Results 3,761-3,780 of 13,375 for speaker:Pat Rabbitte

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: The Minister is correct because that type of person will take action to put the situation right, but the great majority of those who have been inadvertently deleted, as the Minister put it, will not put it right and there will be a great deal of anger on polling day when they find that they have been removed from the register. Third World countries invite the United Nations to verify that...

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: When we paid rates, there was no difficulty in keeping the register accurate and up to date. Respectfully, I made seven points about what the Government might do. Unless the Minister's party has a system that is unavailable to the rest of us, which I am sure is not the case, this is a democratic question for our democracy. The Minister does not seem to take on board the point that the...

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: If local authorities require more resources, those resources should be made available. The Government should extend the 25 November deadline because, after that date, one cannot cause one's name to be put on the register until the final register is produced in February, at which time one must go through the rigorous process of attending a Garda station and so on. This is not a satisfactory...

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: There is a compelling argument to remove the matter from the aegis of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and local authorities——

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: ——and to set up an electoral commission to address the issue. In terms of the immediate situation with which we are confronted, I ask the Minister to address seriously the seven points I raised.

Ceisteanna — Questions (8 Nov 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: Question 1: To ask the Taoiseach the number of households that failed or refused to complete and return the census forms in respect of the recent census; if an estimate of the numbers in these households was included in the preliminary figures published in July 2006; the action being taken in respect of households that refused to return forms; and if he will make a statement on the matter....

Ceisteanna — Questions (8 Nov 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: I commend the quality of the work done by the CSO. The first thing that occurs to me about the Minister of State's reply is to compare it with the response of the Minister for Finance earlier on the question of the electoral register. The Minister of State said there were 440 enumerators and a certain number of supervisors and others.

Ceisteanna — Questions (8 Nov 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: If almost 5,000 are required to carry out the census it is probably not surprising we have made such a botched job of the electoral register, on which 1,500 people were employed to do essentially the same job in a shorter period. Will the Minister for Finance, who is still in the House, take that on board? I do not expect him——

Ceisteanna — Questions (8 Nov 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: I am very sorry a Cheann Comhairle. I did not mean to refer to the presence of the Minister for Finance. Let it be deleted from the record. However, if he is listening outside, he might take——

Ceisteanna — Questions (8 Nov 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: It is a constructive point and purely intended as such. We need to take urgent action on the matter and the answer provided by the Minister of State bears out statistically the truth of that. In respect of the one sixth of houses in the jurisdiction that are not habitually occupied, what rule of thumb did the CSO apply? We had some exchanges previously on the issue of the shortfall —...

Ceisteanna — Questions (8 Nov 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: The suggestion put forward by my colleague, Deputy Quinn, was that there would be two separate forms. I cannot see how two separate forms, handled and sealed separately, could involve any breach of confidentiality. What is the anticipated date of publication of the final census report?

Ceisteanna — Questions (8 Nov 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: That is a bit like the electoral register. Even the Ceann Comhairle must admit this question is permissible under the rules. What does "early next year" mean?

Ceisteanna — Questions (8 Nov 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: Will the Minister of State find out for us?

Ceisteanna — Questions (8 Nov 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: We have never seen the advice proffered to suggest the very reliable data we already have in the preliminary report is not a basis for revision of constituencies. Is it the Government's intention to make that advice available to the House generally?

Ceisteanna — Questions (8 Nov 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: Maybe I am losing it Minister. Did the Minister of State say how the one sixth of houses that are vacant most of the time were treated?

Ceisteanna — Questions (8 Nov 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: Six thousand what?

Ceisteanna — Questions (8 Nov 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: The Minister of State is mishearing me. The same figures show that a sixth of the houses in the State are not habitually occupied. How is that treated in the census? That is not 6,000, as the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government with special responsibility for housing would remind us.

Ceisteanna — Questions (8 Nov 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: Is the Minister of State saying that, if a census enumerator knocks on a door in An Spidéal but finds nobody at home, the occupants are simply excluded?

Ceisteanna — Questions (8 Nov 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: I take it the Minister of State is not chancing his arm. Has he established that with the CSO?

Order of Business (8 Nov 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: Does the Minister for Finance believe a referendum will be necessary arising from the St. Andrews agreement? If so is it likely to be held at the same time as the referendum on the rights of the child?