Results 6,061-6,080 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Leaders' Questions. (7 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: All those who stand up as usual to oppose a criminal justice Bill now want the Government to introduce one because poor Donna Cleary was killed. Deputy Rabbitte no more wants to see tough laws than the man on the moon, and we should be honest about that.

Leaders' Questions. (7 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Did I mention the Judiciary?

Leaders' Questions. (7 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Did I mention the Judiciary?

Leaders' Questions. (7 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I referred to the parole board.

Leaders' Questions. (7 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: It is the parole board and the Minister. Life meant seven years when Deputy Rabbitte was at the Cabinet table, now it means 14 years.

Leaders' Questions. (7 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Does Deputy Rabbitte believe that?

Leaders' Questions. (7 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I made no comment about the Judiciary.

Leaders' Questions. (7 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I will briefly make the points again. Murder sentences amounted to seven years when the Deputy was in Government. Now it is 13 and the parole board is raising it to 15. I think it should be higher.

Leaders' Questions. (7 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Garda numbers are at an all-time high, as are Garda resources.

Leaders' Questions. (7 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: If the Deputy wants to interrupt he can say why his party opposed the ten-year minimum sentence for substantial drug dealers.

Leaders' Questions. (7 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Maybe Members opposite will also say they will support the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when he brings in legislation to deal with such crime. Going by their record they will not. There has been an increase in murders and we must take a tougher position, and in that regard there has been a twofold increase under the current Minister. He has brought about a massive decrease in...

Leaders' Questions. (7 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Opposition members were told to come to the House today to rant. They do not want to listen.

Leaders' Questions. (7 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I will finish where I started. The cold-blooded killing of Donna Cleary was an act of barbarism and all right-thinking people will agree we must get much tougher on those who under legislation passed by this House are given a mandatory sentence and are dealt with by the Judiciary as they must. Some, though not all, were released after seven years but that is now 13 years. The parole board...

Leaders' Questions. (7 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: It used to be seven. As I said yesterday, it is nothing to do with the legislation or the Judiciary, but with the fact people thought it acceptable if people had served a certain number of years, other than in exceptional circumstances, of which there have been three or four cases. We should be tougher, so that a life sentence means life.

Leaders' Questions. (7 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I hope Deputy Stagg will not vote against tougher laws on crime again.

Leaders' Questions. (7 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: As long as I have been in this House, Deputy Rabbitte's party has always been soft on criminal justice legislation and he knows that.

Leaders' Questions. (7 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: And in the House.

Leaders' Questions. (7 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Deputy Ó Caoláin is aware that when we introduced the Planning and Development Act 2000, it was the first time in three decades that the issue of trying to improve affordable housing on zoned land had been dealt with since the Kenny report in 1970.

Leaders' Questions. (7 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Part V was introduced in 2000 and continues to gather momentum. Provisional figures available show that numbers are increasing this year. Not all housing developments are subject to Part V. An important point tends to be ignored — the Deputy, looking at recent figures, has done so as well. It is not correct to take 81,000 units last year, divide by two and multiply by 20. It gives a totally...

Leaders' Questions. (7 Mar 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The Deputy's party has quite a lot of support in this city. Perhaps he will encourage it to try to press the issue along. Record levels of funding are being provided for social and affordable housing programmes. Additional funding has been secured in the budget. The provision for this year is in excess of €2 billion, which is more than double the expenditure when the Planning and...