Results 34,581-34,600 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Tourism Promotion: Tourism Promotion (4 Oct 2011)

Leo Varadkar: Fáilte Ireland was established under the National Tourism Development Authority Act 2003. Its primary functions are the development of quality tourism product, domestic tourism marketing, tourism standards, enterprise support, capability building and human resource development for the tourism industry. Tourism Ireland Limited, was incorporated in December 2000 and is accountable to the...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (4 Oct 2011)

Leo Varadkar: The information requested by the Deputy is being compiled and will be forwarded to her shortly.

Written Answers — Jobs Initiative: Jobs Initiative (4 Oct 2011)

Leo Varadkar: In May 2011, I announced a €75 million boost for Transport related projects under the Governments jobs Initiative. This included €60 million to maintain and repair regional and local roads across Ireland damaged in the last two severe winters and €15 million for traffic management & improvements to rail stations, pedestrian crossings, footpaths, bus networks and sustainable transport...

Written Answers — Ministerial Staff: Ministerial Staff (4 Oct 2011)

Leo Varadkar: The salary cost of the staff allocated to me to assist with constituency work in the 100 days following my appointment is €57,570. Following the decision of the Government on 15 March 2011, the maximum number of staff in my and other Minister of Government's constituency office is four. It should be noted that this marks a considerable reduction from the levels of staffing permitted under...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (4 Oct 2011)

Leo Varadkar: The monetary value of capital funding awarded by my Department directly to companies outside the jurisdiction was: 2008 - €535,000; 2009 - €86,000; and 2010 - €1,260,000. In percentage terms this accounted for a very small element of the overall capital programme for my Department at less than one tenth of one per cent in all cases. I am not in a position to quantify the amount of...

Written Answers — Public Procurement: Public Procurement (4 Oct 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I am not aware of any complaints being received by my Department regarding public works potentially being carried out by contractors operating in the black economy. Payments made by this Department adhere to the Department of Finance guidelines in relation to tax clearance certificates/C2 forms being provided by suppliers/Contractors.

Written Answers — Road Network: Road Network (4 Oct 2011)

Leo Varadkar: The power to decide the speed limit applying to individual roads within an area rests with the relevant road authority, i.e. City Council, County Council or County Borough Corporation, in consultation with the Garda Commissioner, and with the consent of the National Roads Authority in the case of national roads. Under Section 9 of the Road Traffic Act, 1994, the relevant road authority may...

Written Answers — Road Network: Road Network (4 Oct 2011)

Leo Varadkar: As Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport, I have responsibility for overall policy and funding in relation to 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. Within its capital budget, the assessment and...

Written Answers — Regional Airports: Regional Airports (4 Oct 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I announced last June that I had secured Government approval for additional funding to be made available to all six regional airports in 2011, including Galway and Sligo, reversing the cut in funding made by the last Government. However, the Government also decided that it would not be able to provide operational or capital funding to Galway or Sligo airports from 2012 onwards. This decision...

Written Answers — Departmental Agencies: Departmental Agencies (4 Oct 2011)

Leo Varadkar: The information requested by the Deputy is an operational matter for the agencies themselves. I have forwarded the Deputy's question to the agencies listed. If the Deputy does not receive a reply from the agencies within ten working days, please advise my private office

Written Answers — Road Safety: Road Safety (4 Oct 2011)

Leo Varadkar: Proposed new Regulations regarding motorcycle standards are under discussion in the EU at present. I am informed that the proposed Regulations relate only to vehicle standards, not to the vehicle's use or the driver,and specify the standards to be applied to new motorcycles. It presents a legal framework for the type approval and market surveillance of mopeds, motorcycles and quads, which...

Issue of Writ: Dublin West By-election (4 Oct 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I welcome moving of the writ for the Dublin West by-election. Before I say anything else, it is important and appropriate to for me speak about Mr. Brian Lenihan, whose sad departure gave rise to this by-election. He was a very good constituency colleague. He always wanted to solve problems locally. He often solved them quietly rather than running to the media or the barricades as others...

Road Traffic (No. 2) Bill 2011 [Seanad]: Second Stage (4 Oct 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." The Bill I am introducing today will act as another key element in the transformation of road user culture in Ireland. It is more than 50 years since the first road death statistics were compiled here and, in that period, we have witnessed huge social, political and cultural change. Road safety has not been isolated in this regard. We have...

Tourism Industry (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: The measures only commenced in July. Therefore, it will be a few months before we have the statistics from July, August and September. That will give us a chance to judge the effect of them then. The measures I am most interested in are jobs in the sectors concerned and tourist numbers. I am much more interested in the reduction being passed on in terms of new jobs being created than,...

Tourism Industry (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I do not have figures on how many of the industry players have passed on the reductions. They are required to pass it on in law in the sense that the rate is not 13.5% anymore - it is 9% - but one cannot stop them increasing their prices by 4.5% to make up the difference. There are many factors involved in price. Many say, correctly, that energy prices have gone up significantly and had it...

Tourism Industry (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I will check out the Ferrycarrig Hotel in Wexford tonight and we will find out. The major objective of the Government in doing it was to sustain and create jobs in the sector, not necessarily to make it 4% cheaper to go to a restaurant or stay in a hotel.

Travel Tax (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: The Minister for Finance announced the proposed suspension of the €3 travel tax as part of a three-pronged strategy aimed at increasing inbound tourism in the jobs initiative in May. This strategy involved not only the proposed suspension of the travel tax, but also the introduction of a new growth incentive scheme by the Dublin Airport Authority, DAA, and more targeted and co-operative...

Travel Tax (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I will elaborate as much as I can but nothing is finalised yet. It is not that I am holding back information but that matters have not been fully decided yet. The new Government found itself in the same boat as the previous one in the sense that the previous Government reduced the tax from €10 to €3, the airlines having complained bitterly about it, but it got nothing back from the...

Travel Tax (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: That is true.

Travel Tax (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: The approximate amount of money we will take in because we have not abolished the tax between now and the end of the year is €9 million. Half of that is being made available to Tourism Ireland for co-operative marketing and other initiatives with airlines, ferry companies, tour operators and others. Essentially, a call went out to those bodies to come in with their tourism and marketing...