Results 4,981-5,000 of 7,278 for speaker:Dick Roche

Written Answers — Waste Water Treatment: Waste Water Treatment (28 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: My Department is in ongoing communication with the European Commission regarding the measures which continue to be put in place to comply with the wide-ranging judgment of the European Court of Justice in Case C-282/02 in relation to implementation of the Dangerous Substances Directive in Ireland. One of the measures proposed is the licensing of urban waste water discharges from local...

Written Answers — Planning Issues: Planning Issues (28 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: Specific distance requirements for residential, or other development from agricultural establishments are not provided for under planning legislation. It is a matter for each planning authority, when making decisions in relation to planning applications for their functional area, to reach a determination in each case in accordance with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.

Written Answers — Wildlife Protection: Wildlife Protection (28 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: Feral goats are not afforded protection under the Wildlife Acts and my Department is not in a position to provide expert advice on their preservation. The question of protecting this herd of goats as an element of Waterford City's biodiversity would be a matter for the City Council to consider.

Written Answers — Planning Issues: Planning Issues (28 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: Section 261 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 was commenced with effect from 28 April 2004. It introduced a once-off system of registration for all quarries, except those for which planning permission was granted in the preceding 5 years. Under the registration system quarry operators were required to supply full details of their operations to the planning authority, including...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2006: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (29 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: I was just about to finish, a Cheann Comhairle. In fact, I manfully delayed matters because I knew Deputy Gilmore wanted to talk on the issue covered by his amendment. I support the spirit of his amendment and I am trying to strengthen it somewhat. As regards amendment No. 28a, the nub of the issue is that we are allowing additional time for councils to complete their work on the electoral...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2006: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (29 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: Deputy Gilmore and I have discussed his important final point privately. I do not share the optimism, trumpeted in the press, of the chairman of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council that somehow the system operated there is superior to everywhere else. Deputy Dan Boyle made the point yesterday that it would be preferable if all councils operated on the same basis and that is why...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2006: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (29 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: As I indicated last night, I do not anticipate that a general election will be held between 15 February and 1 March 2007. We would be in odd territory if we did not have a valid electoral register. I am not taking a hard-nosed position on this matter. It would create a bad precedent to extend the 15 February deadline. It is important to have a voting register. I do not disagree with the...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2006: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (29 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: In the Deputy's absence last night I indicated my approval of his proposal to have a rolling register. The amendment makes a specific change which applies to this year only. I am not being bloody-minded on this matter and I ask Deputies to accept my bona fides. If it had been possible to make further changes to the dates, I would have done so.

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2006: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (29 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: In normal circumstances country registrars would be able to start their work on 23 September. The time available to them is already truncated. Councils will have to work hard because, as Deputy Gilmore pointed out, if substantial changes are required after the register is signed off, some process will have to be observed. It would not be wise to change the deadlines as the local...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2006: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (29 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: No, for the good reason that county registrars must comply with the dates prescribed. They do not have the facility to ask for an extension. The mechanism to trigger an extension was available to councils.

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2006: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (29 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: No.

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2006: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (29 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: I am assured that is not the case. However, the issue highlights the inflexible position in which we find ourselves. As I stated before the Committee on Environment and Local Government when Deputies Gilmore and O'Dowd asked me about extensions, it is open to me to accede to a local authority's request for an extension.

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2006: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (29 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: That is not quite correct. I am not quibbling, this is significant. Under the legislation, there was a mechanism that would apparently allow the Minister to trigger an extension at the request of a local authority. In 1997, Monaghan County Council found itself in difficulties and the dates were changed, by coincidence to dates roughly the same as those I now propose. When we discussed...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2006: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (29 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: The county registrar cannot trigger anything beyond those dates. He has no more discretion than me.

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2006: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (29 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: He does not, he has the opportunity to amend the register. On election day, a voter might arrive at the polling station to vote only to be told he cannot vote because his name is not on the register. He can then say to the polling clerk that his name was on the proof register when he checked it. The polling clerk can check that and then contact the registrar who can say the person can...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2006: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (29 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: My advice is that it would not be possible to do it any faster.

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2006: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (29 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: I am not being difficult, I have always said that when anyone made a request I would be flexible but I have been strongly advised against doing this. Deputy Gilmore made a good point that there are Members of this House, Deputy Crowe is one of them, who have not had access to the deletion list. I expect that if that is the case, any submissions Deputy Crowe makes up until 2 January will be...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2006: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (29 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: The deletions list has never before been available. I cannot accept the hypothesis that making additional information available that was never available before is a bad thing.

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2006: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (29 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: If I may make the point, the on-line access was never made available previously. This is an improvement which was introduced this year. I am smiling inwardly because one of the great silver bullet solutions suggested was to put the entire national register on a single computer. In my view, that route would really cause a problem. The whole point and purpose of our work as politicians is to...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2006: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (29 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: The supplementary register is one of those cases where people see the difficulties with the introduction of new facilities rather than the improvements that are made. The supplementary register is a relatively recent change. It was introduced for the reasons Deputy Morgan outlined, namely, that Ireland is a rapidly changing society and the addition of people to the electoral register must...