Results 6,181-6,200 of 9,994 for speaker:John Gormley

Written Answers — Water and Sewerage Schemes: Water and Sewerage Schemes (11 Mar 2009)

John Gormley: The Cork Lower Harbour Sewerage Scheme is approved for funding in my Department's Water Services Investment Programme 2007-2009 at an estimated cost of €73.5 million. My Department will complete its assessment of Cork County Council's Preliminary Report for this scheme following confirmation from the Council of the approval by An Bord Pleanála of the Environmental Impact Statement for the...

Written Answers — Business Improvement Districts: Business Improvement Districts (11 Mar 2009)

John Gormley: The establishment of a business improvement district scheme is a matter for local authorities. I have no function in the matter.

Written Answers — Compulsory Retirement Age: Compulsory Retirement Age (11 Mar 2009)

John Gormley: My Department currently has approximately 153 staff (88 male and 65 female) who are not subject to a compulsory retirement age of 65 in accordance with the provisions of the Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2004.

Seanad: Seanad Reform: Motion (11 Mar 2009)

John Gormley: I assure the Senator I was not falling asleep but was listening to every word he said.

Seanad: Seanad Reform: Motion (11 Mar 2009)

John Gormley: I thank Senator O'Toole for raising this issue and for his long and active interest in Seanad reform. I welcome the motion and agree with the Senator that reform of the Upper House deserves our attention. His motion represents a commendable desire to move this issue forward without further delay and I am happy to have the opportunity to lay out the timetable I intend to pursue. I had the...

Seanad: Seanad Reform: Motion (11 Mar 2009)

John Gormley: The recommendations include the widening of the franchise for the higher education constituency in Seanad Éireann. The current restriction of the Seanad university seats to three elected by graduates of the National University of Ireland and three by Trinity College graduates has been acknowledged by all parties as anomalous. The Seventh Amendment of the Constitution (Election of Members...

Seanad: Seanad Reform: Motion (11 Mar 2009)

John Gormley: There is not quite full consensus because certain Senators have said they want to see a whole package and not a piecemeal approach. I do not believe it is piecemeal. We can have a number of smaller reforms. It is vital to have some reform because if there is no reform, people we say we are stuck in a situation where nothing is happening at all. Once we get the ball rolling we can then see...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2009)

John Gormley: I thank the Deputy for tabling this amendment. As he stated, it relates to material published on the Internet and would effectively exempt any material published on the Internet prior to the coming into effect of the spending limit period from being counted as election expenditure. I appreciate the intention behind the amendment, but I do not propose to accept it. It might be of assistance...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2009)

John Gormley: I am happy to accommodate the Deputy in that regard. However, perhaps we should address this issue through guidelines on the implementation and interpretation of the legislation. It is clear that many candidates will want to know exactly what they can and cannot do. My Department will work on those guidelines and ensure there is clarity in that regard as far as candidates are concerned.

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2009)

John Gormley: The Local Elections (Disclosure of Donations and Expenditure) Act 1999 fixes a limit of €6,349 as the maximum donation that may be accepted by a political party in any given year from any one source. The Electoral Act 1997, as amended, provides that political parties must disclose donations of more than €5,079 in any given year. The Labour Party amendment is intended to reduce these...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2009)

John Gormley: ——and we have delivered it. What I promised last weekend will be also delivered. It will be radical legislation. What we are discussing today is legislation that stems from legislation produced by the Deputy's party when it was in Government. We are now going further than that and we will go further again. That will be separate legislation because we are examining not only the...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2009)

John Gormley: I again offer my assurances to the Deputy that this legislation deals with specific matters relating to local elections. We had to get the Bill to the House as quickly as possible because we have to comply with the 60-day rule, which is part of the legislation. I want to come forward with more comprehensive legislation, which will overhaul the system and deal with the issues I spoke about...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2009)

John Gormley: I thank Deputy Flanagan and his colleagues, Deputies Hogan and Bannon, for bringing forward this amendment. It may be beneficial for me to outline in greater detail the intention behind the provision contained in section 4, which deals with the allocation of a portion of the candidate's spending limit for the use of the national agent or political party. As is the case with Dáil and other...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2009)

John Gormley: There have been very interesting contributions to the debate on this amendment. I agree with Deputy Shatter that politicians are not quite normal. Many of us here have a degree of dysfunction. We will not go there, but we will have to talk about it some other time.

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2009)

John Gormley: It might be an idea. Deputy Shatter's contribution today was like a Second Stage speech, something at variance with what his Fine Gael colleague gave yesterday, who welcomed the Bill. Deputy Shatter seems to have a principled objection, and he claims that the Fine Gael Party has adopted his position. That is interesting, because Fine Gael abstained on the last vote and on the Labour Party...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2009)

John Gormley: The Deputy then talks about the Green Party, but we should look at the facts. An excellent document was prepared for the joint committee on this and it showed the spending of the various political parties. Which political party spent the least amount of money? The Deputy is now trying to make out that Fine Gael and its members are going around like church mice. If he looked at the...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2009)

John Gormley: I am not sure what the whole thing was about, but I am responding to many of the points made.

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2009)

John Gormley: Incumbency clearly gives people an advantage. There have been many cases on this. Each Deputy is an incumbent. They have the facilities, including envelopes, secretaries and so on. That gives a certain advantage to them as candidates. We are trying to set certain limits and adopt a common sense approach. It is not political correctness gone mad, but is simply looking for an even playing...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2009)

John Gormley: I hope it is relevant, but if the Deputy had tabled an amendment referring to zombies, I would have been more than pleased to consider it. Since he has not, I am afraid I cannot. Question, "That the words proposed to be deleted stand", put and declared carried.

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2009)

John Gormley: I move amendment No. 5: In page 5, between lines 48 and 49, to insert the following: "(4) In this section, 'population' means population as ascertained by the Central Statistics Office in the census report setting out the final result of the most recent census of population.". As previously indicated on Second Stage, for the 2009 local elections population data from the 2006 census report is...