Results 6,061-6,080 of 7,278 for speaker:Dick Roche

Seanad: Carbon Fund Bill 2006: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Mar 2007)

Dick Roche: The Senator is right. The Taoiseach could lecture both countries and point to the exemplary standards we adopt, although he is not the type of person who lectures. We have made in successive Governments with the agreement of all parties in the House the most morally defensible decision not to go for nuclear power. The Norwegians are on God's side too and on our side in that respect.

Seanad: Carbon Fund Bill 2006: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Mar 2007)

Dick Roche: It was the Senator who introduced Sweden, Norway and Finland.

Seanad: Carbon Fund Bill 2006: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Mar 2007)

Dick Roche: I said I would not take any lectures from Sweden or Finland, which is the first western European country in a decade to build a nuclear reactor.

Seanad: Carbon Fund Bill 2006: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Mar 2007)

Dick Roche: Not in that regard. Its excuse for doing this is that it is using the Kyoto Protocol, which is a disappointment. I thank the Members for their contributions to the debate. The Government is committed to meeting the Kyoto Protocol and doing so in a sustainable, and morally appropriate, transparent way that is fully consistent with the Kyoto Protocol. We will reduce our greenhouse gas...

Water Supply Contamination. (29 Mar 2007)

Dick Roche: I propose to take all of the questions together. I thank the Deputies for raising this issue which is of extraordinary importance. As we are at this advanced stage in our development as a nation, it is simply not acceptable that 90,000 people in Galway are in the position they are in. Drinking water in modern societies is provided through a complex production process. It is fundamental...

Water Supply Contamination. (29 Mar 2007)

Dick Roche: I will give the Deputy a factual answer.

Water Supply Contamination. (29 Mar 2007)

Dick Roche: We should stop this nonsense.

Water Supply Contamination. (29 Mar 2007)

Dick Roche: I will answer any supplementary question asked. I wanted to volunteer additional information but clearly Deputy Sargent is not remotely interested in it.

Water Supply Contamination. (29 Mar 2007)

Dick Roche: I intend to travel to Galway tomorrow with senior personnel from my Department. The objective will be to ask why we have not seen progress on the scheme to date. We will also put in place measures to provide the interim supply which is apparently available and to ensure this happens in the shortest possible time. We will request the council to sit down and get through the basic provisions...

Water Supply Contamination. (29 Mar 2007)

Dick Roche: I thank the Deputy. I have contacted him, Deputy Grealish and other local representatives. Deputy Michael D. Higgins knows the water services investment programme is a public document and is notified to all local authorities. The idea suggested during the course of the day that the local council was not aware that €21 million was available to it is patent nonsense.

Water Supply Contamination. (29 Mar 2007)

Dick Roche: Not only is it a public document communicated to the council, but the announcements about County Galway were well covered in the excellent journal, The Connacht Tribune. I ask Deputy Higgins to forgive me, as I do not have specific notes on the matter, but one can find a full-page report on the matter dated 19 May 2002, possibly on page 2 or 3. However, that is not the issue. We can start...

Water Supply Contamination. (29 Mar 2007)

Dick Roche: ——it is a potential disaster for Galway city and I want to see it overcome. We can either spend our energies fighting one another or solving problems. My trip to Galway tomorrow, at some inconvenience, arises because I want to spend time bringing together people from the Department, the county and city councils and the health authority and anyone else who is necessary to resolve the...

Water Supply Contamination. (29 Mar 2007)

Dick Roche: That matter is a canard introduced to deflect attention from the fact there has been no progress. It is not an issue. Major programmes put a strain on local authority staff, but the House is continuously advised that we must keep public service numbers in control. To give credit to the local government sector, it has kept control of those numbers. Where the staffing issue arises in...

Water Supply Contamination. (29 Mar 2007)

Dick Roche: That is correct.

Water Supply Contamination. (29 Mar 2007)

Dick Roche: May I respond?

Water Supply Contamination. (29 Mar 2007)

Dick Roche: I thank the Deputy for his comments. He asked whether money is in place. Money has been earmarked for this scheme. As every Deputy in the House knows, this process does not involve sending a cheque to a local authority, it involves telling the authority that it can draw down a certain amount of money after it has finalised the relevant scheme. That is how moneys are made available. Money...

Water Supply Contamination. (29 Mar 2007)

Dick Roche: I am grateful to the Deputy for that undertaking. I accept that the spokespersons of the Opposition parties have encountered certain difficulties. Some committee meetings could not be held at times when I would have liked them to be held. I am not pointing the finger in any way in that regard as all the Members of this House are very busy. I agree with Deputy Sargent that the Water...

Water Supply Contamination. (29 Mar 2007)

Dick Roche: The Bill in question is one of those I designated as priority legislation. With this exception, all the Bills on my priority list have been enacted with the assistance of the Members of the House. The Houses completed their consideration of the Carbon Fund Bill 2006 and the Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2007 this week. The Water Services Bill 2003 is the last of my priority Bills to be passed...

Water Supply Contamination. (29 Mar 2007)

Dick Roche: I do not mean to be negative when I point out that it was reported in the media today that a letter containing a five-point plan had been sent to me by the Lord Mayor of Galway. I wish to make clear that I have not received any such correspondence from him. I will give it respectful attention when I get it. I had to visit the Green Party's excellent website before I came to the House to...

Water Supply Contamination. (29 Mar 2007)

Dick Roche: I am grateful for that, but it would have been rather nice——