Results 1,761-1,780 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Leaders' Questions. (11 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: If it had been sorted out a year ago, it might have cost €800 million as opposed to €850 million. That is not the point. The fact is that from 1976 when the late and great Brendan Corish was Minister for Health, problems arose as a result of this. Several Ministers from both sides of the House were involved since. We must solve what the Supreme Court said. Throwing the issue around and...

Leaders' Questions. (11 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The Government continues to work long and hard with the disability groups. As I said several times previously, no other Bill with which I have been involved over 20 years has taken so much time, effort and consultation. Deputy Ó Caoláin is wrong to say the Government set up the consultation group. The consultation group was involved when the Bill was being prepared over the past three or...

Leaders' Questions. (11 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: We have explained that at length to the group. I do not believe I will live to see a Minister include such a provision in a Bill. Members are telling people they should keep pushing for something which has never happened since the foundation of the State and which is unlikely to happen this side of the year 4000. I have received letters stating this has happened in Canada and America. It has...

Leaders' Questions. (11 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: Deputy Ó Caoláin knows that he is mixing points up.

Leaders' Questions. (11 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The Deputy has had his three minutes.

Leaders' Questions. (11 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The Deputy is only allocated one minute and has spoken for three minutes. He knows he is mixing up issues.

Leaders' Questions. (11 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The legislation goes far beyond anything to be found anywhere else. I mentioned the one area which it cannot cover. It has an independent assessment of need and a statement of services to which they are entitled.

Leaders' Questions. (11 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: It has access to an appeals process to deal with complaints about the assessment of service statement. Ultimately, it has access to the courts to enforce the decisions of an independent appeal. It has transparent multi-annual funding commitments of capital and current expenditure. It has clear and transparent sectoral commitments.

Leaders' Questions. (11 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: Every one of those issues is in the legislation.

Leaders' Questions. (11 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: It is the same old question and Deputy Ó Caoláin should be honest. He and his party never believed that the Government would introduce the Employment Equality Act, the Equal Status Act, the Equality Act 2004, the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill, the Comhairle (Amendment) Bill and a very good Disability Bill. He clings on to the hope that he can get some political...

Leaders' Questions. (11 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I will answer the point today. Deputy Ó Caoláin is being entirely dishonest in this debate.

Departmental Website. (11 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: My Department's three websites are updated regularly and new information and publications are added as necessary. Each division is responsible for ensuring the information on their own area of the Department's websites is accurate and up to date. There are four people within the Department with access to update the content on the websites as required. The Department's websites are regularly...

Departmental Website. (11 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I will not argue with Deputy Rabbitte about this issue. The website should be updated all the time. For their own reasons, the departmental staff do not put up every statement. They tend to put up major statements on the programme. They do not put items up on a daily basis as I have seen for myself. The www.bettergov.ie website, which concerns modernisation and better regulation also seems to...

Active Citizenship. (11 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 2 to 6, inclusive, together. It is widely accepted that the quality of life is significantly enhanced by the willingness of people to become involved and active in their communities across the wide range of issues and interests which make up our civil society. It is equally recognised that there are many pressures which can inhibit such participation....

Active Citizenship. (11 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I have not announced the membership. However, a large number of organisations have pressed for this since the publication of the White Paper on volunteerism two years ago which at the time was chaired by Chris Flood. A large conference of all of the organisations active in this area was held recently. It was organised as the annual conference of The Wheel, a body which draws on...

Active Citizenship. (11 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: There is already extensive public funding of voluntary organisations across a wide range of Departments and the majority of jobs in voluntary organisations are directly supported by public funds. Some people have even argued that this tips the balance away from direct voluntary participation in some organisations. I do not subscribe to that view because I do not see how organisations can...

Active Citizenship. (11 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I accept there are deep social and cultural factors which can hamper people's participation in various organisations. For example, a change in work and community patterns is a major factor in that. However, there are examples of sporting, cultural and social organisations which have an enormous impact on people's lives and whose members put in a considerable amount of effort into their work....

Active Citizenship. (11 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The Deputy mentioned Scandinavian models and is correct that there is substantial literature on the matter, which has been considered by a number of international bodies. I read some of the recommendations of a good report from the OECD. The task force will consult recognised international experts in this field, many of whom have been working on this here and in other countries for a long...

Active Citizenship. (11 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: Yes, otherwise people's efforts will be pointless. Encouragingly, many recommendations from the White Paper on supporting voluntary activity have been taken by various Government and statutory agencies and are being successfully implemented. I do not wish to use monetary terms, but the amount of resources the State gives to groups is enormous. Many of these activities are now mainstream, with...

Commissions of Investigation. (11 May 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 to 13, inclusive, together. I have received Mr. Justice Barron's report into the murder of Seamus Ludlow and I expect that, following necessary consideration, the report will be forwarded to the Oireachtas in the coming weeks. I understand Mr. Justice Barron expects to complete his report on the Dundalk bombing of December 1975 and the Castleblaney bombing...