Results 28,121-28,140 of 32,961 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputies for their contributions. I will begin where Deputy Murphy finished. She urged that this Bill be focused on parking policy. She correctly said this Bill does not take the approach of dealing with parking policy. It deals with the regulation of clamping, which is something that has not happened before in such a strong and national manner as this Bill proposes. I will...

Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: It is beside the National Sports Campus, it is right beside it. Let us tease this out because we have gone through it on Committee Stage already. Am I to say there are no circumstances at all in which clamping should be allowed within a hospital? There could be circumstances in which clamping is allowed in the hospital. The board of management or the people running a hospital might decide...

Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I move amendment No. 1:In page 5, to delete line 19 and substitute the following:“(3) The Road Traffic Acts 1961 to 2014 and Part 5 may be cited together as the Road Traffic Acts 1961 to 2015.”.This is a technical amendment. As we are now in 2015 and the Bill was drafted in a previous year, the Chief Parliamentary Counsel has updated the legislative reference dates in the...

Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I move amendment No. 3:In page 9, between lines 7 and 8, to insert the following: “Expenses6.The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to the extent sanctioned by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.”.This amendment inserts a standard expenses section in the Bill as a new section...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Traffic Regulations (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank Senator Terry Leyden for raising this matter. I am pleased to come to the Chamber to respond and I acknowledge representatives of the industry in the Visitors Gallery. I see Senator Terry Brennan also has guests in the Visitors Gallery. They are all welcome. The legislation governing the usage of bus lanes is set out in the Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) Regulations 1997, as...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Traffic Regulations (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Senator for raising the issue. My challenge about this matter is not just how the limousine owners or its representatives will respond to this.The measure proposed would set a precedent in the use of bus lanes by other vehicles.  I am confident that bus lanes will become busier as more people use bus transport and more buses are supplied to respond to higher demand.  I...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Taxi Regulations (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: The regulation of the small public service vehicle industry is a matter for the National Transport Authority (NTA) under the provisions of the Taxi Regulation Act 2013. I have referred your question to the NTA for direct reply to you. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a response within 10 working days.

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Taxi Regulations (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: The regulation of the small public service vehicle industry, including vehicle standards for wheelchair accessible taxis, is a matter for the National Transport Authority (NTA) under the provisions of the Taxi Regulation Act 2013. I have referred your question to the NTA for direct reply to you. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a response within 10...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic Legislation (1 Apr 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: ​At present, rickshaws are not specifically defined in law, nor is there any legislation to regulate carriage of passengers by these vehicles. They fall under the category of pedal cycles for legal purposes. As such, there is no requirement to register a rickshaw and it is therefore not possible to provide estimates of their numbers. However, they are bound by road traffic...

Topical Issue Debate: Public Transport (31 Mar 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: One of the reasons I have a very strong commitment to delivery of a 10% tendering of existing routes is because of my commitment to ensuring we have a growing bus market in the future that is more active, has more services and has the ability to respond to the travelling public. I am the Minister who, before Christmas, brought in a Supplementary Estimate of €110 million, the sole...

Topical Issue Debate: Public Transport (31 Mar 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputies for raising this matter. Since this is such an important matter I am pleased to have the opportunity to brief the Dáil. It is disappointing that unions have withdrawn from discussions being facilitated by the Labour Relations Commission. I understand the discussions had been progressing with several employee concerns being addressed. The National Transport...

Topical Issue Debate: Cycling Policy (31 Mar 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I will meet the group with the Deputy. It might not be in the immediate future, but we will meet in the coming months about this. My overall concern is the difficulty of enforcing a law which might well give a short-term benefit, because it would likely lead to a rise in awareness of the matter if such a law were to be implemented, but in the medium to long term that could be diluted by...

Topical Issue Debate: Marine Tourism (31 Mar 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: A Chathaoirligh, if I may, I wish to ask a question of Deputy Stanton for clarification. When he referred to the scale of the opportunity, does he envisage that Youghal can gain in terms of cruise business, or does he believe there are additional opportunities?

Topical Issue Debate: Marine Tourism (31 Mar 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: Regarding the focus on the marine, with all its different opportunities, I would respectfully disagree with the Deputy on one point. I believe the strategy that came from the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine, which had the support of the Department of the Taoiseach, regarding harnessing our ocean wealth, provides a very good framework to respond to the opportunities that the marine...

Topical Issue Debate: Marine Tourism (31 Mar 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I firmly believe that. If the Deputy is not getting clarity of ownership on this from his contacts in the agency, I will contact it and find out who the single point of contact should be on the development of the sector. If that resource is not available within Fáilte Ireland, it is a different matter on which I will work to see if we can bring it to some conclusion. I was in a...

Topical Issue Debate: Marine Tourism (31 Mar 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I will contact the overall co-ordination group on the matter. I will contact Fáilte Ireland about the matter the Deputy has raised and get a response for him.

Topical Issue Debate: Cycling Policy (31 Mar 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter with me. As she will be aware, last year 12 cyclists died on our roads. This compares with five in 2013 and eight in 2012, which is absolutely unacceptable. I am very much in favour of promoting the wider use of cycling. The Deputy is entirely correct that a cyclist on the road is a legitimate road user with the same expectation of...

Topical Issue Debate: Marine Tourism (31 Mar 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank Deputy Stanton for raising this matter. The short answer in regard to who should deal with this matter is reflective of the broader challenge we face in terms of how we market and develop a tourism proposition for the city and county of Cork. In February this year a group, consisting of representatives from the Cork county and city local authorities, Fáilte Ireland and various...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Local Improvement Scheme Funding (31 Mar 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank Senator Reilly for raising this matter. As Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, I have responsibility for overall policy and funding for the national roads programme. The planning, design and implementation of individual road projects is a matter for the National Roads Authority, NRA, under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2007 in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. The...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Sale of Aer Lingus (31 Mar 2015)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Senator for raising this matter in the way he has today and in recent weeks. I am constrained in my ability to respond to a number of the points put to me by him. He is now used to this refrain, but because a takeover period has been declared, I am restrained in responding to some of the more detailed points made. I wish, however, to frame what is happening in the context of...