Results 7,221-7,240 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: ——nor has there been criticism from any of my colleagues of the Minister, Deputy Harney. The position with the nurses is that there have been long negotiations. I have no time to go into the matter in detail, but the INO and the PNA state that they have neither accepted nor rejected the Labour Court recommendation, which urged both unions to progress their claims through benchmarking....

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: They have been through the Labour Court process. Nurses form a significant part of the public service workforce and, as in all the discussions on public service pay since 1946, these issues are taken together. We have agreed a basis on which pay and conditions for the public service as a whole should be managed and we have created the benchmarking body precisely to provide an objective...

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I met the nurses' groups in recent weeks and the leaders of both organisations were there, so they know the answer.

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I will answer Deputy Rabbitte as he asked me the question. I informed the nurses of the position when I met them. They did not ask me to tailor future pay increases based on house prices around Ireland, for example giving greater increases where house prices are higher, so we should stop trying to raise such nonsense. The position is that the Minister for Health and Children wrote to the...

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: It was -3° Celsius at 9 a.m. today; anyone in substandard housing will be in great difficulty in this weather and we all wish to see the situation improved in such circumstances. Having said that, legislation, such as the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill and several other Bills we have had here in the past 20 years, have all sought to improve building insulation standards and I think...

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The implementation of existing legislation and related prosecutions are matters for the local authorities. This is not something that relates to central Government. There is a new EU energy directive and a Building Control Bill that Deputy Quinn asked me to complete and these will further improve standards of insulation.

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: They will improve standards of insulation. Resources have been made available in recent years to help local authorities with old people's homes, with insulation grants and energy efficiency grants. Perhaps the Deputy is suggesting this is not enough.

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: In fairness, as I understand, the standard of building regulations in this country is high.

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The standard of most houses built in this country in the past 20 years——

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: They are built to high standards. Older houses——

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: There are four of them.

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: There are four of them.

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: If Deputy Sargent is asking me to enforce the existing regulations, he should note it is a matter for the local authority. If he is saying the existing regulations are not sufficiently strong, that is another matter. To the best of my knowledge, the only legislative change I know in the area of energy efficiency was put in place by the European Union.

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: We have not implemented it. The local authorities are responsible for inspecting in each area.

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: Ninety-eight percent of what?

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: That is not factual.

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: There are building standards and legislation, and the legislation should be implemented. If people want to go beyond that, it is another matter.

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: Local authorities are the bodies that arbitrate in these matters in their own areas and they cannot be stopped. It is a function——

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I am not coming in here to answer for Fingal, Kerry or Wexford county councils.

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: There are standards and they should be implemented.