Results 11,001-11,020 of 21,047 for speaker:Alan Kelly

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Network: Transport Infrastructure Ireland (24 Jan 2018)

Alan Kelly: That is the power of being Chairman. That is fine. Obviously, there is a scoring chart. I need to see it. Can the TII representatives deal with my last two questions?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Network: Transport Infrastructure Ireland (24 Jan 2018)

Alan Kelly: There was surface water.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Network: Transport Infrastructure Ireland (24 Jan 2018)

Alan Kelly: I was caught in the middle of them. I was lucky.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Network: Transport Infrastructure Ireland (24 Jan 2018)

Alan Kelly: I know it well.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Network: Transport Infrastructure Ireland (24 Jan 2018)

Alan Kelly: It is about vision.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Network: Transport Infrastructure Ireland (24 Jan 2018)

Alan Kelly: I understand all of that. I certainly agree with everything Mr. Maher has said. However, there are other issues as well, it is not only that. The on-off ramps at Roscrea and Moneygall are a safety hazard and a problem. I have seen it with my own eyes. They are too short. People are used to longer ramps. There is significant traffic on both ramps. Roscrea interconnects with Templemore....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Network: Transport Infrastructure Ireland (24 Jan 2018)

Alan Kelly: There are a few issues here. First, I understand it would cost a significant amount of money but it would save people's lives. The accident does not always occur at the junction. It can happen a little way from the junction because people are joining up with the traffic. Second, if TII is not going to change them over a planned period of time, the local people are significantly worried...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Network: Transport Infrastructure Ireland (24 Jan 2018)

Alan Kelly: That would be great. In the interim, I would appreciate if TII would consider some type of safety mechanism or signage in that regard. The next issue is the Birdhill side. I cannot explain this but there have been a number of fatalities there.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Network: Transport Infrastructure Ireland (24 Jan 2018)

Alan Kelly: No. It was a nice zone for An Garda Síochána to catch people. That is probably why most people slowed down.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Network: Transport Infrastructure Ireland (24 Jan 2018)

Alan Kelly: Matt The Thresher is a good place.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Network: Transport Infrastructure Ireland (24 Jan 2018)

Alan Kelly: I live only a few miles from there but I am not aware of there having been a huge number of accidents. There might have been. I will ask locally.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Network: Transport Infrastructure Ireland (24 Jan 2018)

Alan Kelly: There is a problem there and I ask TII to get an engineer to study it. I suspect it relates to the dip in the road. We all know the trouble there such as when a JCB that was left overnight there disappeared.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Network: Transport Infrastructure Ireland (24 Jan 2018)

Alan Kelly: It was an incredibly difficult part of the road to build. It took a considerable amount of time. There is an issue there but I am not qualified to say what it is. People are very concerned because there have been a couple of fatalities. One was not long ago and I knew the individual and the family concerned. It must be examined, whether it is when people are turning off the road, the dip...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Network: Transport Infrastructure Ireland (24 Jan 2018)

Alan Kelly: My last question is about the N24.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Network: Transport Infrastructure Ireland (24 Jan 2018)

Alan Kelly: Hopefully it will be a different outcome from the one that has been drafted. The draft one will murder rural Ireland and is not good for Dublin either.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Network: Transport Infrastructure Ireland (24 Jan 2018)

Alan Kelly: This partly goes through Tipperary but it is a far bigger issue. It goes from Waterford through to Limerick. The plans for Foynes, as the second largest deep-water port in Europe, are critical to the future of this country. Obviously there are changes with regard to Moneypoint nearby. There are also issues surrounding how we are going to use the ports. There are multiple ports at either...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Network: Transport Infrastructure Ireland (24 Jan 2018)

Alan Kelly: Of course. I thank the witnesses for their responses.

Report of the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Statements (Resumed) (25 Jan 2018)

Alan Kelly: According to the CSO, the population of Ireland in 2016 was 50.49% women and 49.51% men. I believe in the Irish people. I believe in the equality of both sexes. I trust our people. As an Irishman, I trust Irishwomen. I believe that repealing the eighth amendment is all about trusting Irishwomen. I particularly believe that we must do so as a society. I fully support the conclusions...

Report of the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Statements (Resumed) (25 Jan 2018)

Alan Kelly: I commend, in particular, the chair of the committee, Senator Noone, on doing a very fine job. My colleague, Deputy Jan O’Sullivan, proposed that the repeal simpliciter approach be recommended when the committee made its final deliberations. I commend her on doing so. Deputy Jan O’Sullivan is someone who was politicised by the 1983 referendum and it is appropriate that she...

Report of the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Statements (Resumed) (25 Jan 2018)

Alan Kelly: And Dick Spring. There are many others. We have a track record on trusting women. The Constitution was never the place to make provision for such a complex and deeply sensitive issue. It was put in there to prevent this House and the Oireachtas in general ever having an opinion on abortion with which certain strata of society did not agree. The dark forces of society in 1983, about...