Results 281-300 of 12,487 for speaker:John O'Donoghue

Swimming Pool Projects. (17 Feb 2005)

John O'Donoghue: I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 and 14 together. This Department has not received any submission from South Dublin County Council for the provision of a swimming pool in Lucan since the previous parliamentary question by Deputy Gogarty on the subject, which I answered on 1 December 2004. The current local authority swimming pool programme, which is administered by my Department, was closed...

Swimming Pool Projects. (17 Feb 2005)

John O'Donoghue: I have the greatest sympathy for the people of Lucan. I regret the fact that no application arrived in respect of Lucan from South Dublin County Council prior to the deadline on 31 July 2000. This deadline was well advertised and everyone knew about it. We received a considerable number of applications from all around the country, including the Dublin region. In 2002, in response to a query...

Swimming Pool Projects. (17 Feb 2005)

John O'Donoghue: The difficulty with making a special case is that there are several other applicants across the country who feel that a special case should be made for them. Indeed, I have met deputations in that respect. The real difficulty is that I do not have a new programme at the moment. In Monaghan the municipal pool closed down due to serious damage and the special case was allowed. If it were at all...

Swimming Pool Projects. (17 Feb 2005)

John O'Donoghue: Deputy Deenihan eloquently made his views known on "Morning Ireland" during the week. We are trying to move that issue along.

Swimming Pool Projects. (17 Feb 2005)

John O'Donoghue: The swimming pool programme has been very successful so far. We have 15 projects completed, ten others are at construction stage, two are at tender stage, 12 are at contract document stage and 16 are at preliminary report stage. Of that 16, nine are now seeking approval preliminary reports, two are preparing preliminary reports and five have submitted feasibility studies. There is great...

Irish Genealogical Project. (17 Feb 2005)

John O'Donoghue: The Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands acquired responsibility for the Irish genealogical project from the Department of the Taoiseach in October 1997. The Irish genealogical project is building a very valuable genealogical resource which documents the key life events of all our ancestors. The Internet presents us with an opportunity to make an index of genealogical data...

Irish Genealogical Project. (17 Feb 2005)

John O'Donoghue: As I said, we have substantially increased funding for Irish Genealogy Limited. It is desirable that we increase it further, but unfortunately I do not have the resources required. It is encouraging that the project will be 97% complete by the end of 2007. Substantial progress has been made and I agree with Deputy Deenihan that it is of immense importance from the perspectives of Irish...

Tourism Industry. (17 Feb 2005)

John O'Donoghue: I propose to take Questions Nos. 7, 25 and 30 together. I do not think we will need that much time. I refer Deputies to my earlier reply to Question No. 4.

Tourism Industry. (17 Feb 2005)

John O'Donoghue: In replying to Question No. 4, I set out the details of plans we have made and implemented with a view to redressing the imbalance to which Deputy Deenihan referred. It certainly exists. Last year saw the largest number of visitors ever to our shores of 6.4 million. Revenue from tourism also increased. While the number of tourists from mainland Europe and the United States of America...

Tourism Industry. (17 Feb 2005)

John O'Donoghue: Most parts of Ireland experienced an increase in visitor numbers last year. While the south west and north west did not experience an increase, Dublin saw an increase of the significant order of 11%. I have acknowledged that while numbers increased, not every area and sector benefited. While the hotels sector did well, the bed and breakfast and farmhouse-guesthouse sector did not. While...

Tourism Industry. (17 Feb 2005)

John O'Donoghue: I have heard a lot about the action at stag nights and hen parties, but have not been invited to any.

Tourism Industry. (17 Feb 2005)

John O'Donoghue: The Deputy should speak for himself. If he is past it, that is his business. He is right in that many visitors coming from Britain are young people and they come for the events he described. They are more than welcome. However, we are also getting other kinds of visitors. Family visitors tend to spread out into the regions. It is interesting to note from data that visitors coming to Ireland...

Tourism Industry. (17 Feb 2005)

John O'Donoghue: I will first deal with the issue of dogs. On a serious note, we are very pleased that Classic Media has decided to locate the"Lassie" film in Ireland. Filming begins in April of this year, and it is an exciting project. When discussing this with Classic Media last week in New York, I brought along a representative of Tourism Ireland to discuss the possibility of the film being joined up for...

Tourism Industry. (17 Feb 2005)

John O'Donoghue: There is a possibility of sequels and that Classic Media will become increasingly engaged with Tourism Ireland in terms of promoting Ireland in conjunction with promoting the film or films. We are particularly suited to Classic Media because all film relief uniquely applies not only to films but also to television projects. Classic Media has many property rights in the television market and...

National Concert Hall. (17 Feb 2005)

John O'Donoghue: I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 9 together. As I indicated in my reply to Question No. 79 on this subject on 20 October 2004, the Office of Public Works, having investigated over several years various locations for a state-of-the-art National Concert Hall in Dublin, advised me last year that reconfiguration of the site at Earlsfort Terrace where the concert hall is located would...

National Concert Hall. (17 Feb 2005)

John O'Donoghue: Originally, negotiations were entered into with the Dublin Docklands Authority with a view to obtaining a site for the construction of a new national concert hall. However, these discussions fell through when the Dublin Docklands Authority withdrew its offer of the site under consideration. Subsequently, the Office of Public Works was asked to report on the feasibility of locating the concert...

National Concert Hall. (17 Feb 2005)

John O'Donoghue: We will certainly do everything possible. As I said, both I and the Minister for Education and Science will bring a joint memorandum to Government in the near future.

Film Industry Development. (17 Feb 2005)

John O'Donoghue: There are various measures of the value to the economy of the film sector, and methodologies and approaches can differ from one analyst to another. A strong focus in my Department in recent years has been the retention of the section 481 incentive scheme for investors in film production in Ireland. In this context, a report commissioned from PricewaterhouseCoopers by the Irish Film Board, in...

Film Industry Development. (17 Feb 2005)

John O'Donoghue: The issue of young Irish film makers was also brought to my attention by Deputy McGuinness who said there is a major problem with funding for them. Deputy Wall has buttressed that argument here today. On the previous occasion the matter was raised by Deputy McGuinness, I referred it to the Irish Film Board. Following Deputy Wall's intervention now, I will again refer the issue to the board to...

Tourism Industry. (17 Feb 2005)

John O'Donoghue: Since I assumed responsibility for the tourism portfolio, I have had a consistent focus on the competitiveness of the Irish tourism product. My focus is not so much on price as on value and my message is not so much about high prices as value for money. The industry must monitor its prices by reference to the value it provides. However, Ireland has not been, for many years, a cheap holiday...