Results 4,101-4,120 of 10,035 for speaker:Martin Cullen
- Road Safety Authority Bill 2004: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2006)
Martin Cullen: Yes, that has been done.
- Road Safety Authority Bill 2004: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2006)
Martin Cullen: The public is openly measuring our performance, as are the Opposition and the media. Hence, performance measurement cannot be avoided. The issues are quite clear. People's perceptions of the success or otherwise of our performance is clear. I agree with some, if not all, of their points. It is becoming difficult to have no more than 300 deaths on our roads in 2006. Given the bad start to the...
- Road Safety Authority Bill 2004: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2006)
Martin Cullen: I do not disagree with much of what the Deputies said because it is already included in the Bill. However, while there appears to be a different approach on how to frame the Bill, we all know what we are talking about. The function of the road safety authority has been made abundantly clear. The reason the programmes have been included is that I was strongly advised by the experts that...
- Road Safety Authority Bill 2004: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2006)
Martin Cullen: There is no rocket science in this. I am telling you what he will do.
- Road Safety Authority Bill 2004: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2006)
Martin Cullen: I do not write into legislation everything someone will or will not do.
- Road Safety Authority Bill 2004: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2006)
Martin Cullen: Does the Deputy want people sitting in their offices and asking what they will do on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday?
- Road Safety Authority Bill 2004: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2006)
Martin Cullen: I am surprised at the Deputy. She wants to limit what the authority can do while I want to expand what it can do. I will not limit its functions. I have given it the widest possible responsibilities. We have enunciated them on Committee Stage, in the House and in the public domain. In the way it is written, the Bill allows the authority members to do everything they might want to do. It is...
- Road Safety Authority Bill 2004: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2006)
Martin Cullen: I do disagree largely with what Deputy Mitchell said about our driving tester system. Sadly, it is clearly not capable of delivering on the demands made on it. As Deputy Mitchell asked, what is this doing in the public sector in the first place? That might have been fine in the past but there are now major issues in terms of managing the situation in the future. I will not begin to discuss...
- Road Safety Authority Bill 2004: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2006)
Martin Cullen: It is more than diminishing. The Deputy would be shocked at the average number of tests delivered. The system is quite untenable. In all my years in public life I have never seen anything as bad. The more one digs, the more one becomes appalled. Deputy Mitchell is correct in saying this is grossly unfair to the customers out there trying to get a test, and it is also having a major impact on...
- Road Safety Authority Bill 2004: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2006)
Martin Cullen: Deputy Shortall raised two issues. The immediate challenge of getting rid of the backlog is fundamental to doing anything on all the issues on which we have both enunciated. That issue has to be sorted out immediately. The road safety authority will be given responsibility to devise a new system, taking on board the good reports and recommendations available. If I got all the money in the...
- Road Safety Authority Bill 2004: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2006)
Martin Cullen: Yes, and also personal commitment. Even within the existing system nobody can justify what is going on. That is a statement of fact. I do not think the Deputy or anybody else is trying to justify it.
- Road Safety Authority Bill 2004: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2006)
Martin Cullen: I am just setting out the position. The road safety authority will be responsible for devising a solution.
- Road Safety Authority Bill 2004: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2006)
Martin Cullen: I met the leadership of the unions. In as straight and robust way as I could I made my position clear. I am somewhat disappointed I am not getting a positive response, given the urgency of the matter. So much is happening in the Department of Transport that I cannot recall if it was last week or the previous week that I met them. A reasonable amount of time has passed since I spoke with them....
- Road Safety Authority Bill 2004: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2006)
Martin Cullen: If what was supposed to be done was done under the existing system there would not be a backlog. The figures are clear.
- Road Safety Authority Bill 2004: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2006)
Martin Cullen: The Deputy and I appear to be at cross-purposes because the objective of the Bill is to introduce, for the first time, proper standards and regulation of driving instructors. This is the purpose for which the road safety authority will be established. The authority will be designated as an approved body to issue instruction certificates as envisaged in section 18 of the Road Traffic Act 1968,...
- Road Safety Authority Bill 2004: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2006)
Martin Cullen: That is a slightly different issue which is covered by other legislation.
- Road Safety Authority Bill 2004: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2006)
Martin Cullen: It is a pity he was not testing drivers as it may have achieved a better outcome.
- Road Safety Authority Bill 2004: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2006)
Martin Cullen: Deputies are ad idem on this issue. It is clear that the main issue is that anybody, regardless of whom they work for, must have a certificate of competence to give driving instruction. The Bill will address this by regulating and certifying all those who take learner drivers on to the road to learn to drive.
- Road Safety Authority Bill 2004: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2006)
Martin Cullen: I will address that matter in a moment but first I will focus on the core issue, as highlighted by Deputy Crowe. The standards applied will be regulated and certified and those providing instruction will be certified and monitored. The question of who owns the company providing the tuition is a different issue. The issue before us is the competence of the individual providing driving tuition...
- Road Safety Authority Bill 2004: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2006)
Martin Cullen: We will return to this issue, on which I am trying to get as much information as possible, in the road traffic Bill.