Results 2,701-2,720 of 13,375 for speaker:Pat Rabbitte

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Mining Industry (12 Mar 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: For the information of the Deputy, I am advised that the remediated area of the tailings management facility at Gortmore, Silvermines, Nenagh, County Tipperary, comprises a substantial cover including geogrid membrane, a rock layer and soil overlaid by vegetation. I understand that there would not appear to be a risk of immediate or irreversible damage to the property. In the circumstances,...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Electricity Transmission Network (7 Mar 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: This is a day to day operational matter for the ESB and not one in which I, as Minister, have a role or function. I have asked the company to communicate directly with the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Sale of State Assets (7 Mar 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: As part of the Government’s asset disposal programme provided for in the Programme for Government and agreed with the Troika (i.e. the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund), the Government has agreed the sale of some non-strategic power generation assets of the ESB. The disposal process is overseen by a Steering Group co-chaired by...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Services Provision (7 Mar 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: Ireland’s telecommunications market has been liberalised since 1999 and since then has developed into a well-regulated market, supporting a multiplicity of commercial operators, providing services over a diverse range of technology platforms. Details of broadband services available on a County-by-County basis, including County Dublin, can be found on the website of the Commission for...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Services Provision (7 Mar 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: It has been Government policy for some time that State entities should avail of commercial opportunities to facilitate the deployment of infrastructure to the telecommunications market. A number of commercial State companies and non-commercial State bodies are currently leveraging their infrastructure in this way and have contributed to the marked improvement in broadband services in recent...

Topical Issue Debate: Miscanthus Industry (6 Mar 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: I am glad Deputy Moynihan has raised this matter because it is an issue about which I am concerned and have a little knowledge. Moreover, I met the company directly to try to tease out the issue. The background is that to meet Ireland's 2020 binding targets to increase renewable energy to 40% in the electricity sector, 10% in the transport sector and 12% in the heating sector, the...

Topical Issue Debate: Miscanthus Industry (6 Mar 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: That last point about what was the understanding at the time is critical. I should not say or go as far as saying the company asserts it was seduced into a contract at the time with Bord na Móna and that it now is in difficulty. Bord na Móna insists this is not the way it happened and since I came into the Chamber, I have received a communication from JHM Crops Limited, to the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Social Media: Discussion (6 Mar 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: Therefore, it is not an entirely new phenomenon. In response to Senator Healy Eames, the gap in the law I referred to is the Communications Regulation (Amendment) Act 2007. That Act introduced measures dealing with the use of the telephone system to send messages that are grossly offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing or for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Social Media: Discussion (6 Mar 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: Thank you, Chairman. We take this opportunity to commend the committee on the initiative. We will follow the committee's proceedings. We are particularly interested in the committee's engagement with the stakeholders, and we will see what we can do in co-operation to address some of the issues that were raised. I am glad that several colleagues have also put on the record the very...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Social Media: Discussion (6 Mar 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: I agree with what Senator Brennan has said. Unfortunately, the bully does grow up and in some cases bullying has resulted in other children being the first to drop-out or attend a different school at the expense and inconvenience of their parents. In response to the question on the provenance of anonymous material, there is a question of editorial responsibility. Most good newspapers in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Social Media: Discussion (6 Mar 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: One never knows, stranger things have happened. I saw a comedian winning an overall majority in Italy. One never knows. If one is a Minister, regardless of party, and one does an interview, there are half a dozen guys lined up somewhere in the undergrowth to phone in as interested citizens, but one learns after a time that they are not as unconnected and disinterested as one might think....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Social Media: Discussion (6 Mar 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: We think there may be a gap in the law with respect to the inclusion of telephone and SMS identifiable abuse and the exclusion of Internet technologies from the remit of that legislation. That may well be something that could be teased out in some detail by the committee. The issue of anonymity is very complex, and it was raised by Deputies Kenny and O'Mahony. This is before coming to the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Social Media: Discussion (6 Mar 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: Deputy Harrington asked what is going on. The Minister for Justice and Equality has already referred the harassment issue, under the Non-fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997, to the Law Reform Commission and asked it to report on that matter. The Deputy will be aware that in terms of changing criminal law the Law Reform Commission regularly reports, having teased out issues in the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Social Media: Discussion (6 Mar 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: Before I try to answer Deputy Colreavy's serious question, I will point out that while it would be natural that committee members would reflect the concerns being brought to them by constituents, parents, etc., it is also important to acknowledge that this technology is an exciting, revolutionary and unprecedented development in civilisation. Colleagues are focusing on the minority of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Social Media: Discussion (6 Mar 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: Is the Deputy asking am I happy with the arrangements to remove offensive material?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Social Media: Discussion (6 Mar 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: The committee needs to probe this with the companies that come before it because I have difficulties with the take-down policy of some companies. These are reputable companies - major corporations. For example, Facebook alone has 1 billion users. Good corporate citizenship ought to mean that they should be prepared, in their host countries, to enter into sensible protocols about, for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Social Media: Discussion (6 Mar 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: The phenomenon we are discussing has been around since the mid or late 1970s but it is the acquisition of critical mass over the past five or six years that has so accelerated the phenomenon with which we are attempting to tussle. It is reasonable to say that best practice will evolve because the pressures being experienced in this jurisdiction are being experienced around the world. Best...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Social Media: Discussion (6 Mar 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: Deputy Moynihan is probably correct to say that some people have the impression that the normal law of the land does not apply online and a minority behaves recklessly without any regard to the hurt they inflict. The truth is that defamation law and the criminal law relating to harassment apply online. In the latter case, the Garda has advised my Department that the interpretation by the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Social Media: Discussion (6 Mar 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: I thank the Chairman and the members of the committee for inviting me to appear before them. In so far as I know this is the first committee of the House that has sought to address this relatively new phenomenon. My colleagues in the Department and I will be very interested to see the conclusions of the committee's deliberations. We will also be interested to hear first-hand from the other...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Services Provision (6 Mar 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: Ireland’s telecommunications market has been liberalised since 1999 and thus the delivery of broadband services is a matter, in the first instance, for private sector commercial operators who are licensed and regulated by the independent regulator, the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg). Decisions relating to the provision of broadband services in any particular area,...