Results 4,461-4,480 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Leaders' Questions (3 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I am sure Deputy Higgins, like everybody else, would have heard a number of my friends, particularly Mr. Charlie Chawke, who gave a number of interviews, make it very clear that I had offered to pay back these loans a number of times, which I had done. That was made very clear. I said in my opening statement that I would probably know all the people at that function in Manchester but I...

Leaders' Questions (3 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: By Monday morning, about 35 people had said they were at functions. Clearly, some were talking about charity and other functions, so I cannot pin them down exactly.

Leaders' Questions (3 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: If Deputy Joe Higgins is insinuating that I took money from Slab Murphy, I never took money from Slab Murphy.

Leaders' Questions (3 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: With regard to gift tax, I was making the point that, in respect of capital gains tax, income tax and gift tax, I paid them whenever they were due. They were relevant to other issues rather than these ones, but I have paid capital gains tax and gift tax.

Leaders' Questions (3 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: No, I never used the tax amnesty.

Leaders' Questions (3 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: No, I am not. What I stated with regard to a fundraising event being organised with the sole purpose of raising money for my personal use was that it was something I would not accept. When it was put to me that my friends would do that, I said, no, I would not have that, and it was on that basis that I then said I would only accept it as loans. The Manchester function was not organised on...

Leaders' Questions (3 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: It was not organised to do so. People there who know me well gave me a donation afterwards, but it is not the same thing. It was not organised for that purpose. As the Deputy will see if he examines the Government procedures, with which he is familiar, it was crystal clear at that stage, even though there were no formal guidelines on such issues for Ministers, and in the 1995 legislation...

Leaders' Questions (3 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: In answer to Deputy Bruton's question of whether I am making a new explanation on the other money, I am not. I linked them in the television programme, on which I did not have all day and obviously could not go into detail, because they were linked anyway. It was not a new explanation and I linked them from the start. I have said it was a misjudgment and an error in terms of looking back...

Leaders' Questions (3 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The person who gave me the money in Manchester was Tim Kilroe and he is the only one I know to have given me money there. I do not know from whom Mr. Kilroe collected money.

Leaders' Questions (3 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: A number of people, maybe 33 or 34 instead of 35, have said they know me and think they met me at that function. They did not say they gave me money.

Leaders' Questions (3 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: They rang me because they heard there was an issue about functions, but the problem is that neither they nor I can be sure, 12 years on, whether it was that function. The Deputy will be aware that I am well known in Manchester. I have attended functions there for the better part of 30 years, as a councillor, backbencher, Front Bencher, Minister, Minister of State, Leader of the Opposition...

Leaders' Questions (3 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I have close contacts with them. Deputy Gilmore asked me a fair question. I have tried as best I could, for the years requested by the tribunals and to prove my innocence in respect of all these other issues, to link all my payments and would have done that for the vast majority. The very few I was unable to link were because I was not able to get bank records. In so far as I have been...

Freedom of Information. (3 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I propose to take——

Freedom of Information. (3 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 5, inclusive, together. I propose to circulate with the Official Report the information requested by the Deputies on the statistics regarding freedom of information requests received in my Department. In 2006, a total of €690 was received in respect of application fees. No charges were levied in respect of costs relating to the search and retrieval of...

Freedom of Information. (3 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: On the first question, the Deputy knows from the charts that the figures go up and down. While they came down initially after the changes in 2003, they wavered up and down in the period since then. At the beginning of this year, the figure was high and it was high in April. Some months the figure is low and some months it is high. It has levelled out at a trend over the past few years. In...

Freedom of Information. (3 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: We have taken them on board. Changes in direction by the Department of Finance are taken on board. We follow them and do not alter them. A significant majority of requests — 62% — to my Department are submitted by journalists, others account for 25%, business interests make up 8% of applications and Oireachtas Members have submitted 5% of applications. That has been the consistent trend.

Freedom of Information. (3 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: When the last review was done in May and the 130 additional bodies and groups were brought within the scope of the Freedom of Information Act, the bodies under the aegis of my Department, with the exception of the Law Reform Commission, were already within the scope of the Act. The question of extending the Freedom of Information Act to the Law Reform Commission is under consideration, but...

Freedom of Information. (3 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I remember the debates and the various arguments. Following the initial rush when there was an enormous number of queries, particularly from the public, about various issues, the number of freedom of information requests has settled down to an even keel. I have been very much in favour of its extension to other bodies. It has not created any difficulties that are readily apparent. The...

Freedom of Information. (3 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: It is not just a matter of FOI. The change I have seen over the years is one with which Deputy Quinn will be familiar. In the old days, a long time back, a file was circulated to sections. As Deputy Quinn will recall, the opinions of EOs, HEOs and assistant principals tended to be written in manuscript on files. I have not seen a file like that in a long time. I would put it down not...

Departmental Expenditure. (3 Oct 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 7 together. Expenditure by my Department from January 2006 to the end of August 2006 was €19.547 million compared with a total Estimates provision for the year of €37.675 million. This compares with total expenditure of €18.047 million for the period to end August 2005, an increase of 8.3%. While fluctuations in spending occur from month to month...