Results 5,561-5,580 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Interdepartmental Committees. (27 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: To answer Deputy Naughten's question, one only has to look at the roads system. If one looks at the list of projects for this year outside the Dublin area, it includes the Dundalk-Border road, the Monaghan bypass, the Castleblayney bypass, the Edgeworthstown bypass, which was opened last week, the Kinnegad-Athlone road, the Ballyshannon-Bundoran road, the Mullingar bypass, the...

Interdepartmental Committees. (27 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I agree. It will cost in the order of €400 million. It is an enormous project and is moving ahead, in the planning stage, at pace. Work has also begun on the Atlantic corridor, linking rail and road. The first section of the rail line will link Sligo and Ennis. Work on the road network between Limerick and Galway is also advancing. These projects are enormously costly. Approximately €1.5...

Interdepartmental Committees. (27 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The team has done a great deal of good work on ports in recent years, all of it predicated on their importance, since we depend on seaborne trade. Ports are of great economic significance to the country's prosperity, being vital gateways for commercial freight and sea passengers. Almost all our overseas trade goes by sea, underlining ports' commercial significance and strategic importance....

Interdepartmental Committees. (27 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: On the first point, I do not want to answer for our traffic engineers, particularly those who worked out the strategy for how traffic will work in Dublin city.

Interdepartmental Committees. (27 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: They have put a great deal of work into this and I am sure they have dealt with the issue. From the driving point of view, the alternative of staying in the outer lane would not make sense for trucks coming out of the tunnel at the point north of Santry.

Interdepartmental Committees. (27 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: They do.

Interdepartmental Committees. (27 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: If trucks must cross lanes, then they must. I will not get——

Interdepartmental Committees. (27 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: That is a good road, as there are bypasses of all three towns for the Ceann Comhairle to use.

Interdepartmental Committees. (27 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I have heard presentations on the Seveso directive on noxious fumes and so on. That matter was gone through some years ago. I understand that the traffic flows and all of those matters have been addressed and resolved to satisfaction. We cannot pack the tunnel with vehicles, but the capacity has been worked out in each case.

Interdepartmental Committees. (27 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: All of the issues around the Seveso directive and the capacity of the tunnel based on number of trucks per hour and how to schedule for such were worked out approximately four years ago. From the presentation, I understand that nothing has changed in respect of how to deal with this matter. The team has not cited it to the committee as a new difficulty. It has not said there are any new...

Interdepartmental Committees. (27 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The number of vehicles per hour was the measure used by the team.

Interdepartmental Committees. (27 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Off the top of my head, I do not know. The team does not consider it to be a major difficulty based on present laws.

Leaders' Questions. (27 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I said to Dr. Bird — that is not what I usually call him — that I would be glad for our resources, our economy and where we are going to be benchmarked as part of an independent assessment. I do not consider the Euro Health Consumer Index 2006, which was produced by a private organisation that is obviously doing its best with limited resources, according to what it has said——

Leaders' Questions. (27 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: No, I think it has been doing its best. I thought Deputy Kenny made some good points. I remind him that a great deal of the data used in the survey related to 1997, when he was in Government.

Leaders' Questions. (27 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: According to the report, a great deal of the data on which it is based dates from 1997.

Leaders' Questions. (27 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I can benchmark where we were in 1997 with where we are now.

Leaders' Questions. (27 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I am simply reminding the House of what the report states.

Leaders' Questions. (27 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The survey states that its conclusions should be considered "with great care". It makes it clear that one part of its analysis is "an academic exercise" and "certainly lacks scientific support". That is what it says. Those who compiled the report did not make any contact with the permanent representatives in Brussels on the matter. The Department of Health and Children has been unable so far...

Leaders' Questions. (27 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: In other words, a report on our health service was written without any information whatsoever.

Leaders' Questions. (27 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The report makes it clear that cross-national comparisons of health care systems, outcomes and delivery are notoriously difficult and are based on standardised statistical indications and data. The survey is based in part on published data from international organisations, such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Health Organisation, between 1997 and...