Results 3,701-3,720 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Seanad: Address to Seanad Éireann by Ms Phil Prendergast, MEP. (13 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: I join with the welcome to Ms Prendergast. Our terms did not overlap but she was evidently an extremely popular Member of the House. I thank her for her address. I am concerned about the loss of an MEP to this country. Ms Prendergast said it has been suggested that this country would have only one constituency. That would cause concern as we have a problem with a democratic deficit in...

Seanad: Address to Seanad Éireann by Ms Phil Prendergast, MEP. (13 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: I thank my friend, Senator Pat O'Neill, for the proposal to debate it on Report Stage. The phrase "for different circumstances" is too wide. The Minister of State clarified the issue and I will support him if he wishes, but I do not know what a court case would make of "in different circumstances". Although I do not have photographic recall, the formulation of words provided by the...

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 9: In page 11, subsection (4), lines 37 and 38, to delete paragraphs (b) and (c)The amendment seeks to delete sections 7(4)(b) and 7(4)(c). The authority in making regulations under these subsections may set different requirements on conditions for different circumstances and different areas of the State. The High Court applies in all areas of the State and it...

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: My amendment refers to different circumstances.

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: We could go through this county by county. First in an open market, if nobody in county X wants to get a taxi, it will not be supplied there. However, before we deregulated, the non-Dublin share of the taxi fleet was 35%. It then reduced to 32% but, by 2008, it had increased to 41%. The increase in taxi numbers outside Dublin, therefore, has been greater than elsewhere. I do not know what...

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: When the Minister of State rejected the earlier amendment on SI 250 of 2010, which was using a qualitative argument to restrict new entrants by confining them to 1% of the market, he showed his true colours. We sought an undertaking that this would not happen again. The industry is now organised to keep new entrants out. In tabling this amendment, we sought an undertaking that would not...

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: They did ¤64 billion worth of damage. Taxi drivers did ¤750 million a year worth of time savings and ¤250 million worth of job creation but are continually faced with bureaucrats meddling, as in paragraphs (a) to (m) of this section, and they will not even give the guarantee. The bureaucrats say they are on the side of the consumer. They are not setting out to ban new entrants, but that...

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: I am glad the Minister of State does not intend to invoke that section. It is a sword of Damocles in that the Garda might be removed from the area.

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: I may take up the issue on Report Stage. I will ask the Garda and those in the industry how they feel about this but the history of regulation by the other bodies in the transport sector is highly discriminatory and unsatisfactory. The members of the Garda are the most trusted public servants in the country; all opinion polls show that. I will consider the issue for Report Stage but I do...

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 6: In page 10, between lines 25 and 26, to insert the following subsection:"(2) The Authority may not make regulations which reintroduce quantity licensing of small public service vehicles.".There are many paragraphs, extending to the letter M in subsection 2 and a number of subsections on what the NTA intends to do about licensing and so on. I want to call a halt to...

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: When there are paragraphs extending to the letter M and a few subsections on this area and we are nearly running out of letters in the alphabet to cover measures, my fear is that the bureaucrats are attempting to re-regulate this sector by the backdoor. I am disappointed that the Minister of State cannot give an undertaking on that. I am sure this is one of the areas the troika is looking...

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State back to the House. I draw Members' attention to-----

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: I want to draw the House's attention to subsection (3), which states: "The Minister may make an order specifying a date from which the Garda Síochána shall cease to be the licensing authority to grant licences to drive small public service vehicles for the purposes of this Act." To give the Minister his due and if I understand correctly, he does not intend to invoke this subsection yet....

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: For this reason, I propose that the subsection should not be invoked. According to the record, the number of complaints has been decreasing and the level of criminality was seriously exaggerated by those making the case. There was an example of same last week. It is not an industry inhabited by social welfare frauds, tax dodgers or people with dodgy vehicles. In fact, it is a quite well...

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: I am pressing the amendment because of the level of cynicism here where wheelchair users are being invoked for 1% of vehicles to keep new entrants from the other 99% of the market. That is wrong and contravenes what the High Court said. It stands economics on its head, it is devious and underhand and I could not possibly withdraw the amendment in those circumstances. The Minister of State...

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: The Minister of State is being disingenuous. He is erecting a huge barrier to new entrants by requiring that they must have a wheelchair accessible vehicle. He and his officials know that. It is a de facto barrier to entry which the High Court told the Department not to do. That is a serious step. I will vote against the measure. We should not be asked to undermine High Court decisions....

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: What does withdrawing an "order" mean? I support the Minister of State and agree that the less of this technical detail the better. What is the difference, in this context, between a regulation and an order?

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: I accept what the Minister of State had said. I know that it will not happen and I support his amendments.

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 5:In page 9, between lines 37 and 38, to insert the following:?(d) the Taxi Regulation Act 2003 (Grant of Taxi Licences) (Amendment) Regulations 2010;?.Section 4 listed a number of laws to be repealed such as section 84 of the Road Traffic Act 1961. I have added, because it is draconian and probably unconstitutional, that we should also repeal SI 250 of 2010. Professor...