Results 27,501-27,520 of 33,392 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Transport Infrastructure (1 Oct 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: Metro West was proposed under Transport 21as an orbital metro connecting Tallaght and Blanchardstown in the west of Dublin with the original Metro North proposal to Swords. The project was to be procured as a Public Private Partnership, however a significant Exchequer contribution would also have been required.   In October 2010 the then Railway Procurement Agency (RPA)...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Projects (1 Oct 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is the statutory responsibility of each local authority, in accordance with the provisions of Section 13 of the Roads Act 1993. Works on those roads are funded from local authorities' own resources supplemented by State road grants. The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded is also a matter for the local...

Topical Issue Debate: Tourism Promotion (30 Sep 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: Deputy Halligan has a better appreciation of what work is under way in his county than I do but I visited Waterford and saw the work taking place in Tramore in the context of the development of surfing facilities to attract tourists who want outdoor holidays. I was hugely impressed by that. I saw the work the local authority is doing, with Government support, to develop the Deise greenway...

Topical Issue Debate: Road Traffic Legislation (30 Sep 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: Much of the legislation to deal with this matter does come under the remit of the road traffic area, which is the responsibility of my Department. One matter which the Deputy has raised and on which I will check up and ask that a response would be provided to her relates to the definition of a public place. She gave the example of laneways. From my constituency work I am aware that...

Topical Issue Debate: Tourism Promotion (30 Sep 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I spent a day in Waterford just before the summer when I had an opportunity to meet many of the people involved in tourism in Deputy Halligan’s county. In fairness to the Deputy, although I was aware of it, I acknowledge that I heard from them about their dissatisfaction and annoyance at Waterford not being able to participate in the Wild Atlantic Way initiative. Deputy Halligan is...

Topical Issue Debate: Road Traffic Legislation (30 Sep 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank Deputy Catherine Byrne for raising what I know is an important matter in her constituency. My area of responsibility relates to the legislation concerning the use of motor vehicles in public places. This includes the use of dirt bikes or scrambler bikes in public areas. Enforcement of the relevant legislation, including addressing any illegal use of a mechanically propelled...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 31 - Transport, Tourism and Sport (30 Sep 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: No we do not. The table to which the Vice Chairman refers is the departmental output table of 2015. It lists all of the different outputs by all elements of my Department. I believe an evaluation has been done as to whether they are specific, measurable or relevant. My own observation is, as Minister heading into the next Estimates process, that I believe there is an opportunity to make...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 31 - Transport, Tourism and Sport (30 Sep 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: There is fairness in what the Deputy has said, however some of the measurements that are included go in the direction of being very output focused. I draw the committee’s attention to section C of the Estimates and the issue of ports. It indicates the number of ports and seafarers to be inspected. If one looks at section D and sports it states that Sport Ireland legislation is to be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 31 - Transport, Tourism and Sport (30 Sep 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: My objective is to remain here.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 31 - Transport, Tourism and Sport (30 Sep 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: That is all I am worried about. The Deputy is far more likely than I to achieve that objective.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 31 - Transport, Tourism and Sport (30 Sep 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I think that is fair enough. I believe that some of the measurements here do what the Deputy and the committee want. What the committee has asked of the Department is fair. I believe that other measurements could be clearer. That is my responsibility. There are parts on which I would resist the committee. If I look at tourism, measurement number one is to agree 2013 business plan for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 31 - Transport, Tourism and Sport (30 Sep 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: It is a mixture. I am clear within my own Department what my priorities are. When I came into office those objectives were published. I meet every month with the management boards of the Department and we review where we are with the priorities that we have set. That is partly by virtue of necessity because there are so many different things going on within my Department that I have to be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 31 - Transport, Tourism and Sport (30 Sep 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Vice Chairman.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 31 - Transport, Tourism and Sport (30 Sep 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy and will reply to the questions he has put to me. The first one is on the two roads that the Deputy referred to, the Shannon Foynes road and the Adare bypass road. I know as well as the Deputy where those projects stand at the moment. They both face journeys in the planning process and so on, but I believe it is important that yesterday I and the Government made clear...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 31 - Transport, Tourism and Sport (30 Sep 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy knows, there is always blue murder about different matters. That is just the nature of the jobs we do. If one looks at the support for the festival programmes and at the support that many of the larger festivals get, one will see that the funding they receive from the Department through Fáilte Ireland has been substantially reduced. We are challenging festival and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 31 - Transport, Tourism and Sport (30 Sep 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for raising a number of points. First, I will deal the capital spend and the percentage we are investing in regional and local roads. Out of €10 billion programme that I announced yesterday afternoon, some €2.4 billion is for regional and local roads. When I was drawing up the announcement that was made yesterday, I first gave priority to rebalancing our...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 31 - Transport, Tourism and Sport (30 Sep 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: We have made additional funding available to support longer advertising campaigns through Tourism Ireland. We are trying to get additional vacations and holidays into Ireland at points of the year when we have the capacity to facilitate them. I will explain how it is working at the moment. I suppose we are in the off-season, or the off-shoulder period, now. We will have to see how it is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 31 - Transport, Tourism and Sport (30 Sep 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes, we will. We are coming off a decent base in terms of the breadth of indicators we have and how specific some of them are. There is an opportunity to do this more effectively in the future. As we are doing it we will also need a bit more clarity regarding the adjudication of the Oireachtas on the specific measurable and relevant columns.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 31 - Transport, Tourism and Sport (30 Sep 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: The committee already has a copy of my statement. We have probably covered the second session fully already, maybe more so than the first.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 31 - Transport, Tourism and Sport (30 Sep 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: We have to start somewhere. We have covered all of that. As the committee already has a copy of the statement and it has been circulated, if I may, I might make reference to one or two areas that were not covered in our earlier session.