Results 4,141-4,160 of 10,035 for speaker:Martin Cullen

Written Answers — Driving Tests: Driving Tests (6 Dec 2006)

Martin Cullen: Under the Road Safety Authority Act 2006 (Conferral of Functions) Order 2006 (S.I. No. 477 of 2006) the Road Safety Authority has responsibility for the oversight of the operation of the driver licensing system. Section 10 of the Road Traffic Act 2006 re-enacts existing enabling provisions which apply to provisional licences so that they apply to learner permits. The section also provides...

Written Answers — Departmental Agencies: Departmental Agencies (6 Dec 2006)

Martin Cullen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 44, 61, 62, 67, 76, 80, 93, 100, 116, 132, 135 and 140 together. I published the report of the Dublin Transport Authority Establishment Team on the 9th of November. I sought the views of interested parties on the proposed structure, functions and powers of the Authority before I finalised the legislation to establish the Authority on a statutory basis....

Written Answers — Road Signage: Road Signage (6 Dec 2006)

Martin Cullen: My Department is responsible for policy and funding issues in relation to national roads only. National roads account for 5% of the overall Irish road network. Matters, including signage, relating to non-national roads are a matter for my colleague the Minister for Environment Heritage and Local Government and Local Authorities. The responsibility for road signage on national roads rests with...

Written Answers — Road Safety: Road Safety (6 Dec 2006)

Martin Cullen: The Government Road Safety Strategy 2004-2006 sets a primary target of a 25% reduction in road collision fatalities by the end of 2006 over the average annual number of fatalities in the 1998-2003 period. This was always an ambitious target and one that required the continued commitment to a strategic, integrated approach by all of the road safety agencies. Significant initiatives identified...

Written Answers — Road Network: Road Network (6 Dec 2006)

Martin Cullen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 47, 59, 146 and 257 together. I refer the Deputies to my reply to Priority Question No. 30.

Written Answers — Departmental Agencies: Departmental Agencies (6 Dec 2006)

Martin Cullen: I have not issued any directions to the National Roads Authority under this Section of the 1993 Act since I took up office in this Department.

Written Answers — Road Network: Road Network (6 Dec 2006)

Martin Cullen: At the outset, I should explain that overall responsibility for the planning, design and implementation of national road improvement projects, including the M50 Upgrade, is a matter for the National Roads Authority (NRA) and the local authorities concerned. I have no function in relation to the day-to-day operation of these projects. In addition, the statutory power to levy tolls on national...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (6 Dec 2006)

Martin Cullen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 50 and 52 together. I have reassigned €101.3 million from the 2006 Transport 21 public transport allocation due to a projected underspend in this area. These funds have been transferred to the national roads budget for 2006 to allow an acceleration of their Transport 21 programme. The amount transferred will be recovered from the national road allocation...

Written Answers — Traffic Management: Traffic Management (6 Dec 2006)

Martin Cullen: Transport 21 provides funding for measures to relieve urban congestion in a number of ways through the provision of increased public transport services, through investment in improved traffic management systems and through the construction of urban bypasses and relief roads schemes. Each element of the programme will contribute to easing congestion, both in Dublin and in our other urban...

Written Answers — Road Traffic Offences: Road Traffic Offences (6 Dec 2006)

Martin Cullen: This proposal is primarily a matter for my colleague the Minister for Justice and the Courts Service. My officials will liaise with their counterparts in the Department of Justice in relation to the assessment of this proposal.

Written Answers — Public Transport: Public Transport (6 Dec 2006)

Martin Cullen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 54 and 75 together. Policies to promote public transport over the private car were set out in the final report of the Dublin Transport Initiative in 1994 and in the Dublin Transportation Office (DTO) transport strategy "A Platform for Change", which was published in 2001. The National Development Plans 1994 to 1999, and 2000 to 2006 also placed a particular...

Written Answers — Road Safety: Road Safety (6 Dec 2006)

Martin Cullen: I refer the Deputy to my reply to priority questions 1 and 2 on the 2 November in which I indicated that the RSA has submitted to me a range of proposals with a particular focus on licensing reform and on targeting drivers between 17 and 24 years old. I share the concern of the RSA Board about the high risk factors of death and serious injury to this particular category of drivers. I have met...

Written Answers — Rail Services: Rail Services (6 Dec 2006)

Martin Cullen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 56 and 85 together. I refer the Deputies to my reply of the 2nd November, 2006 to Dail Question Nos. 41, 77 and 79. My Department has not commissioned any further study or research on the possibility of providing a subsidy for rail freight.

Written Answers — Traffic Management: Traffic Management (6 Dec 2006)

Martin Cullen: The recent Greater Dublin Area (GDA) travel survey was carried out by Millward Brown IMS on behalf of the Dublin Transportation Office (DTO). The survey field work was undertaken between the months of March and July of this year and some 2,500 households in the counties of Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow participated. The survey procedure involved a face-to-face interview with a selected...

Written Answers — Road Safety: Road Safety (6 Dec 2006)

Martin Cullen: I refer the Deputy to my reply to Question No. 8 on the 2 November. Under the Road Safety Authority Act 2006 (Conferral of Functions) Order 2006 (S.I. No. 477 of 2006) the Road Safety Authority has responsibility for the oversight of the operation of the driver licensing system including the preparation of proposals for draft regulatory provisions relating to driver licensing and testing. In...

Written Answers — Road Traffic Offences: Road Traffic Offences (6 Dec 2006)

Martin Cullen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 60 and 68 together. The roll-out of the penalty points system to the range of offences set out in the Schedules to the Road Traffic Act 2002 was commenced in October 2002 in respect of speeding offences. It was progressed further in 2003 to cover driving without insurance and non-wearing of safety belt offences and extended in 2004 in respect of the offence...

Written Answers — Traffic Management: Traffic Management (6 Dec 2006)

Martin Cullen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 63, 79, 130 and 145 together. The use of bus lanes is provided for in the Road Traffic (Traffic & Parking) Regulations 1997 and 1998. The primary purpose of bus lanes is to facilitate and promote bus based public transport. The regulations, which have national application, generally limit the use of bus lanes to buses and, in the case of with-flow bus lanes,...

Written Answers — Road Traffic Offences: Road Traffic Offences (6 Dec 2006)

Martin Cullen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 64 and 114 together. It is illegal to drive while under the influence of drugs to such an extent as to be incapable of having proper control of a vehicle. The Road Traffic Acts provides that a member of the Garda Síochána may, where he or she is of the opinion that a person in charge of a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place is under the...

Written Answers — Traffic Management: Traffic Management (6 Dec 2006)

Martin Cullen: Statutory responsibility for decisions in relation to the implementation of traffic management measures rests with each individual road authority and similarly the application of planning law is a matter for each planning authority. I have not had discussions with my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government on the issue referred to by the Deputy because these...

Written Answers — Public Transport: Public Transport (6 Dec 2006)

Martin Cullen: Following publication of the 2006 Book of Estimates, which set out the overall provision available for compensation to CIÉ in 2006 in respect of its public service obligation, my Department determined, in consultation with CIÉ, the allocation of the provision between the three CIÉ companies taking into account the needs of each company and plans for the expansion of services. The...