Results 461-480 of 31,374 for speaker:Eamon Ryan

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Transport (17 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: To Deputy Tully, the uncertainty of such a bus, particularly going to the airport where people might be nervous, is unacceptable. They are told to go earlier but the airport times have lengthened in recent years. 12 o’clock That imposes a cost and burden on the consumer, so we need greater certainty. The same applies to the questions put by Deputies Smith and Wynne. Bus...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Transport (17 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I accept what the Deputy is saying. I happen to be meeting with Bus Éireann in the coming days and I will raise directly with its representatives this issue the Deputy has raised. I will make a couple of points. One issue we have is we have seen real success, particularly in the last two years, in public transport numbers. Last year they went up 23% nationally and this year, 12%...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Transport (17 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: In response to the three Deputies, we have mechanisms and encourage and the NTA delivers so-called "enhancements". Where we are finding that there may be a service that is under real pressure and a bus is full, we have the capability of funding and providing for additional buses. That is different to what I heard Deputies Tully and Smith talking about and I take the point. Are we are...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Bus Services (17 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: As I am sure the Deputy will be aware, the National Transport Authority's Local Link rural transport programme is managed and administered in Cork by the Local Link offices in Bantry and Fermoy. I am pleased to confirm that I have secured Exchequer funding under budget 2025 for the roll-out of even more new and enhanced bus services throughout rural Ireland next year. This includes...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Air Navigation Orders (17 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I was in New York at the United Nations General Assembly where I was asked to present the Irish Government's position in an initiative we are taking with Arab and other European states to advance the two-state solution. At the sidelines of that meeting, I had the great privilege of meeting the Prime Minister of Palestine. He could not have been more supportive of what the Irish Government...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Air Navigation Orders (17 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: -----better searches, better sampling and better sanctions. That will not be delivered in the lifetime of this Government but absolutely, it is my intention to go back to my Government colleagues when I have the information provided by the analysis being done by the Department to report on this issue, and also-----

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Air Navigation Orders (17 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: In the coming weeks. At the same time, I will indicate what progress my Department, which has been working on this for some six months now, is making on the complex issues of how we improve our legal powers in this area, which we need to do. That does take a certain amount of time because we need to get it right. In the interim, we will do everything we can. I have already put out a...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Transport (17 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding with regard to public transport. However, I am not involved in the day-to-day operation of public transport services. The statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally rests with the National Transport Authority, NTA, including the management of the public...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Air Navigation Orders (17 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: On a regular basis, we uphold the law by refusing applications for munitions to be either carried through Irish airspace or land in Irish airports. It is a relatively small number. Each year, on a routine basis, the Minister for Transport will assess any such application and, on a regular basis, say "No" under international law and under our rights as set out in the Chicago Convention. It...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Transport Policy (17 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I will have to disagree with the Deputy regarding the Foynes experience. It is possible to work very quickly when we work in this way because we are not caught in planning. Irish Rail turned around the Foynes line really quickly and I hope it can do the same on the western rail corridor. Regarding Deputy Harkin's question, I accept the need to improve access to the north west. Much of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Transport Policy (17 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I am glad Irish Rail was able to adjust the timetable on the eastern corridor because it was inconveniencing commuters. I hope the change will bring the schedule back on track. We are investing significantly in the east coast. As I said, the first line to be part of this new electrified rail system will be that running to Drogheda, which will see the use of new battery electric trains. We...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Transport Policy (17 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I agree with the Deputy 100%.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Transport Policy (17 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: It is the stop-start nature of it. The proof of this can be found when we look at what happens when we do not do things that way. If we look at when we built out the motorways programme, which was done in a strategic way, with long-term certainty, money guaranteed and contractors knowing they had two decades of work, we see we were, in international comparative terms, able to deliver...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Air Navigation Orders (17 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 52, 74, 79, 88, 92, 110 and 111 together. In my earlier answer, I outlined the requirement to receive an exemption to carry munitions of war on civil aircraft in Irish sovereign territory or on Irish-registered aircraft wherever they are operating. I outlined the two categories the majority of granted exemptions fall into. I also outlined the difference...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Transport Policy (17 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I will conclude as I have a minute of speaking time remaining. This will give us time to start ramping up what I see as key strategic projects, many of which have already started. There is the likes of the western rail corridor where we have started clearing the line this year. There is also building a rail link to Shannon, which refers back to what we said earlier about how we get better...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Transport Policy (17 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: In this way we could create a cluster.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Transport Policy (17 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I will try to answer all of the questions. I will begin with Deputy Ó Murchú's questions. The next Government and the one after it will have to recognise that we do not have the funding for everything. We are going to have to make some hard choices. To my mind, the choice should continue to be the prioritisation of public transport. The real benefit is that it will bring us...