Results 941-960 of 1,683 for speaker:Derek McDowell

Seanad: State Airports Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (14 Jul 2004)

Derek McDowell: I do not have a problem with making the Minister's case in that I am happy to have it put explicitly on the record that the Minister has the power to direct the sale of assets and would not hesitate to use it. That is the provision I wished to include and we are agreed that it is covered under the legislation.

Seanad: State Airports Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (14 Jul 2004)

Derek McDowell: I move amendment No. 15: In page 9, subsection (8), line 23, to delete "Costs" and substitute "All costs". This amendment deals with the costs of the restructuring operation. Section 7(8) stipulates that "Costs arising from the restructuring may be paid by the Minister, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance." The Bill represents a political decision by the Minister...

Seanad: State Airports Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (14 Jul 2004)

Derek McDowell: I am not sure that is reasonable. Perhaps the Minister could give us some indication of the level of costs involved and I presume the Department of Finance has performed some sort of risk analysis with regard to this. That the company is being broken up, assets and staff transferred, new systems established and some new staff employed to accommodate duplications in bureaucracy and...

Seanad: State Airports Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (14 Jul 2004)

Derek McDowell: I take this opportunity to see if some clarity can be attained on the matter of the bonds and bilateral loans. Most of the facts were set out yesterday but I wish to recapitulate them briefly to ensure I am not missing anything. It has been established that there was correspondence between Deutsche Bank and Aer Rianta at the end of July 2003. In that correspondence Deutsche Bank, as the...

Seanad: State Airports Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (14 Jul 2004)

Derek McDowell: Is the Department or Aer Rianta in discussion with the bond holders and the bilateral lenders and creditors as regards consents or waivers? Assuming these are forthcoming, will they involve significant cost to the Exchequer or to the company?

Seanad: State Airports Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (14 Jul 2004)

Derek McDowell: There are also guarantees by the State.

Seanad: State Airports Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (14 Jul 2004)

Derek McDowell: I agree there is no risk to the creditors because the State ultimately guarantees the loans. Even if they were to trigger the default mechanism because the company could not pay, the State has to step in, in any event. This is not likely to happen and there is no risk, literally, to the creditors. However, there is a potential risk to the company if for whatever reason — the Minister says...

Seanad: State Airports Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (14 Jul 2004)

Derek McDowell: This should have been sorted and the restructuring should have been squared with the creditors, particularly since they have the power to bring the process crashing down if they choose to exercise it. I accept the logic of the Minister's position that they are not likely to choose to exercise that power, but they have it and this should have been sorted before this. The consents or the...

Seanad: State Airports Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (14 Jul 2004)

Derek McDowell: I move amendment No. 18: In page 9, lines 43 to 50 and in page 10, lines 1 to 23, to delete subsections (1) to (4) inclusive. These amendments seek to explore what will happen during the interim period and where in essence the power lies. There is a difficulty built into the mechanism set out by the Minister in that for the interim period of nine months, the Dublin Airport authority will have...

Seanad: State Airports Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (14 Jul 2004)

Derek McDowell: I will try to come at this from a different angle. The legislation, when enacted, will allow for a transfer of a great deal of authority to the interim boards. Am I right in assuming that the Minister wishes the maximum possible level of authority to be transferred to the interim boards as soon as possible? Are we likely to find ourselves in the position within a matter of weeks or shortly...

Seanad: State Airports Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (14 Jul 2004)

Derek McDowell: Does the Minister envisage that staff issues will be transferred to the interim board fairly quickly?

Seanad: State Airports Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (14 Jul 2004)

Derek McDowell: They cannot do so legally but it could be done on an agency basis by virtue of the delegation process in place. Does the Minister see that happening? Will the interim boards de facto do this work albeit on an agency basis legally? Decisions and operations on the ground will be taken by the local boards. Is that what the Minister foresees happening?

Seanad: State Airports Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (14 Jul 2004)

Derek McDowell: I appreciate that.

Seanad: State Airports Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (14 Jul 2004)

Derek McDowell: What type of issues will be dealt with by the sub-delegation process?

Seanad: State Airports Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (14 Jul 2004)

Derek McDowell: I move amendment No. 24: In page 11, subsection (12), line 11, after "shall" to insert ", subject to the approval of the Dublin Airport Authority, prior to the appointed days for Cork and Shannon,". Section 8 as it stands entitles each company to make the necessary arrangements to put in place the restructuring process with the consent of the Minister. As a number of the decisions that will...

Seanad: State Airports Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (14 Jul 2004)

Derek McDowell: I want to address the issue of a new airport. I accept what the Minister said on amendment No. 24. When reading the Bill, I was struck that this subsection was included because it appears to be an afterthought. It appears it was suddenly decided when drafting a Bill seeking to restructure the existing airports to throw in two or three subsections which relate to the possibility of a new...

Seanad: Business of Seanad. (14 Jul 2004)

Derek McDowell: In order to be helpful I will point out that as far as matters have been dealt with on Committee Stage I do not intend to submit any amendments in my name on Report Stage. I suspect Report Stage will be quite short.

Seanad: State Airports Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (14 Jul 2004)

Derek McDowell: I appreciate that the Government has not yet made a decision on this issue and that the Minister has said he expects one within a few weeks. I assume he envisages a process of expressions of interest and so on in deciding on the independent individuals or companies. Does he expect that he will prohibit the Dublin Airport authority from being party to any competition for operating the second...

Seanad: State Airports Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (14 Jul 2004)

Derek McDowell: I move amendment No. 26: In page 11, subsection (14), line 28, after "services" to insert ", subject to the transfer by the Irish Aviation Authority of the necessary expertise and assets,". This relates to the provision of services by the aviation authority. I was not sure about the point of the original section. It implies that the aviation authority might in certain circumstances withdraw...

Seanad: State Airports Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (14 Jul 2004)

Derek McDowell: Is there a guarantee that best practice and standards will be maintained on the provision of services?