Results 641-660 of 10,035 for speaker:Martin Cullen

Confidence in the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government: Motion. (30 Mar 2004)

Martin Cullen: Is Deputy Sargent suggesting 87% of constituents are wrong? In total, the system has been used successfully 400,000 times in this country.

Confidence in the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government: Motion. (30 Mar 2004)

Martin Cullen: Thank God the people of this country do. They do not vote for the Green Party in any numbers. However, I accept the need to ensure that there is utmost confidence in our electoral system. That is why, in response to the concerns that were raised, the Government decided to establish an independent commission on electronic voting to report to the Ceann Comhairle on the secrecy and accuracy of...

Confidence in the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government: Motion. (30 Mar 2004)

Martin Cullen: If that is the biggest blow the Opposition can wield and it does not listen to me, it can forget about it. We have not been afraid to innovate to suit new circumstances. Our urban renewal policies have reopened our cities and town centres as places in which to live. We have encouraged the provision of higher residential densities in our urban cores to make better use of the available land. In...

Confidence in the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government: Motion. (30 Mar 2004)

Martin Cullen: Give me a break. It is clear that social and affordable houses under Part V are now coming on stream in increasing numbers. We have identified sites under the affordable housing initiative under Sustaining Progress, which will deliver more affordable houses.

Confidence in the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government: Motion. (30 Mar 2004)

Martin Cullen: Deputies are complaining that the planning system has not delivered yet, but when I try to introduce efficiency in the planning system to bring certainty to it, they also complain that it is not working. Would the Green Party Members make up their minds what they stand for? The people of this country do not have a bull's notion what they stand for.

Confidence in the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government: Motion. (30 Mar 2004)

Martin Cullen: An incredible €1.8 billion will be invested this year in the various social and affordable housing schemes administered by my Department. The year 2002 saw the delivery of the highest level of output under the range of social and affordable housing measures for over 15 years, when the social and affordable housing needs of in excess of 12,700 households were met. While the March 2002...

Confidence in the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government: Motion. (30 Mar 2004)

Martin Cullen: It covers people who are single, people with families and people in a variety of existing accommodation. We need to ensure a range of responses that reflects these different needs and their relative priority. The Government's housing programme has been designed to respond to the full range of housing needs. To further tackle this issue, I recently asked local authorities to put in place...

Confidence in the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government: Motion. (30 Mar 2004)

Martin Cullen: I know it is difficult for the Green Party to count beyond five but this is a 20-year planning framework for achieving more balanced regional development. It is probably true to say that the Green Party's real concern is that it will not be around in 20 years' time to see it come to fruition, whereas Fianna Fáil will still be in government, making and leading the dynamic changes that have...

Confidence in the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government: Motion. (30 Mar 2004)

Martin Cullen: There is a strong focus on promoting the scale and critical mass at strategic regional locations — gateways and hubs — to lead and drive regional competitiveness. These strategic locations will in turn reach out to wider areas. In doing so, they will allow all areas of the country to grow to their potential. That has always been the approach of Fianna Fáil in government. We embrace all...

Confidence in the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government: Motion. (30 Mar 2004)

Martin Cullen: This year an unprecedented €4,610 on average will be spent on every kilometre of non-national road. Regional planning guidelines are well advanced in all regions and are expected to be adopted by May. Gateway implementation frameworks have been put in place — for example, the Cork area strategic plan and the Galway planning and transportation study. The Government's decentralisation...

Confidence in the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government: Motion. (30 Mar 2004)

Martin Cullen: That is because they misread them and were misled by the planner who gave an outline at the meeting. The draft guidelines are far-reaching.

Confidence in the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government: Motion. (30 Mar 2004)

Martin Cullen: For the first time, they provide a policy framework setting out in detail how Government policy on rural housing, as set out in the national spatial strategy, is to be taken forward by local authorities in planning more effectively for rural areas. The guidelines will deliver a new era of fairness and transparency in planning for rural dwellers. What do we get from the Green Party, however?...

Confidence in the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government: Motion. (30 Mar 2004)

Martin Cullen: That will not happen as long as Fianna Fáil is in Government.

Confidence in the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government: Motion. (30 Mar 2004)

Martin Cullen: The Green Party, whose deputy leader's contribution to regional development is to wish the collapse of the economy because it would force the Government to abandon new road projects vital to our regions——

Confidence in the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government: Motion. (30 Mar 2004)

Martin Cullen: I do not have to give a false impression of the Green Party. It is well able to act on its own. It does not need help.

Confidence in the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government: Motion. (30 Mar 2004)

Martin Cullen: Deputy Sargent is the Paul Daniels of the Dáil — "Now you see it, now you don't".

Confidence in the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government: Motion. (30 Mar 2004)

Martin Cullen: The bottom line is the Green Party is against everything.

Confidence in the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government: Motion. (30 Mar 2004)

Martin Cullen: The party claims concern for rural development, but when it comes to something such as these guidelines or decentralisation, its Members will form queues on the plinth trying to get a new denunciation on camera.

Confidence in the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government: Motion. (30 Mar 2004)

Martin Cullen: The party will have a long wait for that to happen.

Confidence in the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government: Motion. (30 Mar 2004)

Martin Cullen: The Green Party criticises me for failing to comply with international obligations on greenhouse gases, yet tomorrow Ireland will be one of only two member states to notify the European Commission of its national allocation plan for emissions trading by its deadline. Ireland, under my direction, is leading the European field in this area.