Results 9,821-9,840 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Order of Business (6 Feb 2008)

Bertie Ahern: I am told that the legislation will be published late this year.

Order of Business (6 Feb 2008)

Bertie Ahern: The legislation is being prepared and we are hoping it will be brought to Government the week after next. I will raise the point made by the Deputy with the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Order of Business (6 Feb 2008)

Bertie Ahern: As I said earlier, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government launched a major review of archaeological practice and policy a few months ago. A number of seminars have been held and some reports and suggestions made. It is intended the recommendations arising from those submissions will be brought forward in legislative proposals to be put to the Government. That has...

Order of Business (6 Feb 2008)

Bertie Ahern: I will ask the Chief Whip to arrange that.

Order of Business (6 Feb 2008)

Bertie Ahern: It is not for me.

Order of Business (6 Feb 2008)

Bertie Ahern: No, but a report is being prepared and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform will bring forward proposals to deal with that in the next few weeks.

Order of Business (6 Feb 2008)

Bertie Ahern: The electricity (transfer of transmission assets) Bill is listed as promised legislation but I have no date for it.

Order of Business (6 Feb 2008)

Bertie Ahern: I do not think so.

Written Answers — Foreign Conflicts: Foreign Conflicts (6 Feb 2008)

Bertie Ahern: I visited South Africa between from 13 to 15 January, 2008 accompanied by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin T.D., and the Minister of State for Overseas Development, Michael Kitt T.D. While in Pretoria, I met with President Thabo Mbeki and the Deputy President, Mrs. Mlambo-Ngucka. President Mbeki and I noted the positive bilateral relations between our two...

Departmental Staff. (12 Feb 2008)

Bertie Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 2 together. The position in relation to permanent staffing in the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel to the Government is set out in a table which I propose to circulate in the Official Report. There are currently 19 permanent staff and four consultant drafters serving in the office. In December 2002, 18 permanent staff and four consultant drafters...

Departmental Staff. (12 Feb 2008)

Bertie Ahern: A number of points are raised; if there were a far bigger staff maybe it would ease the burden on the office. It is and always has been a very busy office. As Deputy Gilmore said, its title has changed from the Office of the Parliamentary Draftsman to the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel. In three of the past four years it received increased posts and an increase in staff but overall...

Departmental Staff. (12 Feb 2008)

Bertie Ahern: The problem is with suitable staff. In the last Public Appointments Commission interviews for assistant Parliamentary Counsel in December, there were five vacancies. Three candidates will take up office from this. Only three qualified in the previous competition, of which two took up office in mid to late 2006. I am informed this is not unusual. In the last competition across the water,...

Departmental Staff. (12 Feb 2008)

Bertie Ahern: In answer to the Deputy's first question, some Departments have people with experience and expertise in drafting legislation, which is very helpful in the preparation of Bills, particularly in areas such as social welfare and tax law. In these areas, some Bills appear in the same format every year, so they are not as complex and difficult to draft as, for example, a Finance Bill or the...

Departmental Staff. (12 Feb 2008)

Bertie Ahern: Very little legislation is contracted out. The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform does so because it has the lion's share of Bills every year. That must still be vetted and cleared before approval by the parliamentary counsel. One gains some time but it does not alleviate the workload of the Department. Very few other Departments contract out legislation and most of it is done...

Departmental Staff. (12 Feb 2008)

Bertie Ahern: It is not correct to say that we stopped that. The heads of two very substantial Bills were put out last year. That helped the Charities Bill, which was one of the largest Bills passed by the House in recent years, and the Broadcasting Bill, which was dealt with by way of a consultation process on the Internet. I am in favour of publishing the heads of Bills and having consultation on...

Departmental Staff. (12 Feb 2008)

Bertie Ahern: The number of Bills introduced in the past two years was 42 and 38. That is a high number as against many other parliaments — I have seen that chart. It is not the case that the workload or throughput here was not high in the last Dáil. There were over 208 Bills, approximately 40 a year — that is the average — so we are covering a large amount of legislation. Private Members'...

Regulatory Reform. (12 Feb 2008)

Bertie Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 3 to 7, inclusive, together. Since the OECD report, Regulatory Reform in Ireland, was published, significant progress has been made in the area of regulatory reform. The Government White Paper, Regulating Better, published in January 2004 in response to the OECD's report, provides the basis for work on the better regulation agenda. Some of the key areas...

Regulatory Reform. (12 Feb 2008)

Bertie Ahern: As I stated, regulatory impact analysis must be applied for all proposals for primary legislation. They cannot go through the system unless an RIA is carried out on them. This does not just include primary legislation; it also includes statutory instruments, European Union directives and significant European Union regulations. All of the proposals must automatically go through that system.

Regulatory Reform. (12 Feb 2008)

Bertie Ahern: It must have gone through the process. Whether a proposal relates to primary legislation, statutory instruments, European Union regulations or European Union directives, they must all go through the process. It is done in two ways so that it does not become just a costly and burdensome process. This was one of the issues that Departments but especially business felt strongly about. The...

Regulatory Reform. (12 Feb 2008)

Bertie Ahern: On the first point, the preliminary results from the review of the operation of the RIA process seem to indicate that in the region of 70 assessments have been produced since its introduction. Some 70 full RIAs have been produced across Departments and offices, although I do not know if they have been produced on the websites. Also, they have looked at areas from the preliminary results of...