Results 1,221-1,240 of 1,415 for speaker:Tom Kitt

Dáil Reform. (26 Feb 2008)

Tom Kitt: My colleague who is present in the Chamber, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, will re-establish the all-party group on Seanad reform. He will answer questions on that in the Dáil in the next week or so and will deal with all the issues. Much progress has been made on this in the past and the points the Deputy made will be part of those...

Dáil Reform. (26 Feb 2008)

Tom Kitt: The other matter raised by the Deputy related to the Green Paper on local government reform. I understand that the Minister of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government will have that paper ready in two weeks' time. I recognise that Deputy Ó Snodaigh is a very constructive and active member of the group of Whips. At some stage we can take it that he will become involved and I do not...

Dáil Reform. (26 Feb 2008)

Tom Kitt: At least The Irish Times is represented today.

Dáil Reform. (26 Feb 2008)

Tom Kitt: I touched on this issue earlier. The straight answer is that the Government has not yet made a decision. However, I am not in any way ruling out a good decision in this matter. I accept that, beyond being the Chief Whip for my party and for the Government, I have responsibilities to work as best as I can with the Whips from the other parties for the House. I have no doubt that my party is...

Dáil Reform. (26 Feb 2008)

Tom Kitt: I know, and Deputies Naughten and Durkan raise the matter on a regular basis. The Whips are having good discussions on this and I repeat the words of thanks to the Ceann Comhairle for his facilitation. As we are discussing parliamentary questions, I believe on occasion an excess of questions is put down on issues which, frankly, do not require so many questions to be asked. I will not...

Dáil Reform. (26 Feb 2008)

Tom Kitt: I am not trying to muzzle anybody. However, issues are raised. It is peripheral to what we were discussing and is not as important, but we should examine it.

Dáil Reform. (26 Feb 2008)

Tom Kitt: I will consider it. The only issue I have is that Ministers are accountable for the replies they give and he or she may change a reply along the way.

Dáil Reform. (26 Feb 2008)

Tom Kitt: I accept Deputy Stanton that it is a serious matter on which we can make progress. The Deputy referred to a timescale in the autumn, a realistic timetable for all of us to work to. We should all work to achieve success in this area by the autumn. I have raised the matter concerning State agencies and replies to parliamentary questions, as requested by the Deputy and others, with the...

Dáil Reform. (26 Feb 2008)

Tom Kitt: We can consider July and September. Committees meet during these months. I said in the course of our discussions that we would consider this. I answered the question about agencies. Deputy Stanton suggested that we arrange for Deputies not to be charged for freedom of information requests. We can consider that but I cannot give a commitment at the moment.

Dáil Reform. (26 Feb 2008)

Tom Kitt: I will do that.

Dáil Reform. (26 Feb 2008)

Tom Kitt: This has been a useful debate and I have been as open as possible with regard to the various proposals that have been raised at our informal discussions. Because these discussions are informal I have been reticent about giving the Deputies a specific commitment on the issue of agencies. So far I have brought the issue of better communications from agencies to the attention of the Taoiseach...

Membership of Committees: Motion (26 Feb 2008)

Tom Kitt: I move: That Deputy Michael Mulcahy be discharged from the Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children and that Deputy Dara Calleary be appointed in substitution for him.

International Agreements: Motion (26 Feb 2008)

Tom Kitt: I move: That Dáil Éireann approves the exercise by the State of the option or discretion provided by Article 1.11 of the Treaty of Amsterdam to take part in the adoption of the following proposed measure: a proposal for a Council Framework Decision on combating certain forms and expressions of racism and xenophobia by means of criminal law, a copy of which proposed measure was laid before...

Tourism Industry. (27 Feb 2008)

Tom Kitt: The Central Statistics Office estimates the number of overseas visitors to Ireland using actual passenger numbers supplied by the airport authorities and shipping companies combined with a large-scale sample survey conducted in Irish airports and seaports. The country of residence survey is a continuous large-scale sample survey where incoming and departing passengers are interviewed. This...

Tourism Industry. (27 Feb 2008)

Tom Kitt: To answer the first question, Deputy Ó Caoláin is correct to state the figures include Irish people returning home. Two sample surveys are done on passengers. The first is the country of residence survey which asks two questions, namely, where people are from and the number of trips they made abroad. The second is the passenger card inquiry, PCI. These are carried out by the CSO. The...

Tourism Industry. (27 Feb 2008)

Tom Kitt: The Deputy's last question, as other colleagues have pointed out, is the subject of the next set of questions. I look forward to dealing with the accuracy of the census figures in some detail then. I stand by the very good work by the Central Statistics Office, CSO. I will convey the Deputy's views to our friends in the CSO on the need for more work on the detail of the census figures....

Tourism Industry. (27 Feb 2008)

Tom Kitt: The most basic way of examining visitor numbers is through passenger figures supplied by the airport authorities and shipping companies. After that, one has to dig deeper for specific information.

Tourism Industry. (27 Feb 2008)

Tom Kitt: I will raise the matter with the CSO. There is much contact between ourselves and the relevant agency in Northern Ireland — they do things differently there — and other statistical bodies in EU member states.

Census of Population. (27 Feb 2008)

Tom Kitt: I propose to take Questions Nos. 2 to 5, inclusive, together. As the census is fundamental to planning the future of the country, it is extremely important it is conducted in a professional manner. The CSO employed a field force of close to 5,000 persons, of whom 4,400 were enumerators, to undertake a comprehensive field operation over nine weeks in April and May 2006. Individual and...

Census of Population. (27 Feb 2008)

Tom Kitt: I stand over the CSO's figures. Just looking at the detail and amount of preparation for the census, the CSO's staff are to be commended. They delivered questionnaires to 1.5 million dwellings. As Deputies know, there were 400 field supervisors and 4,400 enumerators. The CSO, following consultation with the Office of the Chief State Solicitor, pursued a number of cases in which households...