Results 5,461-5,480 of 13,375 for speaker:Pat Rabbitte

Written Answers — Electricity Transmission Network: Electricity Transmission Network (21 Jun 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: I propose to take Questions Nos. 230 and 231 together. The planning, development and routing of transmission line infrastructure is a matter for EirGrid, which is the State owned body responsible for the electricity transmission system. I have no statutory function regarding the planning and construction of energy networks. The Government fully endorses the strategic national importance of...

Written Answers — Legislative Programme: Legislative Programme (21 Jun 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: My Department, in consultation with Inland Fisheries Ireland, is in the course of reviewing the existing provisions of the Fisheries Acts dating back to 1959 with a view to producing one consolidated and modernised piece of legislation for the inland fisheries sector. The structure of the existing licensing regime, including the provision of nominees on licences, is one of the aspects being...

Written Answers — Telecommunications Services: Telecommunications Services (21 Jun 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: The provision of broadband services is, in the first instance, a matter for private sector service providers operating in Ireland's fully liberalised telecommunications market. Broadband services are provided by private service providers over various platforms including DSL (i.e. over telephone lines), fixed wireless, mobile, cable, fibre and satellite. Details of broadband services...

Written Answers — Warmer Homes Scheme: Warmer Homes Scheme (21 Jun 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: The allocation of funds and resources towards the Community Employment Scheme is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation and not one in which I have any function. The Warmer Homes Scheme, now an integral element of the Better Energy programme is managed by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). The scheme provides energy efficiency...

Written Answers — Telecommunications Services: Telecommunications Services (21 Jun 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: The recently-launched Rural Broadband Scheme (RBS) is specifically aimed at making a basic broadband service available to the small number of premises in rural Ireland that for a number of mainly technical reasons are unable to avail of a service from a commercial operator. The EU Commission approved this State intervention on the basis that the premises in question had to be located in a...

Departmental Bodies (21 Jun 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: I am currently considering the recommendations of the McCarthy report on State assets and liabilities regarding companies under my responsibility and will forward my views to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in the very near future. I expect that the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform will consider the responses of all affected Departments and bring proposals on the...

Departmental Bodies (21 Jun 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: I broadly agree with the Deputy that the selling off of State assets can be short-sighted and we do not have a great record in that regard. Deputy Ó Cuív and I had an exchange of views on the fall-out from the manner in which Telecom Éireann was privatised and the way it set back the economic potential of the country by depriving it of the investment that would have been necessary for the...

Departmental Bodies (21 Jun 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: To answer Deputy Murphy first, I am happy to facilitate such a debate on the McCarthy report and have no difficulty with it. I will signal as much to the Government Whip, if that is helpful. I am happy to debate the issue. Deputy McDonald is right - we still have some choices although not as many as those about which the Deputy waxes eloquent from time to time. In the tough global world in...

Departmental Bodies (21 Jun 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: There is a conflict of interests there, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

Energy Resources (21 Jun 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: I propose to take Questions Nos. 34 and 38 together. The bio-fuel obligation was enacted and introduced in 2010 to deliver on the mandatory EU target of 10% renewable energy in transport by 2020. The initial penetration rate set was 4%, which represents almost a doubling of size of the previous bio-fuel market in Ireland. I am confident that the obligation will promote the sustainable...

Energy Resources (21 Jun 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: As the Deputy is well aware, the difficulty that confronts any Government in this regard is that the subsidy required to accommodate the import behind the question would be prohibitive in the present climate. I do not accept that the industry will not grow. It is subject to fluctuations in the prices available in the market to farmers, in particular. A number of small enterprises of this...

Leaders' Questions (21 Jun 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: Can Deputy Martin imagine what he would have learned if he had left it as it was?

Leaders' Questions (21 Jun 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: It cost €111 million.

Leaders' Questions (21 Jun 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: Deputy Cowen is only jealous.

Postal Services (21 Jun 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: The role of developing commercial strategies for the post office network is a matter for the board and management of An Post and one in which I have no statutory function. The legislation establishing An Post, the Postal and Telecommunications Services Act 1983 requires the company to provide counter services for its own and Government business, and other uses that the company sees fit. ...

Postal Services (21 Jun 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: I agree that anything that enhances the viability of the post office network is worthy of consideration. However, winning Government contracts perhaps ought not be the first focus of An Post from here on out because increasingly more Government business is going online and that will have its own implications. There is no reason An Post ought not be able to win new commercial contracts....

Postal Services (21 Jun 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: I am all in favour of An Post getting business wherever it can since it has the most extensive retail presence in the country. From memory, it has 1,345 post offices. I can recall no other organisation that has such a network nationwide. As to the matter the Deputy is pursuing, one can already get one's tax online. I am happy to speak to my colleagues about the issue formally. I have...

Broadcasting Legislation (21 Jun 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: I propose to take Questions Nos. 29 and 30 together. The genesis of the report of the advisory group on media mergers was the establishment of an advisory group by the then Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment in 2008 to review the current legislative framework regarding the public interest aspects of media mergers in Ireland. The advisory group was specifically asked to examine the...

Broadcasting Legislation (21 Jun 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: I have had initial discussions on this matter with my colleague, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton. While broadcast and related media are the responsibility of the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, print media and mergers are the responsibility of the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. Deputy Ross referred to the report on...

Broadcasting Legislation (21 Jun 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: Deputy Ross's question raises broader issues than those which come within my responsibilities in that it encompasses a question in regard to plurality in the media. Deputy Ó Cuív asked how soon the legislation will be brought forward. The legislation will be brought forward by my colleague, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton. I imagine it is a technical and...