Results 3,961-3,980 of 4,700 for speaker:Noel Ahern

Road Traffic Offences. (12 Nov 2008)

Noel Ahern: I welcome the Deputy's comments. Experts state there is no safe blood alcohol level. Many people would disagree and state it depends on how one is affected by alcohol. The penalties we have mean the higher the blood alcohol content level with which one is caught the higher the fine or disqualification. This is the regulation at present. I am not sure I understand the point about a lock.

Road Traffic Offences. (12 Nov 2008)

Noel Ahern: I do not think we will make announcements on that in the Bill. The penalties and convictions in court reflect alcohol levels and previous disqualifications.

Road Traffic Offences. (12 Nov 2008)

Noel Ahern: As I said, the heads of the Bill have been agreed by the Cabinet. There will be further discussion of the detail, but the advice from the Road Safety Authority is that the limit should be reduced to 50 milligrams for all drivers other than learner drivers, recently qualified drivers and professional drivers for whom it should be reduced to 20 milligrams. These issues are being considered...

Harbour Authorities. (12 Nov 2008)

Noel Ahern: I confirm that I have recently received representations from the Association of County and City Councils regarding proposals contained within the Harbours (Amendment) Bill 2008 on the reform of port company board structures. The Harbours (Amendment) Bill 2008 recently commenced its passage through the Oireachtas and is currently in the Seanad. The primary purpose of the Bill is to give...

Harbour Authorities. (12 Nov 2008)

Noel Ahern: We are talking about ports, not harbour commissioners. There are ten ports.

Harbour Authorities. (12 Nov 2008)

Noel Ahern: There are currently three local authorities on the board of that port company, which has been the position since the mid 1990s. The remit and culture of ports has changed since corporatisation came in. They are now commercial State bodies. Other commercial State bodies such as airport authorities do not have local authority members on their boards. We are currently removing the statutory...

Harbour Authorities. (12 Nov 2008)

Noel Ahern: That is not the way it is going.

Harbour Authorities. (12 Nov 2008)

Noel Ahern: There were questions about all this and I said in the Seanad that I would look at certain aspects of it. However, we are removing the statutory provision and we want to have one member from local authorities.

Harbour Authorities. (12 Nov 2008)

Noel Ahern: The whole scene has changed, and we must have consistency. It was the position until the mid 1990s that harbour authorities represented a broad church of people. In some cases, there were 11 councillors on those boards, among others. Various reports since then have stated that there should not be any councillors or port users. The ports are now commercial State organisations like the...

Harbour Authorities. (12 Nov 2008)

Noel Ahern: There have been a few expert reports, which have stated that——

Harbour Authorities. (12 Nov 2008)

Noel Ahern: I have total respect for councillors. Like the Deputy, I spent 17 years on the council. It is a case of giving them their full status in the appropriate places. The board representation is being reduced from 12 members to eight. It is intended that there be one worker director rather than two. Most of the ports are very small. Some of them have nearly more on the board than they have as...

Written Answers — Road Traffic Offences: Road Traffic Offences (12 Nov 2008)

Noel Ahern: Legislation was introduced in the Road Traffic Act 2006 to provide for an appropriate form of roadside Mandatory Alcohol Testing (MAT). Since its introduction, gardaí have been operating 30,000 MAT checkpoints per month, thereby increasing the risk of being breathalysed. As a consequence, there has been a noticeable downward trend in the number of deaths and collisions on our roads since...

Written Answers — Road Traffic Offences: Road Traffic Offences (12 Nov 2008)

Noel Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 95, 133 and 139 together. The enforcement on foreign registered drivers of penalties for road traffic offences is a complex legal and administrative matter for many States, and my Department is pursuing this question at European, British/Irish and North/South levels. We are working with the United Kingdom with the objective of having a bilateral agreement on...

Written Answers — Road Safety: Road Safety (12 Nov 2008)

Noel Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 96, 111 and 167 together. The Road Traffic Acts provide that a member of the Garda Síochána may, where he or she is of the opinion that a person in charge of a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place is under the influence of a drug or drugs to such an extent as to be incapable of having proper control of that vehicle, require that person to go to a...

Written Answers — Road Safety: Road Safety (12 Nov 2008)

Noel Ahern: Driving under the influence of intoxicants, drugs as well as alcohol, is one of many key issues in road safety, and the testing of drivers in relation to drugs is already provided for in the Road Traffic Acts. A member of the Garda Síochána, where he or she is of the opinion that a person in charge of a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place is under the influence of a drug or...

Written Answers — Driver Licences: Driver Licences (12 Nov 2008)

Noel Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 100, 107, 124 and 144 together. The Road Safety Strategy 2007-2012 outlines a range of measures to be considered in relation to a Graduated Driver Licensing System for application to learner drivers and in the first two years after acquiring a full driving licence. The driver licensing regulations, which were made in October 2007, providing for the...

Written Answers — Port Development: Port Development (12 Nov 2008)

Noel Ahern: My Department has commissioned Indecon International Economic Consultants to undertake a comprehensive study of the role of Dublin Port as provided for under the National Development Plan 2007-2013. This study will examine the feasibility and conduct a cost-benefit analysis of various scenarios relating to Dublin Port, including: Existing port activities continuing to expand with demand,...

Written Answers — Road Safety: Road Safety (12 Nov 2008)

Noel Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 117 and 123 together. The Government is allocating €35.6 million to the Road Safety Authority for 2009. While this amount is less than that provided in 2008 (€39.1 million) the 2008 allocation included a provision to reduce the driver testing backlog. This objective was achieved and the RSA is maintaining the driver test waiting time at 10 weeks. The 2009...

Written Answers — Road Safety: Road Safety (12 Nov 2008)

Noel Ahern: The threshold for disqualification is 12 points. I have received no recommendation from the Road Safety Authority to reduce this threshold.

Written Answers — Penalty Points System: Penalty Points System (12 Nov 2008)

Noel Ahern: Penalty points were first applied in October 2002 to the offence of speeding and have since been rolled out in stages between then and September 2006 in respect of a total of 36 offences. The focus of the roll-out of the penalty points system to date has been on road safety critical offences that relate primarily to the behaviour of drivers. These include the offence of speeding, driving...