Results 6,401-6,420 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Order of Business (25 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The Bill is not proceeding as present. A Supreme Court decision has implications for it.

Order of Business (25 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The heads of the sale of alcohol Bill, to codify the law on the sale and consumption of alcohol, have been approved and it was sent for drafting some time ago. It is due to be published in the spring session. The heads of alcohol products (control of advertising, sponsorship and marketing practices/sales promotions) Bill have been approved. However, voluntary agreements were reached with...

Order of Business (25 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The point is——

Order of Business (25 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: ——that if I honestly believed that passing legislation would solve all our problems, we would not bother with the code of practice. If we can encourage the industry to press forward with its advertising campaign which stresses people's responsibility, it would probably have far more effect. Young people are unlikely to read the various sections of the legislation as they engage in...

Order of Business (25 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Legislation is not required in this regard. The Government will have to come to a decision on the other aspects of the report. The three wise men have indicated that we should not delay too long in respect of this issue because it is of major importance to the entire salmon industry.

Order of Business (25 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I do not have a date for the publication of the enforcement of fines Bill.

Order of Business (25 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Both are due to be published in this session.

Order of Business (25 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: That depends on time constraints. Both should be published this session.

Leaders' Questions (1 Nov 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The subvention scheme is provided for under the Nursing Homes (Subvention) Regulations 1993, as amended. When carrying out a financial assessment for the purpose of subvention, 5% of the imputed value of the person's principal private residence is taken into account. There are exceptions, for example, where the house is occupied by a spouse, a child under the age of 21 or a person in...

Leaders' Questions (1 Nov 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The value of the household under the regulations was €95,000 up to last December. The limit has been increased from €95,000 to €300,000 outside, and €500,000 inside, Dublin, which is a substantial increase. Deputy Kenny asked if the HSE has discretion in this area. The answer is that the HSE may, in either case, use discretion. If there is somebody living in the residence, for...

Leaders' Questions (1 Nov 2006)

Bertie Ahern: As for the two pieces of legislation, some time ago the Minister decided the legislation listed and the heads of that Bill were unsatisfactory. He announced some time ago that he would introduce a different, more comprehensive Bill to deal with the issue of loans. He was referring to legalised loans rather than to moneylenders, as many of the organisations in question are licensed. He...

Leaders' Questions (1 Nov 2006)

Bertie Ahern: As Deputy Rabbitte is aware, there are, on the face of it, powers to deal with a number of these issues under several legislative measures. However, they have not proven to be effective over a long time. While the Deputy noted that the Bill is from 2002, the Bill that we had approved is from the late 1990s as the issue was discussed in the late 1990s and in 2000. In the view of the...

Leaders' Questions (1 Nov 2006)

Bertie Ahern: In respect of shared ownership and other schemes, the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government with responsibility for housing examines the thresholds for these schemes on an annual basis and continually adjusts them based on what is happening in the market. It is true that in the first half of this year, there was a very steep increase in prices...

Leaders' Questions (1 Nov 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I thought I had answered the Deputy's last point, but to clarify matters, the thresholds for people applying under the various schemes are examined on an annual basis and I understand they will be examined again this year. They are based on what happened in the market during the previous year and are examined annually.

Leaders' Questions (1 Nov 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Yes, I will raise that issue. I do not wish to debate Part V, but when we introduced Part V of the Planning and Development Act, the cry from everywhere was that it was overly restrictive and unworkable and would not provide us with a supply so we made changes to it. We were told at the time that there would be a run-through of approximately five years before those planning permissions were...

Office of the Attorney General. (1 Nov 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 8, inclusive, together. The four principal legal functions carried out by the Office of the Attorney General are summarised in paragraph 2.3 of the Sullivan report as (i) the provision of legal advice — advisory counsel; (ii) legislative drafting — Parliamentary Counsel; (iii) the processing of litigation; and (iv) conveyancing and other transactional...

Office of the Attorney General. (1 Nov 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Deputy Rabbitte correctly pointed to what happened in that case and what the Sullivan report recommended. The relevant parties accept the CC case met the criteria of being an "important and sensitive" case — which are the words used in the protocols — such as to warrant reference to the Attorney General according to its office policy and protocols. It identified several milestones in...

Office of the Attorney General. (1 Nov 2006)

Bertie Ahern: An ongoing problem exists in obtaining, holding and training drafters. On a number of occasions over the past few years, approval was given to the Attorney General to obtain additional drafters. In my reply I mentioned some drafters were brought in from the younger people assigned to other Departments to help in the legislative process. The issue of key experienced people is an extremely...

Office of the Attorney General. (1 Nov 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The parliamentary counsel published approximately 175 Bills. As a Parliament, we deal with more Bills than most. In terms of productivity, the number of Bills the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel produces is higher each year. However, while the staff of the office are working harder and producing more Bills, legislation gets more complex and is of a more specialist nature. It is a...

Office of the Attorney General. (1 Nov 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I was not just referring to my time in office. The position is the same at present. The staff find they have to check all the work so contracting work out does not help much. It is preferable to have a core staff within the office. That is their view and I am in no position to contradict them. I am surprised at the position with regard to the CD-ROM. A CD-ROM takes the hard copy and...