Results 6,041-6,060 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Road Transport Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (24 Nov 2011)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy's amendment would actually do so. It refers to offences such as drug smuggling.

Road Transport Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (24 Nov 2011)

Leo Varadkar: What about drug smuggling, money laundering and human trafficking?

Road Transport Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (24 Nov 2011)

Leo Varadkar: Money laundering-----

Road Transport Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (24 Nov 2011)

Leo Varadkar: Yes.

Road Transport Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (24 Nov 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I stated earlier there may well be a case for drawing a line under the events of the past, stating they were in the past, and having an amnesty Bill or a spent convictions Bill. One of the problems that prevents us from doing this is the failure of the party opposite to admit to the crimes that occurred in the past. I was really shocked during the presidential campaign by the behaviour of...

Road Transport Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (24 Nov 2011)

Leo Varadkar: There were, but that was an appalling offence and it was a murder, but it was still the view of very senior people in Sinn Féin that it was not a murder. If I remember correctly the Deputy First Minister stated the family may think it was a murder and he would not disagree with them but he would not call it a murder. If we want to move on from this period in the past, what we need is an...

Road Transport Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (24 Nov 2011)

Leo Varadkar: This provision is about notifying the Minister of offences committed. At the time it is of course possible to notify the Minister that the persons involved are covered by the Good Friday Agreement. That does not require legislative provision. The Minister is obliged to take any representations into account. Somebody can notify the Minister that he or she has a conviction for manslaughter,...

Road Transport Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (24 Nov 2011)

Leo Varadkar: Do the Members wish to reply?

Road Transport Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (24 Nov 2011)

Leo Varadkar: Was the bombing at Enniskillen an atrocity and was Mrs. McConville murdered?

Road Transport Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (24 Nov 2011)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy does not need a truth commission-----

Road Transport Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (24 Nov 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I move amendment No. 3: In page 10, subsection (5)(a), line 39, after "licence" to insert "in respect of that service". This is a technical amendment to clarify that not only must a consigner ensure that any operator he or she engages has an operator's licence but that it must be the right kind of operator's licence for the service intended to be carried out. I propose that this amendment be...

Road Transport Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (24 Nov 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I move amendment No. 4: In page 10, subsection (5)(b), line 41, after "required" to insert "under subsection (7) or otherwise". This is a technical amendment suggested by the Attorney General's office, to clarify that where any carriage of goods or persons is exempted under subsection (7) if a consigner engages someone to carry out such a carriage that person is not committing an offence.

Road Transport Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (24 Nov 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for the amendment. The intention of section 11, as originally proposed, is to support enforcement by the Garda and transport officers in relation to licensed and unlicensed operators and vehicles which are not authorised on licence. This requires that the appropriate documentation be carried in the vehicle for this purpose. Penalties for not doing so act as a deterrent....

Road Transport Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (24 Nov 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I appreciate the intent of the amendment and I understand where the Deputy is coming from, but the measure would be premature. This legislation is the first time the information in question will be allowed to be published online. To the best of my knowledge, gardaí and transport officers do not have access to the Internet in their cars. Access can be poor on some of our roads. I am not...

Road Transport Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (24 Nov 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I move amendment No. 5: In page 14, subsection (3)(a), line 22, before "(in" to insert the following: ", including the engagement or use by a person in the premises or place of the services of an undertaking for the carriage by road for reward of goods or persons in a vehicle". This is another technical amendment to include an existing provision that a transport officer of the Road Safety...

Road Transport Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (24 Nov 2011)

Leo Varadkar: It is probably too early to answer the question, but the intention in next year's road transport Bill will be to update and consolidate existing legislation. Perhaps that will be the opportunity to have a revised Schedule of exempted businesses. Suffice it to say that those listed by the Deputy yesterday remain exempt.

Road Transport Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (24 Nov 2011)

Leo Varadkar: My apologies for not addressing this matter in my closing remarks yesterday. I am advised that passenger drivers are covered because they have unaccompanied access to children, old people and vulnerable people who they could harm. This is not the case with haulage drivers, who chiefly drive trucks on their own and are accompanied by their goods, not passengers.

Road Transport Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (24 Nov 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I must give that matter some consideration. It is an argument I have not heard before and I must confer with my officials on it. If there is a lacuna or an anomaly, perhaps we can address it in the Seanad by means of a Government amendment or in legislation next year.

Road Transport Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (24 Nov 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I take it that by Ross, Deputy Wallace means New Ross.

Road Transport Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (24 Nov 2011)

Leo Varadkar: The Enniscorthy to New Ross bypass is a public private partnership and I hope we will get it started in the next ten years, although maybe not in the next five years. The Department and the NRA are open to proposals on how things could be done more cheaply. Even where interim and cheaper options are presented, they tend to cost a few million euro. We do not even have this.