Results 5,521-5,540 of 11,242 for speaker:Noel Dempsey

Written Answers — Road Traffic Accidents: Road Traffic Accidents (6 Dec 2007)

Noel Dempsey: Under the Road Safety Authority Act 2006 (Conferral of Functions) Order 2006 (S.I. No 477 of 2006) this is a matter for the Road Safety Authority.

Written Answers — Road Safety: Road Safety (6 Dec 2007)

Noel Dempsey: Road safety is already a matter to which I attach a high priority. Two recent important initiatives in this area have been the establishment by me of the Road Safety Authority on 1 September 2006, and the launch by An Taoiseach in October of the Road Safety Strategy 2007-2012. With the establishment of the RSA, a single statutory body now exists to focus on road safety matters and to...

Written Answers — Rail Network: Rail Network (6 Dec 2007)

Noel Dempsey: This is a day to day operational matter for Iarnród Éireann and not one in which I have any role.

Written Answers — Marine Safety: Marine Safety (6 Dec 2007)

Noel Dempsey: Emergency Towing Vessels (ETV's) are deployed to empower a State to proactively protect its coast and all maritime activities within its Exclusive Economic and Marine Pollution Responsibility Zones. The tasking of ETVs include intervention in casualty response to prevent pollution from oils or hazardous and noxious substances and damage to the environment, life or property; pollution...

Financial Resolution No. 5: General (Resumed) (6 Dec 2007)

Noel Dempsey: With the permission of the House I will share my time with you, Acting Chairman, and Deputy Michael Kennedy. This is my first budget as Minister for Transport and I am delighted to announce such favourable funding news for 2008. More than €3.8 billion is being provided to my Department, which will continue to deliver on the commitments made by the Government to further develop our...

Air Services. (6 Dec 2007)

Noel Dempsey: Arrangements to safeguard Heathrow slots are built into the company's memorandum and articles of association of Aer Lingus. The effect of these arrangements, at present, is to provide for the possibility that any disposal of Heathrow slots by the company can be prevented by 30.2% of the votes cast at an extraordinary general meeting. Some 25.2% of the shares in the company are held by the...

Air Services. (6 Dec 2007)

Noel Dempsey: As I said to the Deputy, the appointment of directors will be made in the near future. As I have told him previously, the question of whether the directors had been appointed would not have affected this decision. On the question of what further steps can be taken, that is the only one we can take. Some people seem to have great difficulty getting into their heads the fact that Aer Lingus...

Air Services. (6 Dec 2007)

Noel Dempsey: The holding of shares in a company does not give the holder the right to run the company on a day-to day basis. The Government's shareholding does not confer any right to influence commercial operations in the company. It would, therefore, be totally inappropriate for a Government to intervene directly in the commercial decisions of the company. Aer Lingus must now operate in a very...

Driving Tests. (6 Dec 2007)

Noel Dempsey: I propose to take Questions Nos. 2 and 5 together. Responsibility for driver testing was transferred to the Road Safety Authority in September 2006, under the Road Safety Authority Act 2006 (Conferral of Functions) Order 2006. The arrangements for testing, numbers of candidates and licences are therefore a matter for that agency. The new framework for the reform of the provisional licence...

Driving Tests. (6 Dec 2007)

Noel Dempsey: It would suit Deputy Broughan to hold me responsible for something which I did not promise but I am not going down that route with him.

Driving Tests. (6 Dec 2007)

Noel Dempsey: Neither am I shifting responsibility to the RSA. The RSA has had responsibility for this since it was set up. On the question about facts and figures which Deputy Broughan requested, I do not make decisions about parliamentary questions, nor do I make the rules up in this regard. If Deputy Broughan wants those facts and figures, I found, even before I came into this job, that the RSA is...

Driving Tests. (6 Dec 2007)

Noel Dempsey: There are long waiting lists——

Driving Tests. (6 Dec 2007)

Noel Dempsey: We do not have a monopoly on guff here. If you give it, I will give it back to you, do not worry.

Driving Tests. (6 Dec 2007)

Noel Dempsey: I would not engage in guff with the Chair.

Driving Tests. (6 Dec 2007)

Noel Dempsey: Deputy Broughan's final point about the waiting list is true and nobody has ever tried to deny it. The waiting lists in various areas are published. That is why we are strengthening the RSA. That is why we took in the contractors. The Department's testers within the system have responded magnificently to the commitments the RSA has put in place to deliver on these, and they have increased...

Driving Tests. (6 Dec 2007)

Noel Dempsey: Constituents of mine have had tests cancelled. It happens occasionally. A driver tester may not know he or she requires sick leave until the last minute and people must be contacted. There are a variety of circumstances where a test must be cancelled. What Deputy O'Dowd outlined in the case of Raheny has happened in other test centres but it is not a general practice. On the questions...

Driving Tests. (6 Dec 2007)

Noel Dempsey: We have confirmed that all 122,000 applicants who were on the waiting list at the end of October, when we made the changes, will have been tested by early March 2008, presuming they all turn up. They have been offered a driving test, to be completed by March 2008. All applicants for a test will be able to get a test on demand — that is, within a ten-week period — by the end of June 2008.

Driving Tests. (6 Dec 2007)

Noel Dempsey: Approximately 10,000 tests will be held each week at that stage.

Public Transport. (6 Dec 2007)

Noel Dempsey: The 2008 Estimates provide for an Exchequer subvention to CIE of €313.4 million, including €81.8 million for Dublin Bus. This provision represents an increase of nearly 65% on the 2000 provision of €190.183 million. This growth in the annual compensation paid to CIE towards the operating costs of its public service obligation services has been complemented by a major increase in...

Public Transport. (6 Dec 2007)

Noel Dempsey: The relevant figure for public transport is €58 million. As the Deputy is aware, a ten-year envelope for transport projects, including public transport projects and roads projects, is provided for under Transport 21. The €58 million that was not spent has not been lost to Transport 21, as arrangements are in place to ensure it can be spent at a later time. It was not spent this year...