Results 7,861-7,880 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2007)

Bertie Ahern: In fairness to him he has been consistent. He always wanted them all out, but I want to put them in good facilities.

Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2007)

Bertie Ahern: It is unreasonable of the Labour Party not to want to provide proper facilities.

Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I want to put them into decent facilities and not do what Deputy Costello wanted or what the Labour Party is calling for now, which is to keep them in facilities that are 150 or 200 years old.

Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The dental service that operates at the moment is a very good service and we certainly do not want a disruption of that service. The private dentists who operate the system are a hugely valuable part of providing the services for medical card patients. This issue, like the pharmacy issue, has gone on for some considerable time. The negotiations have been ongoing in one form or another for...

Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I will not intervene in a process that has been ongoing for some time. The negotiations are going on. The service has improved. The Deputy is incorrect. The dental service has improved in schools and for the general public through community medicine and the primary care teams. These are industrial relations negotiations about the fee and remuneration dentists will receive. Obviously the...

European Council Meetings. (21 Mar 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 10, inclusive, together. I attended the spring European Council on 8 and 9 March in Brussels. As I will make a statement on the Council later today, I will at this stage merely give a summary account of its proceedings. The main focus of the European Council was climate change and energy policy. Our discussions focused on the strategy for international...

European Council Meetings. (21 Mar 2007)

Bertie Ahern: On the purpose of the declaration, the German Presidency indicated from long before its Presidency that it would work to try to communicate a vision for the future, acknowledging what has happened and the success of moving Europe from the war-torn Europe of the past. The Deputy will appreciate that is a matter close to the heart of Chancellor Merkel. It should also indicate where Europe...

European Council Meetings. (21 Mar 2007)

Bertie Ahern: It is going down big in Europe. The view on this issue is that the proper thing to do in the short term is to move away and effectively ban the traditional light bulb. As in all of these issues there is much scientific knowledge on the effects and people can move into the future with a different form of lighting. The overwhelming evidence is that if we want to save energy — and we can...

European Council Meetings. (21 Mar 2007)

Bertie Ahern: To ban them.

European Council Meetings. (21 Mar 2007)

Bertie Ahern: It is one of these things.

European Council Meetings. (21 Mar 2007)

Bertie Ahern: On the first question, the view of the European Council is that while the targets agreed are ambitious and would not be achieved across each individual country the collective figures for Europe can be achieved. When one looks at all the reports and the evidence, the emissions from Ireland and England are 1.5% of the total and even for Europe that is small. If everyone took the view that...

European Council Meetings. (21 Mar 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The view is that every country from the smallest to the largest has to play its part. To make an impact in the years ahead China, India, America and Asia have to be pulled into it in one form or another and that will take a huge international drive and effort. In the meantime we have set out our indicators in Green Papers within the climate change strategy. On the second issue, given that...

European Council Meetings. (21 Mar 2007)

Bertie Ahern: Deputy Sargent misunderstood my reply to Deputy Rabbitte in respect of contentious issues. I was only talking about the drafting of the EU declaration. I stated that there were no contentious issues around that. We are regarded as very forward in respect of all these issues. We are not taking a "béal bocht" approach. Ireland's record and achievements in this area are considered to be...

European Council Meetings. (21 Mar 2007)

Bertie Ahern: In reply to the Deputy's question, we should take a forward view. Everyone must play his part. In reply to Deputy Kenny, I said that we should try to achieve the maximum possible target. The 20% target is the target we have set ourselves. In particular, I very much admire the Danes, who have taken a really aggressive stance on this matter. I know it is not possible for us to deal with...

European Council Meetings. (21 Mar 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The Lisbon strategy has worked extremely well in many areas. It was about education, tackling disadvantage, putting more money into research, trying to generate sustainable employment and competitiveness across Europe. Domestically, we have far surpassed anything in Europe in this regard and are at the top of the European table in most, though not all, areas. There will be challenges for...

European Council Meetings. (21 Mar 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The first issue was discussed by the Foreign Ministers in a separate session of the Council, so I was not part of those discussions. The EU 3 are competent and capable and they are answering to the General Affairs and External Affairs Council, GAERC, all of the time on these issues. The view of the European Council is this issue should be resolved by diplomatic means and that we should...

European Council Meetings. (21 Mar 2007)

Bertie Ahern: A number of countries have bilateral agreements with Russia. This is one of the difficulties. As Deputy Allen is aware, the EU-Russia agreement runs out at the end of November. Because of the Polish difficulties, which I understand, it was not possible to conclude those negotiations and form a new EU-Russia agreement prior to the last EU-Russia Summit. Having spoken to the President of...

European Council Meetings. (21 Mar 2007)

Bertie Ahern: Regarding the President's remarks, unfortunately my two meetings with him were concluded before I was made aware of the remarks. As I stated at the time, I would not in any way agree with those remarks. In fairness to him, I subsequently read the full text of what he said and in spite of some of the things he said, he said he did understand the rights of the gay community. He said both...

European Council Meetings. (21 Mar 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I am sorry if I did not make that clear. I believe that Ireland can achieve a 20% reduction in emissions through clean technologies, cutting back agricultural emissions, and the use of biofuels and new home technologies, which have been an enormous success. I know there have been difficulties for the past ten years, but I have read and studied the entire Stern report, a very substantial...

European Council Meetings. (21 Mar 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The target date in it is 2050. All the benchmarks relate to that date.