Results 15,521-15,540 of 19,173 for speaker:Shane Ross

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Miscellaneous Provisions (Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 29 March 2019) Bill 2019: Discussion (6 Feb 2019)

Shane Ross: I am here to assist in the consideration of the general scheme for Parts 9 and 10 of the miscellaneous provisions (withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 29 March 2019) Bill. The general scheme was approved by Government for publication and has been submitted to the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel in the Office of the Attorney General for formal drafting. This Bill...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Miscellaneous Provisions (Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 29 March 2019) Bill 2019: Discussion (6 Feb 2019)

Shane Ross: I will try to answer them in order. I thank Senator O'Mahony for his questions. There are two objectives, as matters stands, one of which is that in the case of the Enterprise and rail and bus services, the amount of disruption should be kept to the absolute minimum. Talks that are ongoing have that objective in mind. I am pretty confident that in the talks that are ongoing between my...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Miscellaneous Provisions (Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 29 March 2019) Bill 2019: Discussion (6 Feb 2019)

Shane Ross: They are called informal discussions. That is what they are because obviously a bilateral agreement cannot be introduced in advance, but the informal discussions are expected to be conclusive enough to make sure passengers will not be disrupted unduly.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Miscellaneous Provisions (Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 29 March 2019) Bill 2019: Discussion (6 Feb 2019)

Shane Ross: We will have a situation arranged by 30 March where passengers will be accommodated. The discussions are still ongoing, but we are very confident it will be all right.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Miscellaneous Provisions (Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 29 March 2019) Bill 2019: Discussion (6 Feb 2019)

Shane Ross: The Government has made it absolutely clear that there is no intention to have controls at the Border.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Miscellaneous Provisions (Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 29 March 2019) Bill 2019: Discussion (6 Feb 2019)

Shane Ross: The European Union is fully aware and supportive of what is going on in respect of rail services.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Miscellaneous Provisions (Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 29 March 2019) Bill 2019: Discussion (6 Feb 2019)

Shane Ross: There will be a huge number of problems if there is a no-deal Brexit. What we are doing is trying to overcome them. That is what we will do.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Miscellaneous Provisions (Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 29 March 2019) Bill 2019: Discussion (6 Feb 2019)

Shane Ross: Yes. Deputy Troy asked if this was the only Bill that would be brought forward. The Bills we have here are part of an omnibus Bill and I am certainly not ruling out the possibility of amendments being tabled. We are talking to the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel on an ongoing basis. Nothing is yet written in stone but I brought a general scheme to the Cabinet on this basis. It is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Miscellaneous Provisions (Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 29 March 2019) Bill 2019: Discussion (6 Feb 2019)

Shane Ross: I do not anticipate doing that. Deputy Munster asked when I last met my opposite number in the UK, Mr. Chris Grayling.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Miscellaneous Provisions (Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 29 March 2019) Bill 2019: Discussion (6 Feb 2019)

Shane Ross: Sorry. The Deputy asked about goods checks but we have absolutely no intention of putting in place any border checks. We have made that absolutely and totally clear. I apologise but I thought I had answered the question. It will not happen.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Miscellaneous Provisions (Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 29 March 2019) Bill 2019: Discussion (6 Feb 2019)

Shane Ross: No.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Miscellaneous Provisions (Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 29 March 2019) Bill 2019: Discussion (6 Feb 2019)

Shane Ross: Irish Rail and Northern Ireland Railways already have a very close contractual relationship that will be a foundation for the future strong relationship that will continue after Brexit. In other words, the operational level will be decided between them and I hope they will improve or change their contractual relationship accordingly. If we are talking about detail and operations, I will...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Miscellaneous Provisions (Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 29 March 2019) Bill 2019: Discussion (6 Feb 2019)

Shane Ross: We are talking about operational levels-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Miscellaneous Provisions (Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 29 March 2019) Bill 2019: Discussion (6 Feb 2019)

Shane Ross: Issues at an operational level would be decided by the companies. There would be logistical matters but I would not get involved with those.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Miscellaneous Provisions (Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 29 March 2019) Bill 2019: Discussion (6 Feb 2019)

Shane Ross: The Border will not become an issue.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Miscellaneous Provisions (Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 29 March 2019) Bill 2019: Discussion (6 Feb 2019)

Shane Ross: Yes, that is the objective. I do not think Deputy Troy understands what I am saying. The objective is for such travel to be absolutely seamless. Operational matters will be left to the companies in question. Deputy Munster asked whether I had met my counterpart in the United Kingdom. I met my UK counterpart, the Secretary of State for Transport, Mr. Chris Grayling, MP, on Brexit...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Miscellaneous Provisions (Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 29 March 2019) Bill 2019: Discussion (6 Feb 2019)

Shane Ross: No, the informal talks concerned the rail sector.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Miscellaneous Provisions (Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 29 March 2019) Bill 2019: Discussion (6 Feb 2019)

Shane Ross: I sought meetings with Mr. Grayling and various other transport ministers. There was no question of them being either formal or informal. They were meetings at either his request or mine.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Miscellaneous Provisions (Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 29 March 2019) Bill 2019: Discussion (6 Feb 2019)

Shane Ross: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Miscellaneous Provisions (Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 29 March 2019) Bill 2019: Discussion (6 Feb 2019)

Shane Ross: It should be clear to the Deputy from what I said that I could not and would not negotiate or be in a position to negotiate as that is up to the EU 27. The EU is negotiating on our behalf and I was not at any stage negotiating with my British counterpart. That was not my job. Of course, I was prepared to hear what he had to say and to express some concerns that we had. The idea that we...