Results 1,221-1,240 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I am sure I will answer them again. I will make myself available on a daily basis inside and outside the House to talk to the media on any issues of the day, and I will make that a practice. What has been said in that regard is hollow political criticism. In whatever debate we will have on this matter, I have no doubt the Minister, Deputy Martin, and others will have the opportunity, which I...

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I also think it was known in the summer of 1986.

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I think it was also known in the summer of 1994 and in other times when colleagues of mine were in power. Action was not taken and the process did not provide the legislative base required. That is what happened. We can jump up and down——

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: ——and say it will cost us a great deal of money, and it will. The Minister for Finance will have to solve a difficult budgetary problem in resolving how he will pay back an unquantified sum of money.

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: We will have to do that.

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: We will have to develop a process to do that.

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: We will resolve the issues that have existed for 28 years but have not been addressed, for whatever reason. People can study the reports and come to their own views. This Government will now resolve those issues.

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The Government will be responsible for doing that.

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I accept Deputy Rabbitte's point that he can make political points about some people and not others. I will accept that. It is the right of an Opposition leader. He can say that in a democratic assembly. The fact is that we are where we are.

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: We took money from people for years——

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: ——that everybody accepted we had a right to take but we had no legal base for taking it. Everybody believed it was right, but we did not have any legal base for doing it. Now we have to correct that. The politics of it and all the comments about people may continue but——

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: ——we have to sort out this difficult issue. We will do that.

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I will be as brief as I can.

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: Yes.

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I will answer them. Deputy Rabbitte is correct that in all of those periods the matter was discussed as much as it was during the periods I mentioned earlier. People believed at all such times that the existing procedure was fair and that they had a right to take the money.

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The problem was that there was no legislative right to do so. The Supreme Court said it was wrong to take the money in the absence of such a legislative basis. That is what created——

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: That was there since 1976.

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: That is the position. I would like to speak about the 2003 meeting mentioned by Deputy Rabbitte yesterday. First of all, the issue was listed at that meeting as just an item to be mentioned.

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: Deputy Martin was mentioned.

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The minute is in the public domain.