Results 5,241-5,260 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Order of Business. (24 May 2006)

Bertie Ahern: No.

Leaders' Questions. (24 May 2006)

Bertie Ahern: This is an urgent and important matter, and in the absence of clear law, we must deal with it as speedily as possible. The Attorney General and the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform have been working on that last night and this morning. We must examine all aspects of it, including previous discussions on this, the 1990 Law Reform Commission report and the 1997 report. The...

Leaders' Questions. (24 May 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I appreciate the support of Deputy Kenny and the Fine Gael Party in this matter. Like many laws, this law has been in place for three quarters of a century. Looking over the sections last night and this morning, I saw that it was framed for a very different society and age when people did not consider issues that we would all consider the norm today. While the point is very clear, the one...

Leaders' Questions. (24 May 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Deputy Rabbitte's question concerns the Comptroller and Auditor General's value for money examination, which was undertaken to determine the factors that gave rise to the rapid increase in expenditure on rent supplement between 2000 and 2005, to establish whether the Department had managed the scheme with due regard to economy during that period and to review the roles of the Department of...

Leaders' Questions. (24 May 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The Minister for Social and Family Affairs has set out those issues, although Deputy Rabbitte might not like some of them. Substantial measures have already been taken to improve possible disincentives to allow people who want to work and are in receipt of rent supplements to do so. The Minister has improved income disregards. One cannot simply ignore them and have a situation where a person...

Leaders' Questions. (24 May 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The reason we were doing so was that people were not working and were living in poverty, which they are not living in today. We are now building four times more houses than in the 1970s. Through a range of schemes, including social and affordable housing schemes, the shared ownership scheme and the Part V scheme, people are able to purchase their own homes even when they are on lower incomes....

Written Answers — Ministerial Responsibilities: Ministerial Responsibilities (23 May 2006)

Bertie Ahern: My statutory functions, in so far as they relate to the Central Statistics Office, are currently delegated to Deputy Kitt, Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach. The Statistics (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) Order, 2004 was made by Government on 19 October, 2004. No other statutory functions have been delegated to any of the Ministers of State in my Department.

Written Answers — Official Hospitality: Official Hospitality (23 May 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The Department of the Taoiseach does not maintain a wine cellar for functions. Wine is purchased as required from the caterer who is appointed to do the relevant function.

Leaders' Questions. (23 May 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I propose to give some background information about the scheme, without taking too long on it. The relevant European Union rule is an old one as it has been in place for 30 years. It applies to many——

Leaders' Questions. (23 May 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Is the Deputy talking about the new scheme?

Leaders' Questions. (23 May 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The cost of the early childhood supplement scheme will depend on the take-up of the scheme. According to figures provided by the Department of Social and Family Affairs, 50,000 non-nationals claim child benefit in respect of 120,000 children. These figures are known. Of these, 900 families with 1,600 children are resident outside of Ireland. Based on the present position, there could be...

Leaders' Questions. (23 May 2006)

Bertie Ahern: That is the reality.

Leaders' Questions. (23 May 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The Department receives 350 claims per week under EU regulations for children who are not resident in the country. Virtually all are nationals of accession states. Approximately 7,500 claims for non-resident non-Irish nationals have not been finalised. Based on claim uptake to date, it is anticipated that approximately 15,000 claims under EU regulations in respect of 25,500 non-national...

Leaders' Questions. (23 May 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The scheme will be introduced in August and will be paid for the full period. It would not be a fair answer to the question to simply discuss the early childhood supplement without taking account of developments in child benefit. Members can see the manner in which the figures are rising. I can exclude it, if the Deputy wishes. As the child benefit figures rise and there are more claims from...

Leaders' Questions. (23 May 2006)

Bertie Ahern: FÁS is due to locate to Birr around Easter in 2009 under the decentralisation programme. I understand that the current dispute has arisen because FÁS, in the absence of an agreement with the unions, has proposed that all promotions in the head office would be conditional on candidates being willing to decentralise.

Leaders' Questions. (23 May 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I understand that SIPTU contends that this breaches existing contracts of employment. The matter was referred to the Labour Court which made a recommendation last February. The court considered the written and oral submissions by the parties and noted the terms of the company-union industrial relations procedure agreement and said that it was in the opinion of FÁS that it was in breach of...

Leaders' Questions. (23 May 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I have said this so many times to the Deputy, but I will say it again. The last round of decentralisation was to approximately 20 locations. None of those has changed. The staff moved to those locations, are still there and have all worked very successfully there. It took longer than was envisaged in the early 1990s when we started the process, but they are in those locations, are working and...

Leaders' Questions. (23 May 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Only two people did not move.

Leaders' Questions. (23 May 2006)

Bertie Ahern: More than 100 people moved and only two did not. That institute is launching successfully in Galway. As I have said, there are problems with the agencies because there is not transferability between them. Some of the staff contend that there should be at lower levels but that arrangement does not exist at present. In the short term, approximately 2,500 civil servants can be moved. It will...

Leaders' Questions. (23 May 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The Deputy has made a number of points about what the Green Party of Australia would like to say to its own Prime Minister.