Results 1,661-1,680 of 1,683 for speaker:Derek McDowell

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Derek McDowell: So, essentially, corporation tax is the only deduction.

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Derek McDowell: I beg your pardon. The reason I mention this point is that it is important in terms of assessing the overall impact, as to whether we have to allow for corporation tax to be taken out of it or whether VAT has already been deducted from it.

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Derek McDowell: I would like to have details of that. Negotiations have not been completed but I assume those difficult issues have been dealt with. This is important in assessing the value of the deal. The contract has been awarded to BetEire Flow, a consortium linked to Sanef. I am unclear as to how this will work. A figure of €113 million has been cited, which I assume to be set up costs. Will...

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Derek McDowell: The fine charged in Vancouver is 49 Canadian dollars if one defaults and does not pay within a certain period. If the fine is substantial in Ireland a considerable additional income will accrue to the tolling company in the early years. Some 90,000 cars use the toll booth, meaning 8,000-10,000 cars will default every day. If they pay a substantial fine the additional profit accruing to the...

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Derek McDowell: That is not clear in the text of the Bill, which refers to the undertaking. This could refer to the tolling company. While I do not have a problem with this in principle, we should not seek to use this as a revenue raising mechanism from hard-pressed motorists using a road that should not be tolled. The fine should be pitched at a realistic level, deterring people from skipping the toll...

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Derek McDowell: Surely we can consult with authorities there to have interoperability of databases. There are major information technology issues involved in giving the tolling company access to our database of car registration details.

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Derek McDowell: Senators are being much nicer to one another. The temperature has gone down, for some strange reason. It would be important to gain access to the registration database in Northern Ireland if possible. This may require intergovernmental agreement. I imagine it will be difficult to grant the tolling company access to our database of car registration details and perhaps we should attempt to...

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Derek McDowell: I am not suggesting that having built a port tunnel we should now abandon the port or move it, but the port will continue to expand and that must done outside the city centre.

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Derek McDowell: Quite apart from anything else, the M50 will be unable to cope with the traffic. We should not be at this point, but a bad deal got us to it. The concept of tolling the M50 was bad in the first instance. I cannot stand over the notion of paying such a huge amount both to expand the M50 and to pay compensation to NTR. We must find a rational way of dealing with this and put it in place as...

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Derek McDowell: That was the principle of the M50 when it was first thought of.

Seanad: National Climate Change Strategy 2000: Motion (21 Mar 2007)

Derek McDowell: I move: That Seanad Éireann condemns the abject failure of the Government to meet the targets set out in the National Climate Change Strategy 2000. This motion seeks to address the issue of climate change in the context of the Government's stated policy established in 2000 when it set out a number of actions it would take over the succeeding decade specifically intended to meet the...

Seanad: National Climate Change Strategy 2000: Motion (21 Mar 2007)

Derek McDowell: I am asking the Government to measure——

Seanad: National Climate Change Strategy 2000: Motion (21 Mar 2007)

Derek McDowell: I am happy to debate it.

Seanad: National Climate Change Strategy 2000: Motion (21 Mar 2007)

Derek McDowell: We should measure the progress being made against the measures that were recommended and adopted by Government——

Seanad: National Climate Change Strategy 2000: Motion (21 Mar 2007)

Derek McDowell: ——seven years ago. The Government committed to incentivise a move away from coal and it has since reversed that decision. The plan refers to an expansion in renewable energy but it is still at 4%. There is a proposal to bring it up to 33% by 2020 but I wonder how this will be achieved. The maximisation of CHP is proposed but CHP has hardly increased in terms of the contribution it...

Seanad: National Climate Change Strategy 2000: Motion (21 Mar 2007)

Derek McDowell: It is reasonable to take out, for example, the agricultural sector and consider the transport and energy sectors. Demand for energy and the use of transport and transport fuels has increased more or less in line with growth in gross domestic product. In fact, it has increased at a higher rate, which is not surprising. We should acknowledge this. If we do, certain consequences flow from...

Seanad: National Climate Change Strategy 2000: Motion (21 Mar 2007)

Derek McDowell: I will start by commenting on what Senator Daly has just said about Moneypoint. There has never been any suggestion from this side of the House that Moneypoint should be closed. I commented earlier on the commitment given in the 2000 plan that Moneypoint be incentivised to use some fuel other than coal to generate electricity. A number of options are available.

Seanad: National Climate Change Strategy 2000: Motion (21 Mar 2007)

Derek McDowell: Clean coal technology, which was mentioned by Senator Daly, is not sufficiently well developed for us to be reasonably secure in using it.

Seanad: National Climate Change Strategy 2000: Motion (21 Mar 2007)

Derek McDowell: Senator Daly is aware that the use of such technology continues to be quite expensive. We are spending hundreds of millions of euro to install certain facilities in Moneypoint which really should have been there in the first place. While such facilities will help to reduce emissions, we will continue to use coal, which is essentially a dirty fuel. If we do not do something soon, we will...

Seanad: National Climate Change Strategy 2000: Motion (21 Mar 2007)

Derek McDowell: I accept that is the case. If one considers this issue from the point of view of purely climate change, there is an overwhelming case for closing all the peat stations. They have been effectively closed and three new ones have been recommissioned. Peat is an enormous emitter of greenhouse gases, accounting for approximately 10% of the greenhouse gases emitted by the electricity sector....