Results 27,901-27,920 of 28,255 for speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (8 Dec 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Section 8(43)(1) provides that the Minister must follow a detailed process which includes going to Government regarding schemes and programmes. That provision is included because not all these programmes will be relevant to a particular Minister's Department. Some will relate to the Department of Education and Science and others may relate to the Department of Health and Children. For...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (8 Dec 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The Senators are not looking at it in its totality. If one examines section 43 of the principal Act, the amendments will not allow me to do what Senator Ryan is proposing. Section 43(1) states: "After consulting with the appropriate Ministers, the Minister shall, ... submit to the Government for their approval, with or without amendment, a proposal concerning the programmes or types of...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (8 Dec 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: If one goes through all the hoops and yet the Government believes it has not adhered to these criteria, one has to go back and do it correctly. The Government would want good reason for doing so. The Government rather than the Minister makes the ultimate decision because three or four Ministers could be involved. There is no way it can be done outside the terms of the plan, as it would be...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (8 Dec 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I oppose the amendment.

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (8 Dec 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: With regard to Senator Ryan's question, the wording is drafted in accordance with legal advice. I am not sure it is a positive development but we have become technocratic about procedures. I am always reminded of a version I saw of the play, "A Man For All Seasons", in which a commentator represented the common person. It is important that boards are not peopled with appointees who have PhDs,...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (8 Dec 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Not yet. Anybody who thinks lobbying of a board does not take place because it is one remove from a Minister has never experienced the worlds of academia and voluntary organisations. People will be accountable at least under this legislation. There is two problems with Senator Ulick Burke's proposal, which crop up now and again. If all the CDPs were given a right to nominate somebody to the...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (8 Dec 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: It is very dangerous ground. It is also dangerous to ignore the desire and need for proper representation of women on boards. If the Senators were Ministers, I would prefer them to be doing the nominations, subject to what is being imposed today, rather than some distant body that I think would be much easier manipulated than any Minister. We are elected to make decisions. We should make them...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (8 Dec 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: There is an extra element here. The criteria laid down for the board as it is were very general when the advertisement was placed in the newspapers last year. They were so general that it is a matter of judgment for ADM as to what is in and what is out. The advertisement was in no way specific and every position came under the one advertisement. We are trying to move away from that to a more...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (8 Dec 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: If that were to happen in this case, does the Senator not think there would be a danger of the board resigning due to the Minister not applying the plan? That would happen if it thought the Minister had gone off the rails. If the board resigned, one would be in right trouble. The group has to write a report examining the criteria and each decision to see if it was made strictly according to...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (8 Dec 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: On the question of Government approval with or without amendment, I thought long and hard about this issue and I have a certain sympathy with the points expressed by the Senators. However, what I have found is that where one writes something in a very constricted manner, not only does it stop one doing things that would not be desirable, but at times it can stop one doing things that are very...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (8 Dec 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Yes. There will always be a problem and I do not know how we will legislate because one cannot legislate for every eventuality. I believe the cause of worry is simple. Say, for instance, Senator Ó Murchú has submitted an application and has asked that we turf out Senator Ryan's application and substitute his one. In reality that is not the kind of decision I make as Minister. The kind of...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (8 Dec 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: We had a very productive discussion further in the week on the various issues.

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (8 Dec 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: My voice is not the best today, but it will hold up. I will first lay down some basic principles with regard to spending any money, particularly extra money. We must first ensure additional delivery on the ground. The second point relates to poly-funding. I met yesterday with a group which received funding from the Department of €84,000 and whose State income from all sources amounted to...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (8 Dec 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Government amendment No. 14 will address the matter. The plan as presented to the board was quite generous, but we did not determine that the board would establish the criteria. The criteria under discussion will be very tight. While the board can write the plan in whatever way it wants, I may be required to make new decisions. The CLÁR scheme is typical in the tightness of the criteria...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (8 Dec 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: As long as I am Minister, I will be willing to continue to do something I consider to be very important. Every year, the Dormant Accounts Fund Disbursement Board produces a report. On its publication, it is fair for the holder of my office to come to the House to respond to a debate and provide a forum in which it can be seen whether the Government has lived up to its promises or if the...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (8 Dec 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Section 9(4) provides that, as soon as practical after receiving the board's report, the Minister shall cause copies of the report to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas. My understanding is that the mechanism of asking somebody to come into the Houses is one for the Houses themselves. I assure the Senator, however, that having laid the report it would be a foolish Minister who would...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (8 Dec 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: An issue was raised on Committee Stage about appointment of members and this amendment deals with that aspect. The purpose of the amendment is to ensure that groups working in the area of tackling disadvantage and with persons with a disability have the opportunity to make submissions concerning the appointment of four of the ten ordinary members to the board. I have never been keen on...

Seanad: Community Development. (1 Dec 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Go raibh maith agat, a Leas-Chathaoirligh, as do dhea ghuí. Senator Bannon makes a compelling case. However, the decision in this case does not rest with my Department although it is the funding agency in such matters. There are two Leader programmes in the current round of structural funding, the Leader+ community initiative and the area based rural development programme, a sub-measure of...

Seanad: Community Development. (1 Dec 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I thought I made myself clear. Next week, this House will debate other issues which run parallel to this. For very good reasons, I do not interfere with Leader groups or try to pressurise them into decisions. If I did, there would be howls from the Opposition of ministerial interference in bottom-up companies. Longford Community Resources Limited has decided to reject the application. Any...

Job Losses. (23 Nov 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta Mac Fhionnlaoich as ucht na bhfocal deamhéin a bhí aige dom. Mar is eol don Teachta Mac Fhionnlaoich, tá Nuvotem Teo i mbun déantúsaíochta i gCroithlí ó 1979 agus tá an comhlacht ag tairgeadh transfhoirmitheoiri nó Toroidal Transformers don earnáil teileachumarsáide-leictreonaice. Tá an comhlacht seo, maron le dhá chomhlacht eile, ceann i...