Results 39,101-39,120 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney
- Order of Business (18 Jun 2009)
Simon Coveney: The Leas-Cheann Comhairle should let me finish. It deals with data protection, disclosure and, potentially, encryption obligations, the absence of which has caused the latest data protection breach. A legislative response was promised and I want to know where it is now.
- Order of Business (18 Jun 2009)
Simon Coveney: That is a separate issue.
- Broadcasting Bill 2008 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (18 Jun 2009)
Simon Coveney: I accept the Minister's point that the television licence fee has served us well in some ways in raising money. However, if we know there are inefficiencies in place and there is something like an incentive to evade paying a television licence fee, then we have a responsibility to respond to that and to change the policy. I do not want us to abandon the existing mechanism until we have an...
- Broadcasting Bill 2008 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (18 Jun 2009)
Simon Coveney: Why link it with any item? Why have the debate about televisions, laptops or PDAs? Why do we link the funding of public service broadcasting, which includes radio and television, to ownership of an item?
- Broadcasting Bill 2008 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (18 Jun 2009)
Simon Coveney: What is good for Britain is not necessarily good for us. Saying that the UK has examined this and has come to the conclusion that they should retain the licence fee and attach it to television ownership does not mean we should follow suit. The point is not that we should be charging for Internet connections or treat computers as televisions and charge for ownership of the technology but...
- Broadcasting Bill 2008 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (18 Jun 2009)
Simon Coveney: The best case scenario is that they are doing that and, if they are, it is a major waste of money. If they are not doing it, they are not enforcing the law. Either way, it is a farce to employ people to knock on doors. For a start, they cannot get into most apartment complexes. I am not prescribing the solution but asking the Minister to make a statement in this legislation that we will...
- Broadcasting Bill 2008 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (18 Jun 2009)
Simon Coveney: Has the Minister spoken to the amendment?
- Broadcasting Bill 2008 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (18 Jun 2009)
Simon Coveney: In amendment No. 147 I make the case that we would delete the section relating to the broadcasting fund, which states that the fund may not provide funding for programmes which are produced primarily for news or current affairs. News and current affairs programmes are continuing to make perhaps the most valuable contribution to public service broadcasting in Ireland. In RTE's case, it is...
- Broadcasting Bill 2008 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (18 Jun 2009)
Simon Coveney: I move amendment No. 147: In page 151, to delete lines 35 and 36. Question, "That the words proposed to be deleted stand", put and declared carried.
- Broadcasting Bill 2008 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (18 Jun 2009)
Simon Coveney: I accept I may be out of my depth on the technical side of this amendment. It distinguishes between broadcasting that occurs on commercial shipping and fisheries vessels such as that for navigation, communications between vessels, the Coast Guard and so forth. There is a grey area, however, with privately owned vessels. Anyone lucky enough to own a sailing yacht or motor boat will have a...
- Broadcasting Bill 2008 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (18 Jun 2009)
Simon Coveney: For clarity, as amendment No. 152 refers to "wireless telegraphy apparatus in ships and vessels associated with safety and security on board", is the Minister referring to both commercial vessels and privately owned vessels?
- Broadcasting Bill 2008 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (18 Jun 2009)
Simon Coveney: It is accurate to state that this amendment was the subject of enormous concern on Committee Stage, particularly from TV3. I acknowledge the Department has spoken in detail to the station's representatives to try to allay their fears. For the record, TV3's fears were based on its expenditure of up to â¬50 million to secure exclusive rights to broadcast programming in Ireland over the next...
- Broadcasting Bill 2008 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (18 Jun 2009)
Simon Coveney: A certain element of trust is required when the Minister says that he and his Department have got this right. I am concerned about the effect this proposal will have on this country's only national independent television broadcaster. Of all the amendments being made in this legislation, this is the one that has exercised the broadcaster in question - I do not refer to RTE or TG4 - to the...
- Broadcasting Bill 2008 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (18 Jun 2009)
Simon Coveney: The Minister proposes to add the words "or other vessels" after "ship" on the third or fourth last line of the Bill. Similar to an earlier question I asked him, this section relates to convictions and fines for breaches of legislation in the broadcasting area. Does his amendment refer to privately owned vessels? I can understand the need to include fishing vessels and other commercial...
- Broadcasting Bill 2008 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (18 Jun 2009)
Simon Coveney: On the last item that was raised by the Minister and Deputy McManus, I would happy to proceed with Question Time as soon as possible, but I respect that Deputy McManus has planned her day around it being scheduled to commence later. The sooner questions could be taken, the better it would be for me. On the Bill, consideration has been long, drawn out and detailed. I thank the Minister's...
- RTE Funding. (18 Jun 2009)
Simon Coveney: Question 1: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the discussions he has had with RTE in relation to funding difficulties over the past 12 months; the outcome of such discussions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24368/09]
- RTE Funding. (18 Jun 2009)
Simon Coveney: I thank the Minister for his response. In 2007, did the Minister receive the Indecon report on costings within RTE that was referred to in last weekend's newspapers? What actions did he take, or insist that RTE take, as a result of the recommendations in that report? I understand the Indecon report indicated that Ireland's national broadcaster had higher per capita staffing costs than the...
- RTE Funding. (18 Jun 2009)
Simon Coveney: Is the Minister happy that just fewer than 150 people in RTE earn more than â¬100,000 a year? Seven or eight people in the organisation earn more than â¬300,000 per annum. Is that appropriate for an organisation the size of RTE? Perhaps it is, I do not know, but it is my job to ask those questions when RTE is currently under significant pressure financially and that pressure is being...
- Order of Business (18 Jun 2009)
Simon Coveney: There is.
- Written Answers — Electric Motor Vehicles: Electric Motor Vehicles (18 Jun 2009)
Simon Coveney: Question 168: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the progress made on securing a further memorandum of understanding with car manufacturers and charging infrastructure providers following the agreements with a company (details supplied) and the ESB to promote the rapid rollout of electric cars; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24394/09]