Results 381-400 of 4,808 for in 'Dáil debates' speaker:Alan Shatter

Other Questions: Energy Usage (6 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 and 27 together. The Defence organisation has a strong record in the area of energy conservation. As the Deputy will be aware, the European Communities (Energy End-use Efficiency and Energy Services) Regulations 2009 oblige all public sector bodies to report annually on their energy usage and the actions undertaken by those bodies to reduce consumption....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Homeless Accommodation Provision (6 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: The Deputy has just confirmed the position. The initiatives in which he was engaged were to encourage, in so far as he was engaged in them, Kildare County Council to take up a responsibility for individuals who were clearly in need of housing and to engage with the trust that sought to deal with these issues. He has made exactly that point. Why did the Deputy so deal with the matter? He...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Deployment (6 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: The Deputy's question is about the number of occasions in 2013 on which the Garda Síochána requested support from the Defence Forces at Shannon Airport. It does not reference war efforts or 1 million people being slaughtered. I do not know where the Deputy thinks 1 million people have been slaughtered or why anything happening in Shannon Airport has resulted in that slaughter. ...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Deployment (6 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: From the Deputy's engagement with the courts, we know he has no respect for the law. He is now raising issues that fall within the brief of the justice area, but I am happy to deal with them. What he has just said is untrue. He stated that the person he named had been asked to sign a bond not to return to Shannon Airport. That is entirely untrue. What the person has been asked to do is...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Deployment (6 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: The Deputy is consistently personal with me, but that is his prerogative. I note he did not explain his reference to Nuremberg. I know exactly why he is making that reference. He should have the courage to explain where he is coming from when he makes that reference. In relation to this particular issue, a court order was made and was not appealed, as I noted previously. Margaretta...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Properties (6 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: The Deputy can repetitively raise the issue but, unfortunately, the position will not change. I will not comment on the expertise of Deputy Wallace in the building trade and what occurred with regard to outcomes in the manner in which he managed his construction company, because that is nothing to do with the matter. I have to rely on the advice and expertise of officials in the Department....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Homeless Accommodation Provision (6 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: The issue of housing and homelessness is a matter in the first instance for the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. A similar perspective was taken by my predecessors. As a matter of course, my Department does not provide homes for retired personnel, and for many years a process of phasing out married quarters for serving personnel has been in place. As such, my...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Homeless Accommodation Provision (6 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: It suits the Deputy for party political purposes to emote on what is a serious issue. His own party was in government for over a decade and did not address this issue. His party took the view that housing and accommodation issues are matters for local authorities and for the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. The Deputy's emoting does not change that situation....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Investigations (6 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: First, if I can be of assistance in meeting them, I am always willing to meet the families. I have received correspondence and I am reviewing and considering its content, but I must be realistic in the context of the issues the Deputy has raised. As I mentioned, successive Irish UNIFIL battalions and successive Ministers have inquired into this incident. I can recall on one of my visits to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Properties (6 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: The Deputy and I addressed this issue recently on the last occasion defence questions were taken. I will give some information that I previously gave to the House. In February 1997 the then Minister for Defence set out the policy on married quarters on the basis that they were largely an anachronism and that they should be discontinued in a managed and orderly way. My Department has since...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Properties (6 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: As the Deputy is well aware, many of the individuals to whom she is referring as overholders have been overholding for many years. The Department of Defence and the Defence Forces have given a great deal of leeway and consideration to the circumstances of the individuals involved. If that had not been the case, the individuals to whom the Deputy refers, some of whom I assume are in the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Air Accident Investigations (6 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: I refer again to something that is central and key to this. In so far as issues could arise with regard to systems within the Air Corps, the following of protocols and so on, this accident was the tragic consequence of one thing only. There was no aircraft failure. It was the tragic consequence of an unfortunate judgment made by the instructor. According to the report, Cadet Jevens...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Investigations (6 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: The case to which the Deputy refers dates back to 1981 and relates to an attack on two members of the Irish battalion serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, at that time. On 27 April 1981, an observation post in south Lebanon manned by Private Hugh Doherty and Private Kevin Joyce came under attack. Private Doherty was later found dead from gunshot wounds and...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Investigations (6 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: With regard to tragic events such as this, the Deputy well knows in the context of this island the difficulty in locating remains where the likelihood is that individuals are still on the island who were the perpetrators of the murder of innocent individuals. It is a great deal more difficult in the context of an unidentified attack on two members of an Irish UN battalion where one...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Air Accident Investigations (6 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: Yet again I extend my sympathy to the families of the deceased. There have been three separate official investigations into this tragic accident, the first of which was conducted by the air accident investigation unit of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. Its final report setting out its findings was published on 24 January 2012. It found that the probable cause of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Air Accident Investigations (6 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: As I believe the Deputy knows, there is no question of pulling down the shutters or circling the wagons. I have gone through the series of events and there is no interest of any description in not knowing the truth. The tragic reality and truth is that there was serious pilot error by the instructor and that Cadet Jevens bears no responsibility of any description. No change in systems or...

Other Questions: Foreign Conflicts (5 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: What is happening in Syria is a humanitarian disaster and tragedy of epic proportions. It is unfortunate that the recent talks did not produce any successful outcome or indicator that this conflict might come to an end. Upheaval and conflict in Syria has witnessed the phenomenon of individuals travelling from Europe to the fighting. The motives for individuals travelling to Syria vary from...

Other Questions: Foreign Conflicts (5 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: Across Europe there are various estimates as to the numbers from different EU member states who have travelled to participate in this conflict. We estimate between 25 and 30 Irish residents have travelled there for that purpose. Some have lost their lives in this conflict. A whole range of particular issues arise for this State and the EU member states. It is a matter of great concern...

Other Questions: Penal Policy Review Group Report (5 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: First, as I indicated to the Deputy, we are already along the road towards implementing a series of the proposals. As he knows, one of my objectives and hopes during the lifetime of the Government is that we would also put the parole board on a statutory footing. That is another important measure I hope we will have the opportunity to address, but because of the legislative programme I know...

Other Questions: Crime Prevention (5 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: Serious crime is being tackled aggressively by An Garda Síochána, with all the necessary resources deployed to the investigation and prosecution of murders related to the activities of criminal gangs. The organised criminal activity which gives rise to this violence is being targeted by An Garda Síochána across a number of fronts, including through the use of focused...