Results 3,501-3,520 of 11,242 for speaker:Noel Dempsey

Departmental Agencies. (17 Dec 2008)

Noel Dempsey: If I was in here in other circumstances and interfering in the day-to-day operation of the companies in question, the Deputy would make another complaint. He asked about the various bodies I had met. I have met with all the major ones since joining the Department. I met with Aer Lingus, Bus Átha Cliath, Bus Éireann, the Cork Airport Authority, CIE, the Commission for Aviation Regulation,...

Public Transport. (17 Dec 2008)

Noel Dempsey: The 2009 Exchequer subvention to CIE will be €313.279 million, an increase of 1.5% on the 2008 figure. During the course of the Estimates discussion, my Department had discussions with the Department of Finance and with CIE on the overall financial position of the CIE operating companies, Dublin Bus, Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann. The chairman and chief executive of each of the...

Public Transport. (17 Dec 2008)

Noel Dempsey: The country is in the financial situation it is in and no amount of burying one's head in the sand with regard to reality will help anybody. CIE is suffering as a result of the economic recession, just as is everybody else. Fewer people are using buses and trains and coming into towns to shop and fewer people are working. In that kind of environment, it is inevitable that services will end...

Public Transport. (17 Dec 2008)

Noel Dempsey: I am somewhat confused by the Deputy. I am not sure what he wants me to do on this matter.

Public Transport. (17 Dec 2008)

Noel Dempsey: He is telling me I should cut fares. I would be delighted not to approve a request for higher fares. The original request was for a 20% fare increase. I would be delighted to be able to say to CIE that I was going to get it to cut its fares. If the Deputy thinks that is a wise policy to pursue, that is okay. I will do that. The Deputy cannot complain, on the one hand, that CIE will not...

Road Safety. (17 Dec 2008)

Noel Dempsey: Under the Roads Act 1993, the maintenance of roads, including winter maintenance, is a statutory function of each individual road authority. This work is funded out of each authority's own resources, supplemented in the case of regional and local roads by discretionary and block grants allocated annually by my Department. In the case of national roads, funding for maintenance, which...

Road Safety. (17 Dec 2008)

Noel Dempsey: To my recollection, and I may be corrected, the amount of money provided under this heading at the beginning of 2008 was an increase on the figure given in 2007. There was no reduction in funding. The grants we give for roads are meant to supplement local authorities' own resources. If the authorities feel they have not got an adequate amount in the grant they receive from us, they should...

Air Services. (17 Dec 2008)

Noel Dempsey: Ireland's aviation policy, as set out in my Department's current statement of strategy, is to promote regular, safe, cost-effective and competitive air services linking the country with key business and tourism markets. To this end, within the European Union, Ireland has consistently supported market liberalisation measures, which have, to date, served as the platform for the rapid expansion...

Air Services. (17 Dec 2008)

Noel Dempsey: I do not accept that. The airport departure tax is not in play at the moment and it cannot be causing the fall in tourist numbers.

Air Services. (17 Dec 2008)

Noel Dempsey: I could claim that the question is somewhat facetious if the Deputy talks about an airport tax when he asked about Irish aviation policy.

Air Services. (17 Dec 2008)

Noel Dempsey: It has not had any effect on tourism numbers. I expect that passenger numbers will reduce as they are currently reducing. That has more to do with the international economic situation and the recession we now face. I do not accept for a minute that the airport tax will be the deciding factor as to whether people travel in and out of this country.

Air Services. (17 Dec 2008)

Noel Dempsey: I do not think I would make a good Santa Claus. With regard to the Shannon-Heathrow route and the different meetings I have had with different representatives of Aer Lingus in the past 12 months, I have never failed to highlight that issue. I have also discussed it on a number of occasions with our own directors on the board of Aer Lingus to try to ensure that the link, which is important,...

Air Services. (17 Dec 2008)

Noel Dempsey: I can only go by what was said in public some weeks back, when Dermot Mannion of Aer Lingus indicated at a meeting in Shannon that it was considering increasing the number of short haul flights. I can only hope.

Air Services. (17 Dec 2008)

Noel Dempsey: There are no plans to repeal the State Airports Act. The state of play is that the business plans have been submitted, the DAA commentary on the business plans has been submitted and the two airports, Shannon and Cork, have also submitted letters to me stating their views of the proposal to have separation at this point in time. Both airports remain committed to the concept of separation....

Air Services. (17 Dec 2008)

Noel Dempsey: Particularly Dublin. They are the gateway to Ireland and are the first impression people get of Ireland. It is particularly important that we have good facilities and I am committed to that. I have not sought any meeting with Dermot Mannion. He sought a meeting with me last week and I had discussions with him at that stage.

Departmental Review. (17 Dec 2008)

Noel Dempsey: The reference in the organisation review programme report is to a finding in our business customer survey for 2005-06, which surveyed 328 business customers and found that of 47 who had made a complaint, over half had not had their complaint resolved at the time of the survey. As the survey was carried out on an anonymous basis it is not possible at this stage to identify either the business...

Departmental Review. (17 Dec 2008)

Noel Dempsey: The systems that operate in the Department are similar to the ones that operate in the Minister's office in that all communications are recorded when they come in and where they go in the system is also recorded. We endeavour to ensure that replies are given. It is possible that when people do not get the answer they want, they regard the issue as not being resolved. The 23 people of 328...

Departmental Review. (17 Dec 2008)

Noel Dempsey: To answer generally, the major portion of the decentralisation, which was the move of the Road Safety Authority and the haulage licence section to Loughrea, is now complete. We were also to move some of our operations in maritime safety to Drogheda but because of the stage it was at, it will not go ahead until 2011 under the review. We complied with all of the deadlines and we are probably...

Departmental Review. (17 Dec 2008)

Noel Dempsey: The Deputy is correct and I do not know how this situation arose. The transport portfolio has been shifted from place to place and from Department to Department and we have ended up with six buildings. It is totally unsatisfactory. We hope that during the course of next year we will resolve the matter and reduce the number to three.

Public Transport. (17 Dec 2008)

Noel Dempsey: Dublin Bus passenger numbers have increased from 134.2 million in 2000 to 147 million in 2007. This increase was achieved despite the introduction of the Luas and improved suburban rail services in the greater Dublin area. Dublin Bus is the largest operator of bus services in that area. In the course of the past year, passenger numbers on its services have declined by approximately 4%....