Results 5,661-5,680 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Rail Services: Rail Services (28 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I refer the Deputy to my answer to an identical question - Question No. 597 - on 27 September 2011.

Written Answers — Departmental Agencies: Departmental Agencies (28 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: The Government decided in June this year to impose new pay ceilings for CEOs of State agencies. These salary arrangements will apply to new CEOs appointed from that date. The Government decision will also apply to incumbents whose contracts are extended beyond the maximum period of their existing contract. The Government recognises that in a small number of cases exceptions may be...

State Airports (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: The State Airports Act 2004 provides the framework for the establishment of Shannon and Cork as independent airports. As part of the restructuring process at the time, the boards of Cork and Shannon airports were required to prepare business plans for eventual separation. These plans were necessary in order that the then Ministers for Transport and Finance could be satisfied as to the...

State Airports (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I am interested to hear that Fianna Fáil is now against the separation of the three State airports, as it was that party's original policy. Was it properly thought through at the time? Was there ever a realistic prospect, given the fact that Cork and Shannon airports are losing so much money every year? I favour separation and breaking up the DAA's monopoly, but this can only be done on a...

Light Rail Project (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: As the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in respect of public transport. Following the establishment of the National Transport Authority, NTA, on December 2009, the implementation and development of infrastructure projects in the greater Dublin area, such as metro north, the DART underground, a DART link to the airport and Luas...

Light Rail Project (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: Metro west has not been scrapped. It still exists as a long-term project. The railway reservation will be maintained. It is not appropriate to spend more money on consultants, lawyers and so on if we must repeat the process in 15 years time, given that there is no visibility as to when the project can be funded. I agree with the Deputy on metro north. It is very good project and would...

Light Rail Project (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I expressed my view previously that I would be in favour of the sale of State assets if the money could be reinvested in the economy. I would very much like to see that reinvestment in transport projects. If one considers the cost of metro north, for example, and to a lesser extent that of the DART underground, one will conclude that if we sold assets worth €5 billion, the only project...

Road Network (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: As Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, I have responsibility for overall policy and funding for the national roads programme. The planning, design and implementation of individual road projects is a matter for the National Roads Authority, NRA, under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2007 in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. Within its capital budget, therefore, the assessment...

Road Network (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I will travel to Wexford this evening to attend a dinner and I will speak at a conference in Rosslare in the morning so I will have two opportunities to travel the road tomorrow and have a good look at it and see what condition it is in. There is a good case for maintaining long-term reservations. The Harcourt Street line was maintained for 40 or 50 years and we are glad it was because we...

Road Network (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: There is no such thing as a freeze in planning law. Local authorities and the NRA should be pragmatic in how they deal with these reservations. They should not allow a shopping centre to be built but there may be forms of low-scale development that could be permitted on these routes.

Tourism Industry (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 6, 14 and 217 together. The jobs initiative introduced a 9% VAT rate from 1 July on a range of services, including hotels and restaurants. The Government also halved employers' PRSI for those on modest wages. These measures are of considerable benefit to tourism businesses, lowering their cost base and allowing them to offer a more competitive product to...

Tourism Industry (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: The measures only commenced in July. Therefore, it will be a few months before we have the statistics from July, August and September. That will give us a chance to judge the effect of them then. The measures I am most interested in are jobs in the sectors concerned and tourist numbers. I am much more interested in the reduction being passed on in terms of new jobs being created than,...

Tourism Industry (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I do not have figures on how many of the industry players have passed on the reductions. They are required to pass it on in law in the sense that the rate is not 13.5% anymore - it is 9% - but one cannot stop them increasing their prices by 4.5% to make up the difference. There are many factors involved in price. Many say, correctly, that energy prices have gone up significantly and had it...

Tourism Industry (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I will check out the Ferrycarrig Hotel in Wexford tonight and we will find out. The major objective of the Government in doing it was to sustain and create jobs in the sector, not necessarily to make it 4% cheaper to go to a restaurant or stay in a hotel.

Travel Tax (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: The Minister for Finance announced the proposed suspension of the €3 travel tax as part of a three-pronged strategy aimed at increasing inbound tourism in the jobs initiative in May. This strategy involved not only the proposed suspension of the travel tax, but also the introduction of a new growth incentive scheme by the Dublin Airport Authority, DAA, and more targeted and co-operative...

Travel Tax (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I will elaborate as much as I can but nothing is finalised yet. It is not that I am holding back information but that matters have not been fully decided yet. The new Government found itself in the same boat as the previous one in the sense that the previous Government reduced the tax from €10 to €3, the airlines having complained bitterly about it, but it got nothing back from the...

Travel Tax (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: That is true.

Travel Tax (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: The approximate amount of money we will take in because we have not abolished the tax between now and the end of the year is €9 million. Half of that is being made available to Tourism Ireland for co-operative marketing and other initiatives with airlines, ferry companies, tour operators and others. Essentially, a call went out to those bodies to come in with their tourism and marketing...

Travel Tax (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I would rather not do that because it is just a one-off fund. It will not be there forever so one might be able to hire someone for three or four months and then they would be gone. I do not know what the benefits from that would be. I welcome the fact that local authorities take an interest in tourism. I particularly welcome the fact that local communities and chambers of commerce take an...

Sale of State Assets (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 11 together. These questions relate to the sale of the Government's stake in Aer Lingus. The Government recently considered the various options open to it in terms of generating revenue from the sale of State assets, including the recommendations of the State assets review group in the McCarthy report. That report recommended that the Government...