the Adjournment and giving me the opportunity to outline my views. In line with the rest of the city of Dublin, the Phoenix Park, in particular its main road,...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters. - Roads Projects. (4 Dec 2002)

Pat Gallagher: I will look into the matter. The Seanad adjourned at 9 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 5 December 2002.