Results 4,321-4,340 of 14,706 for speaker:Phil Hogan

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: They will be well represented between now and the next election with the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, Deputy Mac Lochlainn and Deputy Colreavy. I am sure they will be happy to look after the people whom Senator Wilson has looked after so well in Cavan, and the same applies to the people in Donegal.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: They will. There is no such thing as counties in the Constitution so the terms of reference were laid down in line with what the Constituency Commission created. There are always swings and roundabouts. Senator Barrett said that there will be a much heavier diminution of representation for the Border areas. He presumes that the three Deputies I named who represent Sligo-North Leitrim will...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: I cannot do much about the naming of constituencies. As I said in the other House, if I changed the name of a constituency, it would be deemed that I had interfered with the independence of the commission and the right of its learned people. The commission panel comprises very independent people. If I change the name of a constituency, a Senator could also say that I had interfered with...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: Is the Senator prescribing the outcome? He is very arrogant.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: They were the last time.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: There are three years to prepare.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: The Harte constituency.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: We have brought about the unification of Waterford.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: Senator Wilson knows, better than anybody, that when I make a solemn commitment to the people, I do my very best to honour it. I have done it in this House on many occasions with regard to political reform and local government reform. If there was no policy change regarding the number of people per Member in each Dáil constituency, the number of Deputies after the next general election...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: The difficulty we have is that we either accept the outcome of the independent Constituency Commission report of 2012 or we do not. We set out the terms of reference for the commission. It independently examined all the issues involved, particularly the distribution of electorate per Member. The number of the electorate per Member will be 29,040 at the next Dáil election, assuming this...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: I remind the Cathaoirleach and Senator Wilson, my good friend, that the reduction by 20 is not in the programme for Government.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: It is not in the programme for Government. We are part of a Government. Just as Fianna Fáil made many commitments before the last general election-----

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: Fianna Fáil might have made many commitments that it did not get an opportunity to include in its programme for Government. We have entered into coalition with the Labour Party and the reduction by 20 is not in our programme for Government. The commitment to have a referendum on the Seanad is in it.

Other Questions: Pyrite Panel Report Recommendations (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: The Deputy is late for that question.

Other Questions: Pyrite Panel Report Recommendations (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: I remind Deputies that this fund is a last resort. People must go through all the other processes initially if they have insurance. This fund will kick in only where people have no redress as consumers. I am anxious to move and I assure Deputies that I will move as quickly as I possibly can. I was hoping we could do this through the Finance Bill but our legal advice was that it would not...

Other Questions: Pyrite Panel Report Recommendations (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: I am not getting into a subjective argument about this. This issue has been hanging around for a while and the Government and I are anxious to do something about it as quickly as we possibly can. The Pyrite Resolution Board is working hard to ensure that the criteria and eligibility that Deputies Broughan and Wallace are talking about can be taken into account. If they wish to proceed...

Other Questions: Leader Programmes (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: That is the programme the Deputy put in place when in government.

Other Questions: Leader Programmes (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: The Deputy did things differently.

Other Questions: Leader Programmes (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: The Deputy was very good; he was excellent. That is why the country is in the state it is in.

Other Questions: Leader Programmes (12 Mar 2013)

Phil Hogan: We have 42 projects.