Results 4,381-4,400 of 7,278 for speaker:Dick Roche
- Seanad: Local Authority Services: Motion. (22 Feb 2006)
Dick Roche: I certainly do. I do not know what remark I am withdrawing at this stage.
- Seanad: Local Authority Services: Motion. (22 Feb 2006)
Dick Roche: I said nothing about the Senator's party leader.
- Seanad: Local Authority Services: Motion. (22 Feb 2006)
Dick Roche: The Senator did not even listen to what I said.
- Seanad: Local Authority Services: Motion. (22 Feb 2006)
Dick Roche: Senators Bannon and Ryan wish to disrupt this debate.
- Seanad: Local Authority Services: Motion. (22 Feb 2006)
Dick Roche: I have done so.
- Seanad: Local Authority Services: Motion. (22 Feb 2006)
Dick Roche: Would Senator Bannon like to withdraw his suggestion that I lied?
- Seanad: Local Authority Services: Motion. (22 Feb 2006)
Dick Roche: The record of the House will show what the Senator stated. We will deal with that later.
- Seanad: Local Authority Services: Motion. (22 Feb 2006)
Dick Roche: I have been in this House and listened with great respect to its Members. I have never heard such nonsense as in the last hour, in particular from Senator Bannon. He wrung his hands about the demise of local government. I have a small point of history. The first time local government was seriously culled in this country was in 1924. It was a long time ago and there has been a long history of...
- Seanad: Local Authority Services: Motion. (22 Feb 2006)
Dick Roche: Senator Cummins was not in the House for the debate.
- Seanad: Local Authority Services: Motion. (22 Feb 2006)
Dick Roche: We have a filibuster to ensure the truth is not told.
- Seanad: Local Authority Services: Motion. (22 Feb 2006)
Dick Roche: Maybe the Senators opposite want to engage in pantomime. Senator Bannon also talked about the money that is allocated to local authorities. I will remind the House of a couple of things. In 1997 the local government fund contributed â¬339 million to local authorities through rate support grant and the equalisation fund. This year the figure was â¬875 million, which even by Senator Bannon's...
- Seanad: Local Authority Services: Motion. (22 Feb 2006)
Dick Roche: In 1997 the equalisation and rate support grant from Senator Bannon's party in Government was â¬339 million. This year the outset allocation was â¬875 million. Other statistics bear out what I am saying. In 1997 the rural water scheme received â¬25 million compared with an outset figure this year of â¬119 million. Even allowing for Senator Bannon's rather peculiar approach to economics...
- Seanad: Local Authority Services: Motion. (22 Feb 2006)
Dick Roche: This is a welcome debate because it allows us to deal with the reality of local government as opposed to mythology. Local government plays an important part in the life of the nation and is an integral part of the democratic process. Accordingly, I fundamentally disagree with some of the comments made by my friend and colleague, Senator Norris. His view of local government is somewhat...
- Seanad: Local Authority Services: Motion. (22 Feb 2006)
Dick Roche: The truth hurts and Senator Bannon should deal with facts rather than mythology. Since the early 1990s successive Administrations have taken steps to modernise our local government system. We are beginning to see a local government system which shows signs of the kind of administrative system we need. The modernisation agenda of the past few years has given constitutional recognition to local...
- Seanad: Local Authority Services: Motion. (22 Feb 2006)
Dick Roche: On the environment front, local authorities are also making considerable progress. For example, in the period 2000-04, they achieved increased waste water capacity over seven times greater than in the whole of the previous national development plan period. The number of bring bank facilities increased from 850 in 1998 to 1,929 last year, and there were significant improvements in output...
- Seanad: Local Authority Services: Motion. (22 Feb 2006)
Dick Roche: By making that point the Senator must be arguing in favour of reintroducing domestic rates, which the electorate would be very interested to hear.
- Seanad: Local Authority Services: Motion. (22 Feb 2006)
Dick Roche: We would not expect any logic from Senator Bannon but we might seek some from his party colleagues.
- Seanad: Local Authority Services: Motion. (22 Feb 2006)
Dick Roche: I would be prepared to debate that at any time with Senator Bannon in order to illustrate that his behaviour is illogical, unfocused, unknowledgeable and runs counter to farmers' interests.
- Seanad: Local Authority Services: Motion. (22 Feb 2006)
Dick Roche: Senator Bannon entered the House with one objective in mind, namely, to filibuster on this issue. I am prepared to come here at any time to debate this in a logical and civilised way. However, I am not prepared to be heckled by Senator Bannon and will deal in due course with the series of untrue statements he made. Local authority programmes have benefited substantially from transfers of...
- Seanad: Local Authority Services: Motion. (22 Feb 2006)
Dick Roche: I am merely reminding the Opposition of the moneys spent when its parties were in power.