Results 7,501-7,520 of 19,173 for speaker:Shane Ross

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Transport Infrastructure Ireland (5 Oct 2016)

Shane Ross: ​I understand the matter referred to by the Deputy concerns direct correspondence exchanged between his office and Transport Infrastructure Ireland. TII has confirmed that it will be formally writing to the Deputy in the coming days setting out the position.

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic Accidents Data (5 Oct 2016)

Shane Ross: ​As Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, I have responsibility for overall policy and funding in relation to the national roads programme. The planning, design and operation of individual road projects and programmes is a matter for Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) (formerly known as the NRA) under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2015 in conjunction with the local authorities...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Safety (5 Oct 2016)

Shane Ross: ​As I advised the Deputy in a previous question relating to this issue, the preliminary findings of the feasibility study carried out by my Department under Action 94 of the 2013-2020 Road Safety Strategy, on whether a separate engineering inspectorate should carry out a detailed engineering investigation following a fatal collision, found that there was no apparent advantage to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: A Vision for Public Transport: Discussion (5 Oct 2016)

Shane Ross: I thank the Chairman. As time is limited, I will try to be as brief as possible with my answers. I thank the members for their invitation to appear before the committee this morning for what I know will be an interesting and, hopefully, productive exchange of views. The committee has invited me here to talk about the future for public transport and on the levels of subvention. I will...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: A Vision for Public Transport: Discussion (5 Oct 2016)

Shane Ross: I will deal with Deputy Troy's questions first. He continually looks for what he calls a vision for transport from me. There are two ways of considering this. In the transport sector, there is the long-term vision and the short-term problems, and they are very closely related. The long-term vision, obviously, must be considered not achievable in a very short period of time because of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: A Vision for Public Transport: Discussion (5 Oct 2016)

Shane Ross: I will come back to that point later. Deputy Munster asked whether my attitude to Bus Éireann was the beginning of privatisation. I have no plans whatsoever in any ideological sense to open what I suspect the Deputy would call the thin end of the wedge to privatisation. That is not the intention whatsoever. If there is to be competition in the bus market or in any of the transport...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: A Vision for Public Transport: Discussion (5 Oct 2016)

Shane Ross: I am not-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: A Vision for Public Transport: Discussion (5 Oct 2016)

Shane Ross: When it came to me, it told me the state of affairs at the time. It was a work in progress. I did not intervene. It was going to the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, and the National Transport Authority, NTA, with that. I did not intervene in any way with its plans. I did not express approval or disapproval. If the Deputy thinks it is the beginning of some sort of trend, it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: A Vision for Public Transport: Discussion (5 Oct 2016)

Shane Ross: I have answered that question already. The plans the company has are only plans and I am not going to comment on negotiations it is going on with. I am not under any circumstances going to comment one way or the other on negotiations between management and unions. That would be ministerial interference and I have repeated time and again that the Minister will not interfere with the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: A Vision for Public Transport: Discussion (5 Oct 2016)

Shane Ross: Deputy Catherine Murphy talked about the PSO private operators. I believe she was suggesting that there was uneven treatment between one group and the other. There are a small number of tendered PSO services. These are important and socially necessary for rural Ireland.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: A Vision for Public Transport: Discussion (5 Oct 2016)

Shane Ross: Yes, but it is small. Bus Éireann operates one of those routes while others are provided by local operators. Typically, these services arise due to reorganisation of commercial services and are a response to ensure rural connectivity. The Deputy also raised the fares policy. The National Transport Authority, NTA, is responsible for that, so perhaps she will address her questions to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: A Vision for Public Transport: Discussion (5 Oct 2016)

Shane Ross: I am prepared to take any input from Deputy Troy but in all the encounters I have had with him, I have not yet received a single suggestion that was constructive. Perhaps he could make one and I will be delighted to take it up.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: A Vision for Public Transport: Discussion (5 Oct 2016)

Shane Ross: Good, so let us do that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: A Vision for Public Transport: Discussion (5 Oct 2016)

Shane Ross: Thank you, Chairman. I will respond to Deputy O'Keeffe.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: A Vision for Public Transport: Discussion (5 Oct 2016)

Shane Ross: The Department is continuously looking at ways of saving money on management and on other things. There is a challenge in that regard but I constantly look at savings in management. I will ask my Department to look at it again, so I can respond to the Deputy in more detail in the near future. Deputy O'Keeffe addressed the school bus issue and the rural transport programme, RTP. The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: A Vision for Public Transport: Discussion (5 Oct 2016)

Shane Ross: I can provide that for the Deputy but it would probably require another session. In response to Deputy Bríd Smith, I did not give any approval or disapproval. The Deputy assumes things which are incorrect. She should not assume that I did not ask any questions. I did not say I did not ask any questions. The Deputy assumes it and she is wrong about that. What I did not do is say I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: A Vision for Public Transport: Discussion (5 Oct 2016)

Shane Ross: The Deputy said I did not ask any questions. The Deputy was not there, so she does not know whether I asked any questions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: A Vision for Public Transport: Discussion (5 Oct 2016)

Shane Ross: I did ask questions-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: A Vision for Public Transport: Discussion (5 Oct 2016)

Shane Ross: -----but I did not approve or disapprove.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: A Vision for Public Transport: Discussion (5 Oct 2016)

Shane Ross: That is the important thing. I will move on to Senator O'Donnell's questions. The broadband issue is important and the Senator makes a good point. It has been raised on several occasions with me, including recently. I have talked to various people about doing this because the Wi-Fi and the situation-----