Results 10,461-10,480 of 11,242 for speaker:Noel Dempsey

(23 Jun 2010)

Noel Dempsey: I do not accept propaganda by Ryanair on the matter. Any objective assessment of the Dublin Airport Authority clearly indicates that the airport charges there are in accordance with the EU average and probably a little bit below that. The attitude of a private firm such as Ryanair is precisely why I would not like to go down the route of having a privatised Dublin Airport. As far as I can...

Public Transport (23 Jun 2010)

Noel Dempsey: Substantial progress has been made on Transport 21 since 2006. The five major inter-urban motorways and the M50 upgrade will be completed this year. The Irish Rail fleet has been renewed. The Cork to Midleton line and the first phase of the western rail corridor have opened and the first phase of the Navan line will open later this year. The Kildare railway line has been upgraded and a...

Public Transport (23 Jun 2010)

Noel Dempsey: As the Deputy will no doubt be aware, to be able to spend money one has to have it. One has to make it and be in a position to borrow it. The Government's strategy over the past couple of years was to try to ensure we would be in such a position. We certainly do not have as much money now as we had two, three or four years ago. Within these constraints, we are spending this year €6.5...

Public Transport (23 Jun 2010)

Noel Dempsey: The repayments will be spread over a number of years. Some of the earlier projects had a repayment lifetime of 25 years while those for some of the later projects can be up to 40, 45 or even 50 years. We obtained approximately €2 billion from private sector investment in the roads system. It must be repaid over time. The discussion that will arise, certainly over the coming years, will...

Airport Development Projects (23 Jun 2010)

Noel Dempsey: The Dublin Airport Authority has statutory responsibility for the operation of Dublin Airport. While the Government mandated Dublin Airport Authority to develop terminal 2 and undertake the other elements of the current investment programme as part of a long-term strategy for investing in the airport's capacity, airport operational issues such as the number of airlines that will use...

Airport Development Projects (23 Jun 2010)

Noel Dempsey: There is a fundamental misunderstanding in that Dublin Airport Authority, much as it would like to, does not decide what it will charge.

Airport Development Projects (23 Jun 2010)

Noel Dempsey: It presents the plan. The regulator forensically goes through the plan and decides, on the basis of it, what he will allow to be charged against the cost, what expenses are allowed, whether it is being operated in an efficient manner or whether there is "fat" in the system, etc. After every determination - I have been in this position for a couple of them - the airport is never satisfied...

Airport Development Projects (23 Jun 2010)

Noel Dempsey: To my knowledge, there are no legal contracts entered into in the case of terminal 2 but that is only because discussions have not terminated. On Deputy O'Dowd's other point, this process was an unusually one, not one on which people have a firm grasp. We had independent advisers advising us on this. We set down a certain number of criteria which bidders had to meet in order to be able to...

Airport Development Projects (23 Jun 2010)

Noel Dempsey: It is no good that they are the biggest companies in the world if one has no recourse to their finances. If one of the big international operators submitted an expression of interest in this, and it was the international branch of the firm that did so, I am sure it would have met the financial criteria, but that is not the way they did it. They had subsidiary companies bidding and some of...

Public Transport (23 Jun 2010)

Noel Dempsey: I have been briefed by Dublin Bus on the strategic overview of the bus network review. The objective of the redesign of the Dublin Bus network is to provide current and future bus customers with a service that will be modern, accessible, integrated, easy to understand, punctual and frequent. The redesign, which will commence in July 2010 and proceed on a phased basis at two to three month...

Public Transport (23 Jun 2010)

Noel Dempsey: It would be if it were true but it is not. We are going to double the number of routes with a frequency of ten minutes or better. This is a considerable improvement. Some 60% of customers will be carried on high-frequency routes, these being the ten-minute routes in each direction. With the extra buses, some 23% are currently being carried. It is difficult for people to imagine that...

Public Transport (23 Jun 2010)

Noel Dempsey: Real-time passenger information will shortly be available via mobile telephone and on 500 on-street signs. The initial phase will be delivered by the end of this year. The integrated ticketing project, integrating smartcards for Irish Rail, Luas, Dublin Bus, Bus Éireann and private bus operators, is progressing well. A rigorous testing regime has been put in place and the project is being...

Road Network (23 Jun 2010)

Noel Dempsey: The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is the statutory responsibility of each local authority in accordance with the provisions of section 13 of the Roads Act 1993. Works on those roads are funded from local authorities' own resources and are supplemented by State road grants paid by my Department. Each year, as Minister for Transport I announce the allocation of grant...

Road Network (23 Jun 2010)

Noel Dempsey: I thank Deputy McEntee for his congratulations and comments on the road safety award. I received it on behalf of everyone involved in road safety. I thank Deputy McEntee, his party and other parties in the House, who have a share in this award. It is important to say that and that was why I thought it was important to go and receive the award on behalf of the people of Ireland. Everyone...

Rail Network (23 Jun 2010)

Noel Dempsey: I propose to answer Questions Nos. 38 and 70 together. Since 1 December 2009, the implementation of the DART underground project is a matter under the remit of the National Transport Authority, NTA. Officials from my Department and the NTA hold monthly monitoring meetings. Following a request from my Department, the NTA arranged for a presentation by the DART underground team from Irish...

Rail Network (23 Jun 2010)

Noel Dempsey: No, that is not true. The subject never came up. I met the board members and the chief executive of CIE. I try to meet the boards of companies under the aegis of the Department of Transport once a year and it was such a meeting. In the middle of the day, I became aware of a statement issued by CIE and Deputy O'Dowd raised the matter in the House. Deputy O'Dowd suggested CIE had changed...

Rail Network (23 Jun 2010)

Noel Dempsey: Whether I was flabbergasted is the Deputy's interpretation. I made it clear there was no policy change because the question put to me by the Deputy was that the statement CIE had made had changed the policy. I made it clear that CIE does not make policy; the Department and the Minister make policy. As I said at the time, I was not aware of the statement before it was made, which is not the...

State Airports (23 Jun 2010)

Noel Dempsey: As indicated to the Deputy in my reply to PQ 17984/10 of 5 May 2010, the annual report and accounts of the Dublin Airport Authority for 2009 were published on 27 April and were lodged in the Library of the Houses of the Oireachtas the same day. I noted that falling passenger numbers caused by the recession led to the Dublin Airport Authority's gross profit reducing by 10% on the previous...

State Airports (23 Jun 2010)

Noel Dempsey: I would not agree with the Deputy. The group operating profit before exceptional items was €62.7 million. When the exceptional items are included, it recorded a loss of €13 million. The two exceptional items were in respect of the DAA's cost recovery programme. It spent money on trying to ensure improvements were made to all aspects of the operation of the airport. That cost...

State Airports (23 Jun 2010)

Noel Dempsey: It is €12,000 for each of the directors. The Deputy mentioned the directors were getting €187,000-----