Results 3,301-3,320 of 11,242 for speaker:Noel Dempsey

Public Transport. (17 Feb 2009)

Noel Dempsey: In the current economic climate, I secured subvention, or investment as the unions like to call it, of more than €313 million for the bus and train services. That is a lot of money and we do not have any more to give to the companies. We have a blueprint in respect of Bus Átha Cliath and Bus Éireann as to how we can encourage a greater number of passengers, which is what I desire. I...

Leaders' Questions (17 Feb 2009)

Noel Dempsey: Was any member of Fine Gael involved?

Public Transport. (17 Feb 2009)

Noel Dempsey: Significant progress continues to be made in the provision of increased capacity for public transport. With regard to the rail network, the Cork to Midleton and the Ennis to Athenry lines will reopen later this year while capacity on other services will be refocused to match capacity with demand at a time when the overall position is leading to reduced demand for public transport on...

Public Transport. (17 Feb 2009)

Noel Dempsey: Some aspects of that question may be dealt with later.

Public Transport. (17 Feb 2009)

Noel Dempsey: I propose to take Questions Nos. 52 and 54 together. Smarter Travel — A Sustainable Transport Future, sets out a range of actions across all areas of Government to deliver a sustainable transport system by the year 2020. The new policy framework has ambitious targets, including a reduction in car commuting from a 65% share in 2006 to 45% by 2020. It also sets out specific ambitions in...

Public Transport. (17 Feb 2009)

Noel Dempsey: I had better make sure to invite Deputy Broughan to the next launch of a report so that he will not misinterpret it or get his information third hand. His press release contained a series of premises on which he has based his criticism of me in the House.

Public Transport. (17 Feb 2009)

Noel Dempsey: First, I did not announce €4.5 billion extra, in addition to Transport 21. I said the full implementation of the proposals outlined in the document would cost €4.5 billion. I was asked where I would get the money and I replied honestly that it would be initially from re-ordering priorities within the Transport 21 envelope. When the review of Transport 21 takes place in 2011, I will be...

Public Transport. (17 Feb 2009)

Noel Dempsey: I told the Deputy it is €14 million plus. That is the net amount. The Deputy cannot ignore the other matters. I mentioned one other sum and if he tempts me I may go through a list of other things I can tell him we are doing that ties in fully with the document on smarter travel. An additional €14 million will be provided while €50 million will be spent on traffic management plans...

Public Transport. (17 Feb 2009)

Noel Dempsey: ——that we would like progress on bus priority, public transport and the College Green bus gate.

Public Transport. (17 Feb 2009)

Noel Dempsey: Absolutely wonderful. I do not know why the management of Dublin City Council seems to have received instructions from certain people that it should not go near this until well after the local elections.

Public Transport. (17 Feb 2009)

Noel Dempsey: The target set for the reduction in transport emissions as a result of these policies is 4 million tonnes. With regard to the question on sustainable cities, we could do wonderful work in Galway on sustainable transport but I did not announce it as the sustainable transport city. I did not dally over this issue for the past two years. I launched a consultation process at the beginning of...

Public Transport. (17 Feb 2009)

Noel Dempsey: An interdepartmental committee went through all the responses carefully and gave due credence to them before drafting the——

Public Transport. (17 Feb 2009)

Noel Dempsey: I agree with the Deputy and I only diverge from him on one issue. I brought forward the DTA Bill, which provided for land use and transport studies, development plans and so on in the greater Dublin area, GDA. It is my intention to enhance the policy framework in the national transport regulation Bill, which will provide for the absorption of the DTA into a larger body, and in the...

Public Transport. (17 Feb 2009)

Noel Dempsey: The Deputy is correct that the public transport corridors should be fitted to the higher density housing development. The DTO did good work on this. One of the graphics outlined where people work while another outlined the routes they travel to work by car, which are mostly similar, and another showed the bus routes available. This graphic highlighted huge swathes of the GDA that are...

Public Transport. (17 Feb 2009)

Noel Dempsey: I have asked the chairman of Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann to submit for my approval a detailed programme for the implementation of the Deloitte report recommendations. A decision on the implementation period will be made in the context of that programme taking account of the estimate in the report that the redesign of the Dublin network could take 18 to 24 months. This programme will, taking...

Public Transport. (17 Feb 2009)

Noel Dempsey: There is absolutely nothing to prevent a private sector company from applying for a licence to operate routes throughout the city on any routes that are available. There is a licensing system under the 1932 Act. By 9 December next year, if there are new PSO routes to be put in place, they will also be open to the private sector. Regarding the buses Dublin Bus believes it is necessary to...

Public Transport. (17 Feb 2009)

Noel Dempsey: I agree with the Deputy. To be fair to both sides, the Deloitte report points to many positives and good work done by management and unions in Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann. Bus Éireann gets a very good bill of health on its services. There are a number of things it could change. Bus Átha Cliath can and must change. It is somewhat unfortunate that the Deloitte report has been published...

Road Network. (17 Feb 2009)

Noel Dempsey: As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for overall policy and funding of the national roads programme element of Transport 21. The implementation of individual road projects is, in the case of national roads, a matter for the NRA in conjunction with the relevant road authorities and, in the case of regional and local roads, a matter for local authorities directly. The Department of...

Road Network. (17 Feb 2009)

Noel Dempsey: I agree with the Deputy that local authorities have a very important and key role to play in road safety issues generally. I refer to the example in our own constituency where a former Garda with a lot of experience was appointed as a specific road safety officer and this has proved to be very successful in reducing road deaths and accidents. All the local authorities are focused on this...

Road Network. (17 Feb 2009)

Noel Dempsey: I will defer to my colleague on the total amount. Apart from the reduction, a special grant of €20 million was given last year to reduce driving test waiting times to ten weeks and a target of eight weeks was achieved. Most of that grant went to that project. This amount could not be repeated this year and we did not need to repeat it. Apart from that, the budget of the Road Safety...