Results 1,701-1,720 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Leaders' Questions. (10 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: At present Dublin Airport has capacity for 20 million passengers and is at 17 million now. It needs pier D by 2007.

Leaders' Questions. (10 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I opened the terminal, to which the Deputy refers, about three years ago

Leaders' Questions. (10 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: As I said pier D is required in 2007. An additional terminal is required in 2009. The Government will give all the details of how we feel that should be properly and efficiently accomplished. The main point is that we have a second terminal that will be an efficient terminal and allow the growth of Dublin Airport to develop, which has happened successfully under the Government. We will do...

Leaders' Questions. (10 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: On the question of equity for Aer Lingus, we made it clear at Christmas that we believe private equity should be allowed into Aer Lingus. The percentage of that will obviously depend on discussions involving the board. However, the Government is in favour of private equity going into Aer Lingus.

Leaders' Questions (Resumed). (10 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: Today I looked at the figures for the queues over the past week. For non-peak times it took 15 minutes to get through and for the peak times over the weekend it took 25 minutes. There are security issues. There will be 120 additional staff——

Leaders' Questions (Resumed). (10 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: By mid-summer there will be 120 additional staff on the existing booths and five additional booths to deal with the throughput. We need pier D by 2007 and a second terminal by 2009. That is the position as stated by the Dublin Airport Authority and everybody else out there. When the Government has finalised the best and most efficient mechanism for doing this, we will announce all the details...

Leaders' Questions (Resumed). (10 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: We will have the second one in plenty of time.

Leaders' Questions (Resumed). (10 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: Deputy Rabbitte also mentioned roads and the overspend. The report of the Committee of Public Accounts, which the Deputy normally quotes, identified the increased costs when reviewing all the projects last year and not just 30 projects that were cherry picked for the "Prime Time" programme. It stated that 40% was due to inflation, 16% due to failure to cost certain elements at the planning...

Leaders' Questions (Resumed). (10 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I will not return to road works since I have only a minute to answer. The position is that the present terminal caters for 20 million passengers.

Leaders' Questions (Resumed). (10 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The present terminal can deal with 20 million passengers, and we know that Dublin Airport is growing rapidly. It requires a second terminal by 2009 to be a modern, efficient, properly run and flexible terminal that can cater for its fast-growing needs.

Leaders' Questions (Resumed). (10 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: That is what we want to provide in Dublin Airport. Pier D is required by 2009.

Leaders' Questions (Resumed). (10 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: It is to cater for 20 million passengers.

Leaders' Questions (Resumed). (10 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: When we announce the decision, I hope that the House's support will be as full as its interest has been.

Leaders' Questions (Resumed). (10 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: Deputy Sargent knows that a few years ago the NRA totally changed the systems and structure it was operating for roads, designing them in a very loose way rather than producing detailed plans. Then, when high specifications were put in, costs were far higher. I explained that to the House several years ago based on what had been happening. Since then, there has been far more accurate costing....

Leaders' Questions (Resumed). (10 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: We are now spending €2 billion a year on roads, and a few years ago we did not have the structures to deal with that. We brought expertise into the NRA——

Leaders' Questions (Resumed). (10 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: ——from Ireland, around Europe and South Africa. All those systems are now in place, leading to far more cost-effective contracts. We had other delays as a result of planning issues and other problems. During the initial years, as highlighted in the contracts, there was 40% inflation on them. That was the major part of contracts in the past. The system is now far better, with much more...

Leaders' Questions (Resumed). (10 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The roads plan is built into a ten-year programme and we are delivering on that. The Deputy has seen how many schemes there are. There are 19 this year, and 15 or 16 were finished last year. It is developing a far better roads structure in the country than we have ever had.

Leaders' Questions (Resumed). (10 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: There has been a number of independent evaluations. Both Fitzpatricks and Associates and Indecon have acknowledged the NRA is generally well managed as regards those factors within its control. There are factors outside the control of the NRA.

Leaders' Questions (Resumed). (10 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: We will not get into the issues outside the authority's control. Deputy Sargent has quoted figures in regard to the roads programme. The Deputy is well aware this was a particular programme for a limited number of roads. It was expanded significantly over several years and there are now 68 projects involving the construction of 120 km of roadway and almost 120 km of dual carriageway around...

Leaders' Questions (Resumed). (10 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The early schemes for control of these projects were obviously not adequate. This is why the NRA has strengthened its cost estimation and control procedures in the past five years. A figure of 86% was mentioned in last night's television programme, as quoted by Deputy Sargent. However, 40% of this was inflation. The report of the Committee of Public Accounts offers a full breakdown of the...