Results 34,601-34,620 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Travel Tax (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I would rather not do that because it is just a one-off fund. It will not be there forever so one might be able to hire someone for three or four months and then they would be gone. I do not know what the benefits from that would be. I welcome the fact that local authorities take an interest in tourism. I particularly welcome the fact that local communities and chambers of commerce take an...

Sale of State Assets (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 11 together. These questions relate to the sale of the Government's stake in Aer Lingus. The Government recently considered the various options open to it in terms of generating revenue from the sale of State assets, including the recommendations of the State assets review group in the McCarthy report. That report recommended that the Government...

Sale of State Assets (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: The only definite decision that has been made by the Government on the sale of State assets is the sale of a minority stake in the ESB but there are a lot of other candidates for further State asset sales, including Aer Lingus. A lot of work must be done first, before the Government comes to the point where it is willing to sell that stake, both in terms of scoping out potential buyers,...

Sale of State Assets (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: Aer Lingus is a private limited company and is traded on the stock market. It is not a State-run company by any means. It just happens to be a private company in which the State has a 25% stake.

Sale of State Assets (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: There is no question of Ryanair taking over Aer Lingus. The European Commission has ruled that it may not do so on competitive grounds, and I support that. In fact, Ryanair has expressed a willingness to sell its stake. The Ryanair and Government stakes together make 54% of the company, which could be very valuable and potentially of great interest to a buyer. The key question we have to...

Sale of State Assets (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: That is probably more a question for the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, or the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, than for myself. In the programme for Government, however, we are supposed to agree a list of assets to be sold in October-November, so I imagine it will be in that kind of timeframe.

Sale of State Assets (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: Aer Lingus is a private company and so is Ryanair. Therefore we do have private companies that control air access to Ireland. That is already the case. It is also the case for Britain, for example, where British Airways and British Midland are not owned by the state. It is not that unusual and I am sure it is also the case for other island nations. It may well have been the case that at...

Road Network (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: As Minister for Transport, Tourism and 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 under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2007, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. Within its capital budget, the assessment and...

Road Network (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I am conscious of the difficulties that arise in this case. This is a very wide corridor of 300 m to 400 m, which if narrowed down to a more precise corridor would make life easier for many of the landowners in the area. I can understand their predicament. Unfortunately, there are about 20 other roads in a similar position and if I spend €3 million to narrow a corridor on each of these...

Road Network (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I do not think the area should be sterilised. In my view, the NRA and the local authorities need to be pragmatic when it comes to planning applications in cases such as this. Both my Department and I will need to study this aspect more closely. It is the case in the UK that the rules are quite different and people can claim planning blight and say that the authorities there cannot hold...

Public Transport (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: In accordance with the programme for Government, I recognise the need to rebalance transport policy to favour public transport. The public transport system will play a critical role in supporting a return to sustainable economic growth, the maintenance of a competitive environment for investment and addressing the challenge of climate change. The Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008 enabled...

Ferry Operations (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 16 and 204 together. Officials from my Department maintain regular contact with the ports and various shipping companies and have been kept apprised of Stena Line's most recent adjustments to its services. Stena Line, as a commercial company, has taken a decision to introduce greater efficiencies and reduce their overall operating overheads in order to...

Ferry Operations (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I have not yet met representatives of Stena Line but I will make contact with them to put whatever pressure I can on them regarding this route but a service is provided all year round from Dublin Port, which is 20 minutes up the road. Stena Line is withdrawing the service from Dún Laoghaire because there are not enough passengers to sustain the route, given the costs associated with...

Ferry Operations (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: It is incorrect to state the company is losing €10,000 a day. However, I would like the Deputy to send me the information he has and I will look into it because we cannot have a situation where the board of a company is behaving in one way when it expects its staff and others to make sacrifices to save the company. I had to deal with a similar issue in the Dublin Airport Authority and I...

Written Answers — Sports Capital Programme: Sports Capital Programme (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 17 and 22 together. Under the Sports Capital Programme, funding is allocated to sporting and to voluntary and community organisations at local, regional and national level throughout the country. €33 million has been provided in the Department's vote in the 2011 Estimates to meet payments in respect of projects which have been allocated funding under the...

Written Answers — Cycle Facilities: Cycle Facilities (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: Meath County Council carried out a feasibility study for a cycle route along the Boyne Valley linking Trim to Drogheda, which was completed in early 2010. The study estimated the cost of such a scheme to be at least €13 million, excluding potential land acquisition costs. Given current financial constraints it would not be possible to provide such a level of funding. In terms of promotion...

Written Answers — Economic Competitiveness: Economic Competitiveness (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: My Department has no direct control of transport costs in general but keeps under review costs arising from the services provided through our agencies. Cost competitiveness is a key consideration for Ireland as an open export-oriented economy and transport is one of the many factors influencing that competitiveness. The Government's plans to improve competitiveness are set out in the...

Written Answers — Departmental Bodies: Departmental Bodies (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: CIÉ and its three operating subsidiary companies are important State assets. However, it must be recognised that they are unique semi-state companies, in that they are in receipt of significant amount of exchequer funding from the National Transport Authority in order to carry out their Public Service Obligations. Even after this subsidy, they still recorded a loss of €53.6 million in...

Written Answers — Corporate Social Responsibility: Corporate Social Responsibility (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: I fully support the concept of corporate social responsibility across the broad spectrum of corporate activities in Ireland especially in the case of the public sector. Social responsibility is a fundamental principle on which my Department's decisions and actions are based. The key objectives which I have set out on my Department's website sets out clearly the specific social as well as...

Written Answers — Penalty Points System: Penalty Points System (29 Sep 2011)

Leo Varadkar: Part 5 of the Road Traffic Act, 2010 amends existing provisions relating to the endorsement of penalty points and disqualifications of national driving licence holders by making these provisions applicable to non - national driving licence holders also. This includes the association and accumulation of points leading to disqualification. The relevant sections will be commenced in...