Results 5,521-5,540 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Leaders' Questions. (21 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The next strategy of the affordable homes partnership is under way. Des Geraghty and his colleagues are doing an excellent job of promoting that. Legislative proposals for additional powers under the partnership are being developed. The housing framework policy, Building Sustainable Communities, includes policies to ensure an effective private housing market, increased supply and reformed...

Leaders' Questions. (21 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Deputy Joe Higgins loves asking questions——

Leaders' Questions. (21 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: ——but never wants to listen to answers. He would love to return to the days of——

Leaders' Questions. (21 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: ——pathetic poverty when de Valera and Lemass built social houses, when no other houses were being built. People were living in council houses and had to emigrate because they had no jobs and no future.

Leaders' Questions. (21 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: That is the great tradition Deputy Higgins and his merry warriors want to bring back. We are building at a greater rate than the United States, Europe or the UK. We are providing new homes to the working class and young people at a rate matched by no country in Europe.

Leaders' Questions. (21 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Approximately 20 new homes are produced annually per 1,000 of the population compared to an EU average of five. We are providing houses for our young people at four times the average rate.

Leaders' Questions. (21 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Does Deputy Higgins wish to drag us back to a time when people had no salaries and no jobs? He has a failed ideology and the most hopeless policy pursued by any nitwit. He is a failed person who was rejected and whose political philosophy has been rejected. He will not pull people back into the failed old policies he dreamed up in south Kerry when he was a young fellow. Now go away.

Official Engagements. (21 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 16, inclusive, together. I received a personal invitation from the United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, to attend the United Nations special summit on AIDS in New York in early June. The Secretary General expressed his gratitude for the important advocacy role Ireland has played with our European partners and for the significant resources we have...

Official Engagements. (21 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: On the first two questions, I reiterate our commitment to increase expenditure on HIV and other poverty related diseases to €100 million per year. This is a target we can achieve. It is a considerable support from this country to the HIV campaign. We are to the forefront of the campaign and recognised as such for the efforts that we, as a small country, have put in. Through our missionaries...

Official Engagements. (21 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: If such countries do not have to repay debts, they can use the money they save for their health and social programmes and, therefore, there is a direct return. I do not agree with including other costs, but that is a fair and legitimate cost. I do not agree with the tied aid cost or other imaginative mathematical equations used by other countries. I thank the Deputy for his support in this...

Official Engagements. (21 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I hugely support volunteerism at home and abroad. All our main NGOs constantly seek volunteers and leave arrangements are made for those who travel. I would broadly support examining anything that helps in this regard. In principle, without examining the practicality, I favour anything that encourages people and makes it easier for them to provide their expertise for a period abroad. A number...

Official Engagements. (21 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: We will definitely examine this.

Official Engagements. (21 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: In recent years, a number of the relevant groups and bodies have raised this issue directly with me. They pointed out to me the areas of discrimination and their difficulties in receiving treatment. In the main such treatment is provided through the hospital network. It is the policy of the Department of Health and Children and, by extension, of the HSE, that arrangements should be made for...

Official Engagements. (21 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Deputy Joe Higgins is correct with regard to armaments in Africa. Five civil wars are underway there at present, and in their absence, the amount of available resources in the affected countries and in the region generally would massively help their development. This has been an ongoing issue for the past ten or 20 years, since the early 1980s. It has been an issue since AIDS ravished these...

Official Engagements. (21 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I thank the Deputy for his comments. I also appreciate his involvement in the meetings related to the summit. In common with many other matters, Ireland's position in this regard is not widely understood at home. Our role has nothing to do with me personally. Ireland has played a role in this regard for the past ten years through its non-governmental organisations, religious orders and...

Official Engagements. (21 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The important matter emphasised when I met many African organisations while I was there, is the provision of drugs. A great deal of progress is being made on that, but not enough. The drug companies should be prepared to put in enormous amounts. It would be good for them, would not cost them a great deal and they would receive support for that. Drugs can have major and quick success. It could...

Order of Business. (21 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: It is proposed to take No. 18, statements on the European Council, Brussels; and No. 1, Road Traffic Bill 2006 [Seanad] — Second Stage, resumed. It is proposed, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, (1) that the proceedings on No. 18 shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion after 80 minutes and the following arrangements shall apply: the statements shall, if not...

Order of Business. (21 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I thank Deputy Stagg for acknowledging that we have tried to avoid guillotines since October. Inevitably, as we approach the end of the session, we must get the legislation through. I take the point that if all Bills were ready and out of the Office of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel and the Departments, the problem might never arise. However, there are always issues to be examined and the...

Order of Business. (21 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The criminal justice trafficking in persons and sexual offences Bill is to give effect to a number of international instruments on trafficking in persons and sexual exploitation of children. The heads have not yet been completed and therefore it is not possible for me to give the date on which the Bill will be introduced. The criminal justice DNA database Bill will be ready later this year....

Order of Business. (21 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Deputy Rabbitte has raised this matter previously. My office has been in contact with that of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and we have been told the report of Mr. Justice Barr is now complete and ready for printing. He expects to be in a position to report to the Oireachtas in early to mid-July. I will ask if it can be received in early July. I wouldhave no difficulty in...