Results 801-820 of 12,487 for speaker:John O'Donoghue
- Tourism Industry. (13 Oct 2005)
John O'Donoghue: The festivals and cultural events initiative has been an enormous success. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the support given by Fáilte Ireland to various festivals throughout the country, which has not been and possibly cannot be quantified, has been an enormous success. The numbers of visitors coming to festivals that have been supported by Fáilte Ireland is quite impressive. It is more...
- Tourism Industry. (13 Oct 2005)
John O'Donoghue: The hill walking issue is the responsibility of my colleague, Deputy à CuÃv, who set up a council known as Comhairle na Tuaithe, which is charged with trying to open up the countryside. I understand that the council has made some progress in this respect and it is important that it does so. The number of hill walkers coming here has been reduced significantly because of a decision by a...
- National Conference Centre. (13 Oct 2005)
John O'Donoghue: I refer the Deputy to the text of my reply to Priority Question No. 1 on this matter.
- Ticket Touting. (13 Oct 2005)
John O'Donoghue: While my Department has no statutory or regulatory responsibility in the area of ticket touting and ticket forgery, the three main national governing bodies of sport, the GAA, IRFU and FAI, were consulted by departmental officials on the issue some time ago. These consultations revealed a strong commitment on the part of the governing bodies to the elimination of ticket touting in respect of...
- Ticket Touting. (13 Oct 2005)
John O'Donoghue: Procedures have moved on from the days of the old cardboard tickets. Because of modern technology, it has become much easier to trace tickets. The Bill was introduced in the House some years ago. At the time, it was referred to various Departments, including the Attorney General's office. The Attorney General expressed grave doubts about the constitutionality of the provisions in the...
- Ticket Touting. (13 Oct 2005)
John O'Donoghue: At the time, the relevant Departments and the Attorney General raised serious concerns about the proposed legislation and their views have not changed in the interim. Some sporting organisations are of the view that the legislation would only drive the practice underground and would not resolve the problem. I am not denigrating the proposed legislation, I am stating the position in this regard.
- Ticket Touting. (13 Oct 2005)
John O'Donoghue: No, I cannot.
- Ticket Touting. (13 Oct 2005)
John O'Donoghue: My Department has no role, function or competence in ticket distribution.
- Ticket Touting. (13 Oct 2005)
John O'Donoghue: The Garda has a role in the prosecution of ticket touting as a criminal offence, not my Department.
- Ticket Touting. (13 Oct 2005)
John O'Donoghue: Ticket distribution is the responsibility of the sporting organisations. Their representatives have assured the Department at a number of meetings that they are strongly committed to eliminating ticket touting and they are doing their best to ensure tickets end up in the proper hands and not the hands of ticket touts.
- National Archives. (13 Oct 2005)
John O'Donoghue: I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 32 together. The records of all public bodies are increasingly being created and maintained electronically. The long-term preservation of departmental records in electronic form is the responsibility of the National Archives. However, in the short term each Department, office or court is responsible for the preservation of its own electronic records,...
- National Archives. (13 Oct 2005)
John O'Donoghue: Whatever combination of solutions is devised, it is essential that both knowledge and physical resources are developed to ensure records and other cultural objects in digital form can be preserved. As the Deputy stated, as a first step in a more substantial programme of work, I appointed a member of staff of the National Archives to examine the issue of electronic records. Progress has been...
- Sports Facilities. (13 Oct 2005)
John O'Donoghue: I propose to take Questions Nos. 10, 17 and 20 together. An inter-agency steering group comprising representatives from my Department, the Department of Education and Science, the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the Department of Finance, in addition to representatives of the Irish Sports Council,...
- Sports Facilities. (13 Oct 2005)
John O'Donoghue: Carrying out an effective and comprehensive national audit of local facilities is a major undertaking in respect of complexity and time. The Sports Council for Northern Ireland embarked on a similar exercise in recent years and it took two to three years to complete the task. In total 1,900 individual sites were identified containing some 10,000 sports facilities. In the past seven years in...
- Written Answers — Cultural Facilities: Cultural Facilities (13 Oct 2005)
John O'Donoghue: The ACCESS scheme, which commenced in 2001, provided grants of â¬45.71 million for the development of 44 arts and cultural facilities around the country. This scheme has transformed the level of access to arts and cultural activities for a great many people in all parts of the State. Since assuming responsibility for the arts, I have consistently said that the arts are for all and that...
- Written Answers — Stadium Redevelopment: Stadium Redevelopment (13 Oct 2005)
John O'Donoghue: I will take Questions Nos. 12 and 37 together. Since I announced the appointment of the design and project management teams for the Lansdowne Road Stadium project in April this year, work on developing the conceptual design for the new stadium has been proceeding at full speed. The design for the new Lansdowne Stadium is now completed and I will be launching the new detailed design on Monday,...
- Written Answers — Sports Policy: Sports Policy (13 Oct 2005)
John O'Donoghue: I had the privilege last week of officially launching the ESRI Report, Social and Economic Value of Sport in Ireland, a research project which was also undertaken as part of the Irish Sports Council's research programme. This report makes a major contribution to the future development of Irish sports policy. While previous studies and our own experiences attest to the significant role of...
- Written Answers — Cultural Facilities: Cultural Facilities (13 Oct 2005)
John O'Donoghue: For 50 years the Wexford Festival Opera, WFO, has been a key event in the cultural life of Ireland and has won extensive international acclaim. Founded in 1951, the WFO specialise in discovering neglected opera pieces. It runs each October and produces three major operas at the Theatre Royal. The existing Theatre Royal is unsuitable for use by the festival into the future. Accordingly, the...
- Written Answers — Abbey Theatre: Abbey Theatre (13 Oct 2005)
John O'Donoghue: I propose to take Questions Nos. 16 and 46 together. I refer the Deputy to my response to Priority Question No. 4 today in this context.
- Written Answers — National Concert Hall: National Concert Hall (13 Oct 2005)
John O'Donoghue: I propose to take Questions Nos. 18 and 31 together. I refer the Deputy to my reply to Questions Nos. 15 and 22 of 16 June 2005 in which I outlined details of the extensive consultations and investigations carried out by officials from my Department and the Office of Public Works with a view to identifying a suitable location for a state-of-the-art National Concert Hall in Dublin. The...