Results 8,381-8,400 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Confidence in Taoiseach: Motion (26 Sep 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I suppose I should not be surprised. In Fine Gael we have a party which deliberately suppressed and concealed a document from the Moriarty tribunal. What lapse of recollection resulted in that?

Confidence in Taoiseach: Motion (26 Sep 2007)

Bertie Ahern: Fine Gael is also a party that conveniently destroyed its financial records. Its members preach integrity in public office, a standard they do not match in their conduct. I was interested to read last Sunday that a Fine Gael public representative arranged for a complaint to be made about me to the Standards in Public Office Commission but melted like the snow when the complaint went nowhere.

Confidence in Taoiseach: Motion (26 Sep 2007)

Bertie Ahern: They spin and leak to the newspapers and deny their involvement. For Fine Gael, integrity is a tactic not a principle.

Confidence in Taoiseach: Motion (26 Sep 2007)

Bertie Ahern: A brief review of the transcripts of the cross-examination of Tom Gilmartin show his evidence is crumbling. I can only assume that Fine Gael is aware of this. One day, it wants due process, the next it wants accountability. The House established the tribunal and Members should let it get on with its work. It is the judges who will assess the shift in detail and make an objective...

Confidence in Taoiseach: Motion (26 Sep 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I have self-evidently not benefited in any way from such service.

Confidence in Taoiseach: Motion (26 Sep 2007)

Bertie Ahern: There is and can be no suggestion that I did anything improper for anyone. I have always been consistent in this one, fundamental matter. I did not receive any payments from Mr. O'Callaghan and am entirely innocent of any imputation that I received improper payments from anyone.

Departmental Appointments. (2 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 3, inclusive, together. Under the direction of the programme manager, the primary function of the special advisers is to monitor, facilitate and help secure the achievement of Government objectives and to ensure effective co-ordination in the implementation of the programme for Government. They are also tasked with giving me advice and keeping me...

Departmental Appointments. (2 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I do not have an overall figure for the Government. The cost of my own staff is approximately €600,000. The overall cost is far less than under previous Governments when there were well over 50 or 60 advisers. While it is not a direct parallel, when former Deputy McCreevy was Minister for Finance, substantial increases were made in the resources given to parties.

Departmental Appointments. (2 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I am not opposed to that suggestion. We set up and resourced the Oireachtas commission a few years ago. The sum total of funds allocated was way over what it used to be in previous times. Every Member now has a second member of staff. The Government Whip supports the continuing expansion of research facilities which help Members to contribute to debates by facilitating them in researching...

Departmental Appointments. (2 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The Deputy appears in An Phoblacht every week.

Departmental Appointments. (2 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The Cabinet committee on health meets monthly. There are weekly or even more frequent meetings at official level on health reform, ongoing negotiations and so on, depending on what issues arise. There is weekly contact between senior officials from my Department, not necessarily advisers, and officials from the Department of Health and Children and the Heath Service Executive. The...

Departmental Appointments. (2 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: While one of my advisers attends the meeting, co-ordination in respect of health matters is driven by an Assistant Secretary.

Departmental Appointments. (2 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: Effectively, there are three advisers employed by my Department. A fourth person acts as a co-ordinator between all Ministers of State as they do not have advisers. Yes, is the answer to the Deputy's next question; a programme manager chairs a weekly meeting, the agenda of which usually relates to the Government's programme for that week and any other outstanding issues, perhaps, from the...

Departmental Appointments. (2 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: Yes. There is a long-standing precedent that, where a number of parties are in Government, each party has a deputy press secretary. The current position is that Fianna Fáil has appointed a press secretary and one has been appointed by the Progressive Democrats and one by the Green Party.

Cross-Departmental Teams. (2 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 4 to 6, inclusive, together. The cross-departmental team has met on six occasions to date this year, most recently this morning. Its role is to identify and assist in progressing and resolving issues related to infrastructure planning and delivery, ensuring that they are adequately prepared for consideration by the Cabinet Committee on Housing, Infrastructure...

Cross-Departmental Teams. (2 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The cross-departmental team on housing, infrastructure and public private partnership is not involved in discussions on the Shannon to Heathrow connection. A separate group of officials has met with a large number of the interest groups for the Shannon area, both in Dublin and in Shannon. It has engaged with State agencies in assessing the consequences of the loss of the route by analysing...

Cross-Departmental Teams. (2 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment has a detailed assessment of the numbers of migrant workers in each area. If there are redundancies in the building sector that will have an effect. Other sectors will take up a significant amount of these, for example, there is an increase in the home improvements area, and in offices and shopping centres and other developments under the...

Cross-Departmental Teams. (2 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: While the cross-departmental team is dealing with the matter, I have read the report and the Department of Finance's summary of and recommendations on the report or, at least, its commentary on the report's recommendations. I have noted the issue regarding the schools which the House has debated a number of times. In many cases, a public private partnership can do an excellent job...

Cross-Departmental Teams. (2 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: It is being dealt with, not by the cross-departmental team but by the Departments of Finance and Education and Science which have comprehensively answered the various recommendations that have been put in the 2007 interim report. The Departments have given their views. Obviously, that report is circulated to cross-departmental teams but it was dealt with by the Department of Education and...

Cross-Departmental Teams. (2 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: As I stated, it looks as if the figure for this year will be approximately 77,000 units, which would be very high. The Department's assessment is that the figure for next year will be in the order of 55,000 units plus. Activity in other areas of construction — house refurbishment, retail and office developments — is high and will take up much of it. That tends to be the view. It is not...