Results 3,241-3,260 of 6,030 for speaker:Brendan Ryan

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: That is not what I asked the Minister. Does "commercial" mean the developments mentioned in section 7(2)(a) would have to be entirely self-financing? For instance, would the developers have to include the cost of the site in their budgets? Would they pay the market value for the site and fund the capital cost or would such projects be regarded as commercial as long as revenue exceeded...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: The Minister did not answer my question about what "commercial" means, which is a pity. For example, the Railway Procurement Agency claimed the Luas made a profit last year. While its revenue exceeded its expenditure, the agency did not include the €700 million capital cost of the infrastructure. As I try to educate young engineers, that is not a profit. I am a little concerned about...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: Section 7(7) states, "The Minister may approve, with such modifications (if any) as he or she considers appropriate, a plan submitted to him or her by the Authority...". Does the Bill make provision to prevent the Minister modifying the plans in a way that might affect their viability by increasing the authority's expenditure while reducing its revenue? If the Minister is seeking the power to...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: We are at cross purposes. If significant public funds are due to be expended, nobody will dispute the Minster should have the final say but the issue is modification of the plans. Has provision been made to prevent a Minister modifying plans under section 7(3), 7(4) and 7(5) in a way that could increase the expenditure of the authority and reduce its revenue? I have no problems with the...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: In that case, what does section 7(7) mean?

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: I have one further question. While I am not trying to be awkward, to a considerable extent this constitutes the nub of the Bill. I am surprised there is no definition of the term "campus" anywhere and one could end up with all sorts of complications in this regard. Section 7(9) defines "sports campus" as a campus of facilities for sporting activities. Although the fact that I had time to...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: I have a couple of questions in respect of section 9 regarding some points which confused me. Perhaps I am easily confused. Section 9(10) uses the phrase "a person shall be disqualified for holding and shall cease to hold office". I appreciate the sensitivity of the draftspeople in recent years because at one time this clause would have included bankrupts, criminals and Members of the...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: Section 10(1) states, "the Authority shall hold such and so many meetings as may be necessary for the performance of its functions". Although I read through section 10, I did not find any minimum number of meetings. I may have missed it, as I do not claim to be the world's greatest authority on these matters. It seems strange that the board would not be obliged to have some meetings. I...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: I disagree with the Minister and Members should set some minimum standard in this respect. Four times a year would constitute a reasonable minimum figure. Aside from this Bill, I must engage in further research in this regard. I find this to be an invitation to a domineering chief executive to minimise the role of the board, especially if the chief executive and chairman came to a convenient...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: I compliment the Minister. I may have missed this before but section 13(7) is the first time I have come across the provision that a chief executive shall not take up particular types of employment for 12 months after ceasing to be chief executive. It is a welcome development although I would prefer 24 months. People in such bodies or Government advisers should not be able to move seamlessly...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: I, like everyone else, am aware of the perpetual talk about the alleged pensions time bomb that is ahead of our children if not ourselves. I am not sure life expectancy will stretch that far. This Bill does not seem to provide for any equivalence to public service pensions. The scheme will be approved by the Ministers for Arts, Sport and Tourism and Finance. It could be a defined payment...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: Section 16 deals with the disclosure of interests, which is becoming standardised. It never used to be included in Bills such as this. I do not have major objections to it, except for section 16(3), which states: A person shall not be regarded as having a beneficial interest in, or material to, any matter by reason only that he or she or any company or other body or person mentioned in...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: Nobody is arguing with the basic thrust of this section. However, it seems it would be a lot easier if the judgment were made by an individual such as the Ombudsman, secretary to the Government or another person or body who would be in a position to make an objective judgment. Under section 16(6) the Minister can deal severely with somebody where he comes to the conclusion that he or she...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: It would not be the first time.

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: That the authority should define what is confidential is a bad idea. I have said this about every Bill I have dealt with in this House. We ought to have an objective test of what is confidential because different bodies come to different conclusions. Coillte, for instance, which is a publicly owned organisation, keeps insisting that it is not and is therefore not bound by the obligations of...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: I did not believe the Minister would.

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: There are clearly good reasons to require Members of the Oireachtas or the European Parliament not to be members of the authority given that it is ultimately accountable to the Minister and the Oireachtas. However, there is no such relationship of accountability between the authority and local authorities and therefore the logic does not apply. There is no logic to excluding local authority...

Seanad: Housing (Stage Payments) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: The Minister of State should be aware that Members are familiar with that particular refrain.

Seanad: Housing (Stage Payments) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: "May be contrary".

Seanad: Housing (Stage Payments) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: There are few spectacles more unedifying than that of Fianna Fáil wriggling under pressure from the construction industry.