Results 3,021-3,040 of 10,035 for speaker:Martin Cullen

Road Network. (24 Nov 2005)

Martin Cullen: It is not in my language.

Road Network. (24 Nov 2005)

Martin Cullen: I accept that there are challenges for Shannon but Cork sees the future in a positive way, with all sorts of benefits accruing in international airspace. Knock sees it the same way and welcomes open skies. Those airports are confident about the opportunities presented by open skies. Shannon is in pole position, so it has an even greater opportunity than airports that are less well known...

Road Network. (24 Nov 2005)

Martin Cullen: A feasibility study is being done on the connection to Shannon. It is extraordinary that both Deputies, who, along with their party leaders, seek value for money every day, would suggest that we should put a rail link in place without any economic assessment of the value for money on behalf of the taxpayer.

Road Safety. (24 Nov 2005)

Martin Cullen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 and 71 together. I refer the Deputies to my reply to Question No. 3. Work on establishing the road safety authority is well advanced in my Department. It was originally intended that the new body would be called the driver testing and standards authority and would deliver the driver licensing and driver testing service only. The Government decided in July to...

Road Safety. (24 Nov 2005)

Martin Cullen: I do not accept that the Deputy is being asked to buy a pig in a poke. I have appeared before two committees and explained in detail what I am doing. I have here laid out, in broad but direct terms, the responsibilities of the authority. I have also stated that the National Safety Council will become part of the authority to create, on a statutory basis, one body that will have responsibility...

Road Safety. (24 Nov 2005)

Martin Cullen: I am doing this and we are waiting because the Labour Party asked me to do it on Second Stage of the Driver Testing and Standards Authority Bill.

Road Safety. (24 Nov 2005)

Martin Cullen: This came to fruition during the debate and in another forum. The momentum gathered and I said I would stand back. If there is a better way, I try to work with it if it is possible to do so. It has caused some delay but the consensus is that it was better to establish the new authority from scratch and appoint the interim chief executive officer, who is already working away on getting things...

Air Services. (24 Nov 2005)

Martin Cullen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 8, 172, 183, and 186 together. I refer the Deputies to my reply to a Priority Question earlier. The conclusion that open skies will be good for Irish tourism, aviation, business links and the economy generally is clear and I do not intend to delay those benefits further by commissioning another study on the impact of open skies. As already stated in reply to...

Air Services. (24 Nov 2005)

Martin Cullen: While Shannon Airport faces significant challenges, it will also be presented with major opportunities. The change should be embraced positively, not negatively. I instanced why management at Knock Airport, which has a smaller hinterland compared with Shannon Airport, is positive about the open skies policy and looks forward to providing many transatlantic routes. As Shannon Airport is a...

Air Services. (24 Nov 2005)

Martin Cullen: Deputy Olivia Mitchell would make a good snooker player as she tries to position me between two opposing points of view. The negotiations were difficult because I was trying to strike a balance to benefit the entire State but, equally, I wanted to achieved a transitional arrangement for Shannon Airport. The balance has been struck and even though open skies will be in place next year, there...

Rail Services. (24 Nov 2005)

Martin Cullen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 9, 15, 19, 25, 39 and 98 together. The licensing and allocation of track access for rail operations are governed by two EU directives which have been transposed into Irish law: SI 537 of 2003, the European Communities (Licensing of Railway Undertakings) Regulations 2003 which transpose into Irish law EU Directive 2001/13 establishing a mechanism whereby an...

Rail Services. (24 Nov 2005)

Martin Cullen: That is not the case. I have enunciated my priority to the Deputy but I am not going to start liberalising the market by suggesting to the market generally that there is a pot of taxpayers' money to be shovelled out to it willy nilly. That is not the route I am taking, and I hope the Green Party will support me in that. New and innovative ideas may well come forward which may involve new ways...

Rail Services. (24 Nov 2005)

Martin Cullen: As I said earlier, perhaps when Deputy Ryan was not in the House, what the Irish rail freight market offers is clearly very limited. Rail freight is only viable over long distances. The island of Ireland, being the size it is, does not provide that type of capacity in its network.

Rail Services. (24 Nov 2005)

Martin Cullen: Unlike most other European countries, which are connected to each other, we are not. We are quite isolated in the context of the international rail freight market. While I encourage entrants to the Irish market, it is not rocket science to figure out why there is not a great interest in the market.

Rail Services. (24 Nov 2005)

Martin Cullen: I wonder if people listen to me. I have been saying all along that a major, substantial international operator is very interested in coming onto the Irish market. That is terrific news. Are we saying that one such operator is not enough, that there should be ten or 20? One substantial competitor would have a dramatic effect on the Irish market. Let us be realistic about the scale of our...

Rail Services. (24 Nov 2005)

Martin Cullen: I can put on the record, because it is already known, that the company which came and did the deal, and publicly stated that Iarnród Éireann did everything to facilitate it, was the Norfolk Line which runs major railways internationally. I was at the meeting, which was not organised by me, where it made its statement. The problem is that getting the unit load from the factory door to where...

Rail Services. (24 Nov 2005)

Martin Cullen: That is why we have invested up to €900 million.

Rail Services. (24 Nov 2005)

Martin Cullen: I have answered all the supplementary questions relevant to the question before the House. The Government and I are committed to facilitating in any way we possibly can the development of rail freight.

Road Safety. (24 Nov 2005)

Martin Cullen: The latest available analysis from the National Roads Authority, NRA, of the factors contributing to fatal and injury accidents, as published in Road Collision Facts — Ireland 2003, indicates that behaviour of drivers, 86%, and pedestrians, 10%, are the key contributory factors, whereas road factors were identified as contributory factors in only 2.8% of fatal and serious injury collisions....

Road Safety. (24 Nov 2005)

Martin Cullen: I would sympathise with any family that has lost a family member under any circumstance, tragic circumstances, road accidents and so on. That goes for all of us in the House. I simply made the point in reply to the Deputy's question that the latest figures show that road factors were responsible for only 2.8% of fatal and serious injury accidents. I went on to say that notwithstanding that...