Results 3,221-3,240 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Official Engagements. (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I met President Mubarak on 7 December and the Prime Minister of Egypt two weeks ago. With each of them, most of the discussions focused on the Palestinian question and the Middle East issue. Ireland is one of three countries that Egypt has high regard for because of the position we have taken historically in support of the Middle East — from the time of our declared position 27 years ago...

Ceisteanna — Questions (Resumed) (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: We do not have legislation on human trafficking, but the heads of a Bill have already been approved and we will bring it before the House shortly. The situation in Turkey was discussed and we will debate it during the statements on the European Council. There will be close monitoring of what was agreed in the Foreign Affairs Council in December. The Foreign Affairs Ministers set down in the...

Ceisteanna — Questions (Resumed) (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The Lisbon Agenda always feeds into the spring meeting of the European Council. Almost the entire spring Council meeting will relate to the Lisbon strategy. Every year we draw up a report for the spring Council meeting on what we did in the preceding year across the range of areas that are set out in the strategy. We will produce a report again this year. After the reports have been...

Ceisteanna — Questions (Resumed) (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: That is the trouble with these issues, as the Deputy can understand. One has to do one's best in such circumstances. When I raised our concerns about human rights, it was clear what I was doing. That is why I got it back on the other side as well.

Ceisteanna — Questions (Resumed) (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I do not have a difficulty with what is decided on the constitution, although I doubt that bringing back the convention would be a great idea. The German Presidency would prefer to keep the process tight and it is correct in that. If the process is opened up, many matters that were agreed in the convention a number of years ago will come back into play. There were delicate balances on a...

Ceisteanna — Questions (Resumed) (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: Between 1990 and the past few years emissions in this country have grown by 23% but the economy grew by 150%. That trend is continuing and is reflected in the emissions intensity of the Irish economy. Emissions per unit of GDP were 48% of the 1990 level. The Deputy would like it to be lower and so would I but it is still a huge achievement. The equivalent figure for the European Union is...

Order of Business (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: It is proposed to take No. 23, statements on the European Council in Brussels and No. 4, Finance Bill 2007 — Second Stage, resumed. It is proposed, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, that the Dáil shall sit later than 8.30 p.m. and business shall be interrupted on the conclusion of Private Members' business, which shall be No. 71, motion re health service reform, resumed, which...

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: He is correcting the Deputy.

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The Government is investing €10 million in Louth County Hospital in Dundalk, with two theatres and significant other facilities going in there. It is all very good for the patients and community in County Louth. There was no issue about 2002 and the Minister for Foreign Affairs was informing me of the fundraising committee set up two years ago. I acknowledge the €350,000 raised by the...

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The CAT scanner will be operational next month.

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I have no doubt the excellent report in this morning's newspaper will be repeated tomorrow with the same headline, giving the facts.

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: If we had not provided the €2 million for equipment or the €10 million for the new facilities, that would have been a reasonable argument. I acknowledge the work of the local fundraising committee that raised €350,000. Given that the Government paid fully for the CT scanner machine, the money raised has been used for ultrasound equipment. A CT scanner is a sophisticated and highly...

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: If Deputies want to raise serious issues and are in any way interested in the patients in Dundalk, they should at least listen to the facts. If they are merely interested in playing tabloid headlines, that is all right too and there is no point in me answering. If Deputies want information for the people in County Louth, they should at least listen to the facts. The work was necessary. The...

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: My colleagues on the Fianna Fáil backbenches are entitled, when they receive representations from interest groups, to report what those groups have said to them, and they did no more than that. They raised no criticism whatsoever of the Minister for Health and Children, me or the Minister for Finance, who outlined Government policy in this area. There is not a different viewpoint from the...

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: ——nor has there been criticism from any of my colleagues of the Minister, Deputy Harney. The position with the nurses is that there have been long negotiations. I have no time to go into the matter in detail, but the INO and the PNA state that they have neither accepted nor rejected the Labour Court recommendation, which urged both unions to progress their claims through benchmarking....

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: They have been through the Labour Court process. Nurses form a significant part of the public service workforce and, as in all the discussions on public service pay since 1946, these issues are taken together. We have agreed a basis on which pay and conditions for the public service as a whole should be managed and we have created the benchmarking body precisely to provide an objective...

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I met the nurses' groups in recent weeks and the leaders of both organisations were there, so they know the answer.

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I will answer Deputy Rabbitte as he asked me the question. I informed the nurses of the position when I met them. They did not ask me to tailor future pay increases based on house prices around Ireland, for example giving greater increases where house prices are higher, so we should stop trying to raise such nonsense. The position is that the Minister for Health and Children wrote to the...

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: It was -3° Celsius at 9 a.m. today; anyone in substandard housing will be in great difficulty in this weather and we all wish to see the situation improved in such circumstances. Having said that, legislation, such as the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill and several other Bills we have had here in the past 20 years, have all sought to improve building insulation standards and I think...

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The implementation of existing legislation and related prosecutions are matters for the local authorities. This is not something that relates to central Government. There is a new EU energy directive and a Building Control Bill that Deputy Quinn asked me to complete and these will further improve standards of insulation.