Results 1,021-1,040 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Leaders' Questions. (1 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The Supreme Court has found that the retrospective provisions of the Bill on making lawful the imposition and payment of such charges in the past is unconstitutional in so far as this concerns the property rights of individuals. The provisions to allow such charging in the future were not found to be repugnant to the Constitution. When we deal with the Travers report we will also have to deal...

Leaders' Questions. (1 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: Eleven governments and 40 health boards in the past 29 years have supported the policy of charging in respect of long-stay care.

Leaders' Questions. (1 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The Deputy, the House and everyone else should wait until the Travers report is published. In answer to the Deputy's final question as to whether I have confidence in the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the answer is "yes".

Leaders' Questions. (1 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The Deputy asked me if I have confidence in him now. I hope I will also have confidence in him when the Travers report appears. I do not believe the Minister, Deputy Martin — following the version he has imparted — was responsible for stopping the letter being sent. However, I will have to see what will be included in the Travers report.

Leaders' Questions. (1 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The Minister does not organise the sending of letters on behalf of others. He may, however, organise sending his own letters. Unfortunately, the letter in question was never sent to the Attorney General. As Members are aware, the first occasion on which the Attorney General was asked to investigate this matter was in the autumn of 2004. He investigated it quite speedily and issued a report to...

Leaders' Questions. (1 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: Deputy Joe Higgins is correct that this matter has arisen in the House on a number of recent occasions. The Minister has, on each occasion, contacted the Deputies who raised it seeking the information in their possession. I understand Deputy Joe Higgins brought an independent councillor to meet the Minister and that the latter was given some information relating to a Polish firm which is...

Leaders' Questions. (1 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I know the Deputy does not know what I am talking about. The Deputy was asked to produce the evidence and he has not done so.

Leaders' Questions. (1 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I know the facts. The Deputy should be careful what he says because I know what happened.

Leaders' Questions. (1 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I will give the full facts in a minute.

Leaders' Questions. (1 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: Deputy Joe Higgins raised one case in the House and I asked the Minister immediately to follow it up. I am not arguing about that case. At the time the Deputy said he would get the information about that case, which he did, and we have investigated it. However, the labour inspectorate nor any of the workers concerned in that case have registered a formal complaint. We have examined the...

Order of Business. (1 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: It is proposed to take No. 16, Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2005 — Order for Report, Report and Final Stages, proceedings to be brought to a conclusion, if not previously concluded at 7 p.m. by one question from the Chair and which shall, in relation to the amendments, include only those set down or accepted by the Minister for Social and Family Affairs; and No. 17, Driver Testing and...

Order of Business. (1 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The purpose of the Bill is to protect children and adolescents from over-exposure to alcohol advertising. The heads of the Bill have been approved for some time and the legislation is being drafted. My information is that the Bill will not be available until later this year.

Order of Business. (1 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: As Deputy Rabbitte has said, we have extended the scheme, which arose from primary legislation in the two jurisdictions, at Westminster and here in the Oireachtas. We rolled over the regulations every year since in the hope that after three rounds of decommissioning we will achieve an end to the process, as we almost did in the discussions of 8 December. We are keeping those regulations in...

Order of Business. (1 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The legislation is due later on this year.

Order of Business. (1 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: There are 20 heads in this Bill which is being prepared for 2005.

Order of Business. (1 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The Supreme Court only made its decision two weeks ago. We have to work out how we can operate the scheme and what categories it will cover. It is a complex job but it is receiving priority, not only in the Department but also with the Attorney General. There is a debate on the issue to follow.

Order of Business. (1 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: What is the name of the Bill?

Order of Business. (1 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I have no legislation listed yet.

Order of Business. (1 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: We will certainly have a debate. Some of the areas for trade-off are already proceeding. They may not be completed, but I certainly know of one site advertised months ago where the negotiations have moved quite far. I cannot give the guarantee that it will not be completed before the debate.

Order of Business. (1 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: Yes.