Results 2,501-2,520 of 7,278 for speaker:Dick Roche

Written Answers — Water and Sewerage Schemes: Water and Sewerage Schemes (8 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: Schemes currently approved for funding are set out in the Water Services Investment Programme 2005-2007, which is available in the Oireachtas Library. Earlier this year my Department asked local authorities to undertake fresh assessments of the needs for capital water services works in their areas and to prioritise their proposals on the basis of the assessments. In carrying out the...

Seanad: National Parks (8 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: I thank the Senator for his passionate interest in Killarney National Park, an interest I share. The park is an extraordinary asset, one of the jewels in the crown. It is a requirement of the European Communities (Natural Habitats) Regulations 1997, which transposed the European habitats directive, that appropriate steps are taken to avoid the deterioration of natural habitats such as the...

Seanad: National Parks (8 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: We were. Under strategy 1.4 of the Killarney National Park management plan 2005-09, it is a priority of the national park policy to provide conditions where woodland regeneration and expansion can occur, including the use of fencing strategies to protect against overgrazing by ruminant animals. This management plan has regard to the park's status as a UNESCO biosphere reserve and it was...

Seanad: Water and Sewerage Schemes (8 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: I am in the pleasant position of being able to say that there have been significant changes in this matter. Galway County Council rated Ballygar very far down the list and has now changed its mind. The Department's water service investment programme 2005-07, published in December 2005, includes 60 major water and sewerage schemes for Galway with a value of more than €451 million. Many...

Seanad: Waste Management (8 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: Senator Ross and I were councillors in County Wicklow when bin collection services were first privatised. None of us could have foreseen what the waste collection sector would become. Repak has played a remarkable role in our recycling waste performance. In recent years there have been rapid changes in the waste management sector due to the increased involvement of a developing private...

Seanad: Waste Management (8 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: I will not give an undertaking on that because I do not know what is specifically involved. The Senator referred to verbal discouragement by the Department. If he gives me a note on that, I will have it pursued and give him a comprehensive response.

Motor Taxation. (8 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: Motor tax receipts for the years in question are as follows: 2002, €581 million; 2003, €681 million; 2004, €747 million; 2005, €802 million; and 2006, €764 million to the end of October.

Motor Taxation. (8 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: I could retort that the Deputy is not doing his job as leading Opposition spokesman in this area very well. Assertions made across the House are not the same as facts. The facts of the situation are that motor tax compliance surveys are undertaken on a periodic basis. The Deputy is misreading a freedom of information request reply received by him some time ago. The most recent survey,...

Motor Taxation. (8 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: ——suggested one in ten motorists were guilty of tax evasion. The figure quoted refers to the percentage of vehicle owners, based on returns to my Department, who did not respond to reminder notices. Non response to a reminder notice is not the same as not taxing one's car. Various issues are involved. Reminder notices are issued to vehicle owners who fail to renew their tax when...

Motor Taxation. (8 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: The Deputy has misread and misquoted an FOI request.

Motor Taxation. (8 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: I listened to the Deputy so he should allow me make my point. The note in question is 18 months old. The Deputy has shown yet again that he does not know how to use the FOI requests. I regret to have to say this to him. All of the facts ——

Motor Taxation. (8 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: This is it. One word responses to everything. The Deputy does not want to hear the truth because he is such an incompetent Opposition spokesperson.

Motor Taxation. (8 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: The figure of 10% used by the Deputy is up 6% on the registered figure. He is a disgrace and a clown.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions. (8 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: References in a recent EEA report to a potential shortfall of 16% on the Kyoto target failed to take account of a number of key measures in Ireland's strategy for complying with the Kyoto Protocol. This arises from the methodology the EEA applied. It did not take into account the EU emissions trading scheme, which was praised in the recent Stern report and which will account for 3 million...

Greenhouse Gas Emissions. (8 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: Not really.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions. (8 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: Lest I be accused of lecturing, I was pointing out that the EEA has a calculation methodology which does not take into account the 3 millions tonnes which I mentioned under the EU emissions trading scheme. It is quite legitimate to point out that is the case because that is part of the 11 million tonnes saving that has already been identified. It does not take into account the 3.6 million...

Greenhouse Gas Emissions. (8 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: It is in the future.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions. (8 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: The situation in Ireland is that this country——

Greenhouse Gas Emissions. (8 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: If the Deputy has finished asking the question I will give him the answer.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions. (8 Nov 2006)

Dick Roche: Ireland's economy, since the reference year of 1990, has grown by 150%.