Results 8,101-8,120 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Social Partnership Talks. (24 Apr 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The regulator is implementing legislation passed here setting up the Commission for Energy Regulation to ensure security of supply and that we can keep our electricity and gas companies going. That is the job of the commission. For a sustained period the Electricity Supply Board was able to provide electricity with no increase in cost, but that changed because of the international position....

Social Partnership Talks. (24 Apr 2007)

Bertie Ahern: On the property market, we have worked towards the position where this year we will build one third of the houses we built last year to bring supply and demand into equilibrium. We did nothing to encourage speculators other than to try to increase supply to enable people to get a house.

Social Partnership Talks. (24 Apr 2007)

Bertie Ahern: Under social partnership agreements we have 600,000 more people working in the past decade. One third of the housing stock consists of new houses, and almost half of that went to first-time buyers. Deputy Higgins' analysis does not add up. There will always be people who experience difficulty purchasing a house. The Government has put an enormous amount of resources into social and...

Social Partnership Talks. (24 Apr 2007)

Bertie Ahern: Deputy Ó Caoláin asked about the work of the anti-inflation group. In the past few months, it had a detailed assessment prepared by the Central Statistics Office on contributors to the consumer price index and associated trends. It has been exploring the inflation drivers from a competitiveness perspective and was assisted by a detailed presentation given by the Competition Authority with...

Leaders' Questions (24 Apr 2007)

Bertie Ahern: As Deputy Kenny did at the beginning of his contribution, I offer to the extended family and friends of Adrian and Ciara Dunne and their two little girls our profound sympathies at this terrible time. I offer sympathy to the extended community in Monageer and the people of Wexford generally, who are left to come to terms with this issue. The Government discussed the matter and the Minister...

Leaders' Questions (24 Apr 2007)

Bertie Ahern: All the Fianna Fáil policy documents are printed through the Fianna Fáil headquarters or through printers nominated and paid for by Fianna Fáil.

Leaders' Questions (24 Apr 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I do not believe any of our policy documents are authored by anybody other than people who would work for the party, or perhaps some advisers who work part time for the party outside their own work. As I said previously, the rules that apply under the Electoral Acts on how Ministers can use facilities, including constituency offices within Departments, have been clearly laid out by the...

Leaders' Questions (24 Apr 2007)

Bertie Ahern: An administrative oversight led to copies of two policy directions by the Minister for Health and Children in 2005 not being laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas as required by section 10(6) of the Health Act 2004. These related to a requirement for the Health Service Executive to prepare and submit a code of governance, which was issued on 18 February, and an issue related to...

Leaders' Questions (24 Apr 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I have given Deputy Rabbitte the timescale. Obviously, the timescale to complete the entire process will take several weeks after 17 May so the answer is that it cannot be concluded in the short term because that could run for quite some period. That does not take from the fact that I agree with the initiative. In my view, public hospitals should be for the benefit of public patients....

Leaders' Questions (24 Apr 2007)

Bertie Ahern: Please, Deputy Rabbitte. I listened carefully to you.

Leaders' Questions (24 Apr 2007)

Bertie Ahern: There is a clear difference between Deputy Rabbitte and me on this issue. I acknowledge that and I hope he does——

Leaders' Questions (24 Apr 2007)

Bertie Ahern: ——but I do not accept that the current arrangement where the staff who work in a public hospital designate their beds and their times as private and public patients cannot get in. That is what happens.

Leaders' Questions (24 Apr 2007)

Bertie Ahern: That is what happens, and it has grown. The Comptroller and Auditor General's report shows that it has grown.

Leaders' Questions (24 Apr 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I have no difficulty about the arrangements and what is happening in the transit units, the step-down beds and all those other units, but the issue Deputy Rabbitte and I have been arguing about week after week, an argument which is likely to continue year after year, is that he is happy with the arrangement.

Leaders' Questions (24 Apr 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I ask the Deputy to permit me answer. I listened carefully to him.

Leaders' Questions (24 Apr 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The Deputy is interrupting because he does not want me to explain. He would like to turn this into a complicated issue when it is very simple. The public hospitals are losing a significant amount of their public beds to private patients, which benefits those who operate that system.

Leaders' Questions (24 Apr 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I want them to be designated for public patients. Ideologically, Deputy Rabbitte should be on my side on this but he has other reasons. When I discussed this with ICTU, it understood the issue. It had a problem with it several months ago. I do not see why Deputy Rabbitte continues to hold to a system that is inherently wrong in that a significant number of private beds are dominating...

Leaders' Questions (24 Apr 2007)

Bertie Ahern: Deputy Ó Caoláin asked me a number of questions and it will be impossible to answer all of them. As I said earlier, I offer my profound sympathies at this terrible time to the community and to those who are directly related to Adrian and Ciara Dunne. We discussed the tragedy this morning and agreed in principle to set up an independent inquiry to examine the full circumstances of this...

Leaders' Questions (24 Apr 2007)

Bertie Ahern: Last year there was a lengthy series of discussions between the HSE and the Office of the Minister for Children and the national working group to review the recommendations on the provision of out-of-hours child care services. The issue was examined on a national basis. The working group, which comprises the HSE, the Garda Síochána and Focus Ireland, reported on a comprehensive...

Order of Business (24 Apr 2007)

Bertie Ahern: It is proposed to take No. 16, motion re proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of proposed planning scheme for Poolbeg Peninsula, back from committee; No. 22, Criminal Justice Bill 2007 — Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage——