Results 421-440 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Official Engagements. (1 Jun 2004)

Bertie Ahern: With regard to the first question, on two occasions recently we produced an amended version of the constitution on the issues on which we have made progress. That happened at the two Foreign Affairs Council meetings that took place in May. We have kept everybody up to date. The only areas in which we have not produced a text is where the issues are still under discussion, mainly those I...

Official Engagements. (1 Jun 2004)

Bertie Ahern: I will be discussing this issue tomorrow with Mr. Chirac and I have already discussed it with many people. We welcome the decision of the USA to circulate a draft Security Council resolution on Iraq. A new resolution would be helpful in gathering broad international support, which could assist in stabilising the new Government that takes office at the end of this month. The draft resolution...

Official Engagements. (1 Jun 2004)

Bertie Ahern: Our position is that the draft resolution is the basis for negotiation and discussion, not the final resolution. We believe it is necessary to get a consensus on the issue. The position we have been advocating is that a consensus must be achieved and the unity of the Security Council must be preserved. I have made this point during several meetings. We would like to see a resolution which...

Official Engagements. (1 Jun 2004)

Bertie Ahern: The environmental aspects of the treaty have not been opened up since last year. The position has been maintained on everything other than the issue which the Deputy has raised a number of times with me and which I continue to support, the declaration on EURATOM. We have worked particularly with the Austrians on that issue.

Official Engagements. (1 Jun 2004)

Bertie Ahern: A request was made last year and earlier this year by Jean Claude Trichet, the President of the European Central Bank, that in the long term price stability should be included as a principle of the economic policies of the Union, as it has been for the past 50 years. It has nothing to do with oil. The oil issue is an enormous one which is being discussed today at the ECOFIN Council meeting in...

Official Engagements. (1 Jun 2004)

Bertie Ahern: ——but let us not compare his energy industry with ours since we hardly have one when one considers his position.

Official Engagements. (1 Jun 2004)

Bertie Ahern: What was the Deputy's other question?

Official Engagements. (1 Jun 2004)

Bertie Ahern: If I have a fixation one way, the French have a fixation the other way. If I leave off my Presidency——

Official Engagements. (1 Jun 2004)

Bertie Ahern: We have to wait and see.

Official Engagements. (1 Jun 2004)

Bertie Ahern: It is a major issue. The French will go into discussions arguing that it should be QMV and not unanimity. That is their position. They feel strongly about that. They are supported by others. In regard to the view we advocate, obviously in the Presidency we are trying to be even-handed but when it comes to taxation issues our views are well known and I expressed those again to Prime Minister...

Official Engagements. (1 Jun 2004)

Bertie Ahern: On the Irish language, we have continued since January and have put forward our positions. We are getting a good hearing on this issue. An interdepartmental group is working on it. We have been trying to improve the position of the language but without going to full status which would create a number of practical difficulties. We will make some progress but I cannot say when. Enhancing the...

Leaders' Questions. (1 Jun 2004)

Bertie Ahern: Deputy Kenny has outlined a number of facts. There is no point in my talking about the facts because I have already done so. The Deputy is correct that we have had a series of announcements from Allied Irish Banks and the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority, IFSRA, which cover a range of matters from foreign exchange charges to the transactions of AIBIM in the early 1990s. Lapses of...

Leaders' Questions. (1 Jun 2004)

Bertie Ahern: Mr. Gleeson and previous holders of his position are people of outstanding probity and credibility who do their best to ensure these things do not happen. Unfortunately, people do not do what we expect them to do within the normal standards of business. That is the disappointment, we would expect more of many of the people involved in these issues at different levels. It is not always the...

Leaders' Questions. (1 Jun 2004)

Bertie Ahern: On the different investigations, last year there was a radical overhaul of the institutional structures for financial services regulation and many of these regulations had not been tried or tested before now. This year we are enacting a second, complementary Bill that will give more powers to IFSRA to protect consumers and the financial system. Today we are debating Report Stage of the...

Leaders' Questions. (1 Jun 2004)

Bertie Ahern: IFSRA has already made details public. I presume it intends to follow such a policy. Since the DIRT inquiry Revenue has been making many more details public. It now has the power to put into the public domain information regarding cases and settlements. There is not now a veil of secrecy as there was in the past. I have mentioned that substantial penalties can be imposed on corporate...

Leaders' Questions. (1 Jun 2004)

Bertie Ahern: I have already stated the powers that exist. These issues should not be treated in a light-hearted manner. The result of doing so is that they are not taken seriously. These are very serious matters.

Leaders' Questions. (1 Jun 2004)

Bertie Ahern: Thanks to the work of this House and the legislation brought forward by the Government we have good corporate compliance, a good IFSRA Bill and good financial regulators. All these, individually and collectively, have a role to play. They have the powers and functions to investigate, and I have no doubt they will do that. As I said earlier, one can never be certain that any regulatory...

Leaders' Questions. (1 Jun 2004)

Bertie Ahern: The Deputy is correct that the banks wield a great deal of power and control. They have many responsibilities and there are regulatory bodies to deal with them at all levels. There is disappointment about this issue. The banks are important for international trade and investment. This country does extraordinarily well from foreign direct investment. It is also an export economy, exporting...

Order of Business. (1 Jun 2004)

Bertie Ahern: It is proposed to take No. 9, Motion re Ministerial Rota for Parliamentary Questions; No. 10, Referral to Select Committee of proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of Certain Acts of the 1999 Congress of the Universal Postal Union; No. 19, Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland Bill 2003 — Report Stage (resumed) and Final Stage; and No. 20, International Criminal Court Bill...

Order of Business. (1 Jun 2004)

Bertie Ahern: I apologise for the fact that Deputy Kenny was not informed about the Tánaiste's being away, although he knew I was away. She is on European business.