Results 30,861-30,880 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Network (7 Nov 2013)

Leo Varadkar: As Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport I have responsibility for overall policy and funding for the national roads programme. The implementation of individual national 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 improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Rail Services (7 Nov 2013)

Leo Varadkar: I refer the Deputy to Minister of State Kelly's reply to the Topical Issue on this matter on Tuesday, 22nd October.  Concerns on this subject have been raised with the Chief Executive of Irish Rail and I understand that Irish Rail have already responded and re-introduced larger carriages to accommodate passengers where this has been considered necessary.  The Chief...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Wild Atlantic Way Project (7 Nov 2013)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 38 , 40 and 43 together. The Wild Atlantic Way is set to be Ireland's first long-distance touring route, stretching along the Atlantic coast from Donegal to West Cork.  It is planned to develop it into an attraction of international scale, on a par with the Garden Route in South Africa or the Great Ocean Road in Australia, that...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Service Obligation Services (7 Nov 2013)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 39 and 51 together. The objective of Government is to ensure a system of public transport throughout the country that is as efficient and as widespread as possible.  In relation to the award of Public Service Obligation (PSO) contracts for the bus market, this falls under the remit of the National Transport Authority (NTA).  The NTA is currently...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Transport Provision (7 Nov 2013)

Leo Varadkar: It is difficult to carry out a comparison of subvention levels between transport authorities internationally for a number of reasons, some of which are: - The subvention payments for the bus mode are not normally separated out from the other modes such as light and heavy rail and are usually presented as the subvention for all the public transport in the particular region; - Some...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Roadworthiness Testing (7 Nov 2013)

Leo Varadkar: The arrangements for commercial vehicle testing in the State were comprehensively reviewed in 2007 and the Government decided that the model for delivery of testing by private operators would continue and that the authorisation and supervision of commercial vehicle testing would be centralised under the auspices of the Road Safety Authority (RSA) to ensure consistency of testing across the...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Sports Facilities Provision (7 Nov 2013)

Leo Varadkar: A significant amount of work is taking place at the National Sports Campus which will see a number of facilities completed this year and more to come on stream in the short to medium term. Irish Sport HQ has been completed and now is the administrative headquarters of almost 20 NGBs. Work is almost complete on the development of multi-sport all-weather floodlit pitches.  It is...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Regional Airports (7 Nov 2013)

Leo Varadkar: Recent discussions with the management of Ireland West Airport Knock (IWAK) have taken place through the Study Group, which comprises a broad range of parties interested in the development of the Airport and was established, under the Chairmanship of Deputy John O'Mahony, following a meeting of the Airport Board with the Taoiseach, Minister of State Ring and myself.   The Group...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Tourism Policy (7 Nov 2013)

Leo Varadkar: The Tourism Policy Review is designed to look at all aspects of Irish tourism and the issues paper that Minister Ring and I launched on 11 September has a specific section dealing with product development. I am inviting all stakeholders to make their views on the issues known to my Department.  The level of interest has been such that I have extended the deadline for receipt of...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Driving Licence Issues (7 Nov 2013)

Leo Varadkar: The following tabular statement provides details of the number of driving licences broken down by licence type issued by each Local Authority in 2012. Type of Licence Local Authority Driving Licence  Learner Permit Total County Councils  -  -  - CARLOW 5,775 2,748 8,523 CAVAN 7,697 3,169 10,866 CLARE 13,795 4,501 18,296 CORK 57,710 20,718 78,428 DONEGAL 17,176...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Rail Services (7 Nov 2013)

Leo Varadkar: The issue raised is a matter for Irish Rail and I have forwarded the Deputy's question to the company for direct reply.  Please advise my private office if you do not receive a reply from the company within ten working days.

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Driving Licence Issues (7 Nov 2013)

Leo Varadkar: Following a competitive procurement process, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) awarded a contract for the operation of front office customer services in relation to the National Driver Licensing Service (NDLS) to SGS (Ireland) Ltd. On of 29th October 2013, the service will operate from 34 full-time centres and 2 part-time offices around the country. The list of public office...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Projects (7 Nov 2013)

Leo Varadkar: 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.  Within its capital budget, the assessment and prioritisation of individual projects is a matter in the first instance for the NRA in accordance with Section 19 of the Roads Act....

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: The Gathering Events (7 Nov 2013)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 228 and 235 together.   The Gathering Ireland 2013 aimed primarily to generate additional tourist numbers and revenue in 2013.  However, it also aimed to have a longer-term impact.  We set a target of 325,000 visitors and we are well on the way to meeting that, but The Gathering was never just about visitor numbers and revenues.  It...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Tourism Policy (7 Nov 2013)

Leo Varadkar: While my Department provides capital funding for investment in tourism product development through Fáilte Ireland, it is not directly involved in the development and promotion of tourist attractions. However, I am informed that the board of Fáilte Ireland recently approved a grant of €2,500,000 to Cork County Council for the development of the...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Tourism Capital Investment Programme (7 Nov 2013)

Leo Varadkar: I was pleased to welcome the announcement in Budget 2014 of an additional €8 million in capital investment for the Wild Atlantic Way. The Wild Atlantic Way is set to be Ireland's first long-distance touring route, stretching along the Atlantic coast from Donegal to West Cork. It is planned to develop it into an attraction of international scale, on a par with...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Travel Tax Abolition (7 Nov 2013)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 232 and 255 together. The zero rate travel tax initiative is part of a process aimed at generating new airline routes into Ireland and will come into effect from April 2014. There has been a positive response to the initiative from airlines so far with Ryanair and Aer Lingus Regional both announcing details of new routes and...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: VAT Rate Reductions (7 Nov 2013)

Leo Varadkar: I strongly supported the continuation of the 9% VAT rate on the basis that the initiative had proved to be a major success, improving the competitiveness of the tourism industry, helping to create thousands of new jobs and contributing to the growth in overseas visitors and revenue. The continuation of the reduced rate is recognition by the Government of the importance of the...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Tourism Industry Issues (7 Nov 2013)

Leo Varadkar: Tourism performance for the year to date has been very positive. The most recent published figures from the Central Statistics Office, CSO, show that there were over 5.4 million overseas visits to Ireland in the nine month period between January and September 2013 representing a 6.4% increase on the corresponding period of 2012. All of our main target overseas markets show growth levels...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Tourism Policy (7 Nov 2013)

Leo Varadkar: The Tourism Policy Review was formally launched by Minister Ring and me on 11 September in Dublin Castle. Over 90 individuals from representative bodies, key stakeholders and academia attended the event which marked the publication of a consultation document, raising a series of questions regarding policy priorities for Irish tourism and inviting everybody with an interest...