Results 5,761-5,780 of 10,035 for speaker:Martin Cullen

Air Services. (3 May 2006)

Martin Cullen: I was with the Deputy's colleagues in the United States less than a month ago.

Air Services. (3 May 2006)

Martin Cullen: The Deputy certainly has no interest in promoting Shannon Airport. He is here knocking his own region and it is very sad.

Air Services. (3 May 2006)

Martin Cullen: The Deputy should be a bit grown up and start saying positive things about his airport.

Air Services. (3 May 2006)

Martin Cullen: One way or the other, that arrangement is crucial for Ireland in regard to open skies. The open skies agreement will be in place before the end of the year.

Air Services. (3 May 2006)

Martin Cullen: I was aware of the issues in Congress a week ago.

Public Transport. (3 May 2006)

Martin Cullen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 70, 83 and 130 together. The Railway Procurement Agency, RPA, is the statutory body responsible for the delivery of a national multi-operator system of integrated public transport ticketing using smartcard technology. The RPA is introducing the system on a phased basis in line with international experience in the Dublin area initially and with the involvement...

Public Transport. (3 May 2006)

Martin Cullen: The Deputy is right in that the full legal mandate for delivering integrated ticketing was given to the RPA. It has made substantial progress in the introduction of a smartcard that operates on Luas services and a private sector coach company, Morton's Coaches. I have held numerous discussions with the other public transport operators in Dublin to try to bring about a resolution in this...

Public Transport. (3 May 2006)

Martin Cullen: It is less than that amount.

Public Transport. (3 May 2006)

Martin Cullen: As for knocking heads together, I assure the Deputy that I doubt whether many bones remain to be cracked on this issue. This is an important project because with the advent of the metro and Luas, integrated ticketing has significant positive potential, major cost implications as well as major design implications for stations, etc. Hence, this is a serious and very important issue, which is...

Public Transport. (3 May 2006)

Martin Cullen: The Deputy's colleagues have explained it well.

Public Transport. (3 May 2006)

Martin Cullen: The Deputy is to be congratulated on receiving an exceptionally good briefing from Dublin Bus. That is the message which it has attempted to present to me for some time. However, there is no benefit to the customer in playing the blame game as an integrated ticketing system is required. I have had more meetings on this issue than on any other subject and it has been a source of deep...

Public Transport. (3 May 2006)

Martin Cullen: The question is how to take the project forward, given the advent of all the different modes of transport available under Transport 21. It has major cost and design implications for stations etc., and for the integration of Luas and the metro in Dublin. This must be at the forefront. We may now have a methodology whereby all see the reality and value in a fully operational smart card...

Public Transport. (3 May 2006)

Martin Cullen: The Deputy may recall that the peer review group was established in the wake of the PPARS issue. My Department, rather than the Department of Finance, asked for this review to be carried out. We asked it to review the project to establish the current position. I should have the results of that review within the next few weeks. I hope it will provide a map of the way forward. I said in my...

Public Transport. (3 May 2006)

Martin Cullen: I may have other options.

Public Transport. (3 May 2006)

Martin Cullen: Yes. It is interesting. Everyone focused on a single issue, namely, the card.

Public Transport. (3 May 2006)

Martin Cullen: I found out about this because I pulled everyone together.

Public Transport. (3 May 2006)

Martin Cullen: I can only answer for the time when I had responsibility. I seem continually to answer for what other people did in their time in other Departments and taking the blame for it. However, I am dealing with this issue, even though it was not originally put together by me.

Regional Airports. (3 May 2006)

Martin Cullen: My Department assists Ireland West Airport Knock through a range of financial support mechanisms. Since 2000, the airport has received approximately €6.5 million in operational and capital support directly from the Exchequer. This ongoing support has greatly assisted the airport to maintain viable operations and to grow its business, especially on UK routes operated by low cost air...

Regional Airports. (3 May 2006)

Martin Cullen: The Deputy is correct that €100 million capital is available under Transport 21 for regional airports. He may be aware that the EU has changed its guidelines in terms of the ability of states to invest in regional airports. Much of this is as a result of the activities of Ryanair and other regional airports which makes it much more difficult to make money available for specific airport...

Regional Airports. (3 May 2006)

Martin Cullen: There is no proposal in Europe about a specific airport. We had to agree a framework with Europe. Europe would prefer if the Government gave no money to regional airports. As the Government disagrees with that point of view, it will continue to support regional airports. The Minister for Finance made available an extra €100 million for the development of regional airports because, spatially...