Results 5,981-6,000 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Order of Business. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The Minister decided to postpone its introduction pending the outcome of the voluntary agreement. That period has not yet concluded.

Order of Business. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: On the legislation, will the Deputy remind me which Bill he was referring to?

Order of Business. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Yes. I dealt with that earlier.

Order of Business. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I said there would be a recommittal to Second Stage. Effectively this means it will be a Second Stage debate.

Order of Business. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: It awaits an order for Second Stage.

Order of Business. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: As the Tánaiste wants to take it soon, an order for Second Stage will be made very shortly.

Order of Business. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I do not have a date for it.

Public Inquiries. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I will not answer on individual cases because I do not have the facts on them. It is clear that there are many cases related to allegations of collusion in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. The hundreds of cases involving thousands of deaths and serious injury that occurred between the late 1960s and the mid-1990s — in many cases later than that but thankfully not in the same number —...

Public Inquiries. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: When responding to the first question, I did not wish to convey the impression that all the names had been put into a hat and a few main cases pulled out. Deputy Sargent will recall that we took some from the Nationalist side and some from the Unionist or loyalist side. In all we took a balanced selection of six cases, although we could have taken any number. The case about which Deputy...

Public Inquiries. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: All were significant. However, they will not all receive full sworn inquiries as that would be impossible. It is good that there is a historical office to examine cases because some people hold the view very strongly that many of those cases got very little investigation at the time. Whether that is understandable, it is a source of great anxiety and long-term hurt to the families. It is...

Public Inquiries. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: His answer is that the Act has been passed by the British Parliament and that is the law. It is the only basis on which it will operate.

Public Inquiries. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Every one else in Britain says the same. We do not accept that. While it seems that political opinion in the UK differs little in this respect, we cannot put this forward as being what was envisaged in Weston Park. I deeply appreciate that we secured a full, independent, public and judicial inquiry into the Bloody Sunday case. However, I am not in a position to justify something which I am...

Public Inquiries. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The answer to the first question is "Yes". As I stated to Deputy Kenny, I was in 10 Downing Street on the day of the motion. Admittedly it was before the debate, but I conveyed the motion and the reason behind it. Since then, I have conveyed it to the Secretary of State, Mr. Hain, who has written to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, regarding this issue. The Minister will...

Leaders' Questions. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: We have tried successfully to recruit more gardaí so that by Christmas there will be more than 14,000 in the force. That will include the students who are still in training.

Leaders' Questions. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: They will be trained and be good gardaí. There will be 1,743 more gardaí if one excludes the trainees.

Leaders' Questions. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: We are in the midst of the biggest recruitment drive for new officers since the foundation of the State. Starting in January 2005, more than 1,100 new officers per year have been and are being recruited for three years. The number of officers assigned to stations in the Dublin metropolitan area has risen by more than 600 since 1997, from 3,200 to 3,794. In addition to those gardaí assigned...

Leaders' Questions. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The number of gardaí available to Dublin stations increased every month for the past year. The latest figures show that there were 3,685 gardaí in Dublin stations on 31 March last year compared with 3,794 today, making an extra 109.

Leaders' Questions. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The Minister made the point that the overall increase in crime categories was disappointing because there was an increase in the fourth quarter of last year compared with the first quarter of 2004.

Leaders' Questions. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: That figure was down on the 2003 figure and the statistics for last year and the provisional headline figures, which I presume are open to final examination, show decreases in some of the most serious categories. Manslaughter was down 50%, aggravated sexual assault was down 43%, robbery of cash goods in transit was down 27%, robbery from the person was down 23% and theft from the person was...

Leaders' Questions. (21 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I am quoting from the Commissioner's provisional report.