Results 4,341-4,360 of 18,851 for speaker:Fergus O'Dowd

Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Nov 2009)

Fergus O'Dowd: We sent our apologies and stated that the Bill was being discussed.

Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Nov 2009)

Fergus O'Dowd: I am not quibbling about this but amendment No. 3 is not grouped with those amendments on the list of groupings which I have. Is that a typing error?

Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Nov 2009)

Fergus O'Dowd: I do not have that document.

Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Nov 2009)

Fergus O'Dowd: Based on the information I received amendment No. 3 should be discussed separately. I am not here to waste anybody's time but on a point of order, amendment No. 3 is separate.

Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Nov 2009)

Fergus O'Dowd: I want to be clear. I know people have been working overtime and that there have been difficulties; I accept and acknowledge that. I will call a vote on amendment No. 3 but I will discuss all of them together. I accept that the pink sheet is more powerful than the white one. I move amendment No. 3: In page 7, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following: "5.—A public bus passenger...

Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Nov 2009)

Fergus O'Dowd: That is rubbish. I never suggested that.

Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Nov 2009)

Fergus O'Dowd: I want to challenge what has been said.

Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Nov 2009)

Fergus O'Dowd: Rubbish.

Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Nov 2009)

Fergus O'Dowd: I need to address the issues.

Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Nov 2009)

Fergus O'Dowd: On a procedural issue, I was informed at 11.30 a.m. that amendment No. 3 would be dealt with in a group with the other amendments. I want to reply to the serious points made but I will not be able to do so in two minutes. Is it possible for me to address each of the amendments?

Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Nov 2009)

Fergus O'Dowd: Yes. I would expect to press it before that time.

Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Nov 2009)

Fergus O'Dowd: I appreciate that.

Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Nov 2009)

Fergus O'Dowd: In terms of this debate, I have never come across a more uninformed Minister of State. I am not being personal. We are talking about choice for consumers yet he chooses to misrepresent what I said as being an extreme view and as being in favour of complete deregulation, which is untrue. I would put the Minister of State on one side of the Berlin Wall, which featured on George Lee's...

Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Nov 2009)

Fergus O'Dowd: The Deputy should sit down. We listened to him for long enough.

Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Nov 2009)

Fergus O'Dowd: The Deputy cannot make a point of information. He can make a point of order, with the consent of the Chair.

Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Nov 2009)

Fergus O'Dowd: I know much more about it than Deputy Broughan.

Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Nov 2009)

Fergus O'Dowd: The core of the argument is whether we open it up to competition, as the late Minister, Séamus Brennan, proposed ten years ago. Under this legislation, it will not happen for at least another five years. That is to wait 15 years for change. We in Fine Gael say we will change this immediately. We will have no sweetheart deals with companies. We will let everybody in, be they State or...

Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Nov 2009)

Fergus O'Dowd: I hope to do that. I want to get to the core of what the Minister and I are saying. There is a significant division of thought between Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour concerning the opening of competition in our transport systems. Deputy Broughan spoke about a State-controlled system and the Minister of State mentioned an award system for State companies to the exclusion of everybody...

Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Nov 2009)

Fergus O'Dowd: That was the rise. This means the Minister favours inefficiency in services and a lack of support or supply to people in communities. Over 200,000 of all new homes built in the State from 2000 to 2008 were in the greater Dublin area, yet the number of buses in the Dublin fleet remained almost static.

Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Nov 2009)

Fergus O'Dowd: The number rose from 987 to 1,028.