Results 6,641-6,660 of 10,035 for speaker:Martin Cullen

Road Network. (1 Feb 2006)

Martin Cullen: There are no such figures. Much notional debate occurs around these issues. People speculate and make comments but in fact — we should all deal with facts — the volume of traffic using the Kilcock-Kinnegad road is exactly in line with expectations. It is untrue to say that where tolls are in operation, they are not having an impact on the local communities by taking traffic out of those...

Road Network. (1 Feb 2006)

Martin Cullen: If Ireland was the only country on the planet involved in tolling, then the Deputy might have an argument. Every modern economy uses tolls. It is a legitimate——

Road Network. (1 Feb 2006)

Martin Cullen: It is a legitimate part of the contribution of developing a range of infrastructure here, as it has been in every country throughout the world.

Road Network. (1 Feb 2006)

Martin Cullen: We should not pretend we are doing something different to that which happens elsewhere. That is simply not true.

Road Traffic Offences. (1 Feb 2006)

Martin Cullen: The Attorney General has provided advice on the exercise of the powers currently available to the Garda to stop vehicles both on a general basis and in particular in connection with the enforcement of drink driving laws. Members of the Garda Síochána may stop any vehicle using a public road for the purpose of detecting offences under the Road Traffic Acts 1961 to 2004. Those Acts provide...

Road Traffic Offences. (1 Feb 2006)

Martin Cullen: I agree with most of what the Deputy said. I am interested in why she has criticised me so heavily for amplifying the powers that the Garda had for random breath testing before the Commissioner spoke last week. I said all of that before the committee, yet the Deputy laughed at me, claiming it was nonsense. The Attorney General has amplified the Garda powers and has made that perfectly clear....

Road Traffic Offences. (1 Feb 2006)

Martin Cullen: It does.

Road Traffic Offences. (1 Feb 2006)

Martin Cullen: The Deputy knows that this is the issue that is constantly being challenged in the courts.

Road Traffic Offences. (1 Feb 2006)

Martin Cullen: Someone may stagger out of a pub——

Road Traffic Offences. (1 Feb 2006)

Martin Cullen: If I walked out of a pub, the garda might form that reasonable suspicion but he would be wrong because I do not drink. We cannot have an arbitrary basis——

Road Traffic Offences. (1 Feb 2006)

Martin Cullen: The Deputy is asking why we need legislation when she rightly identifies that the Garda has substantial powers to set up random checkpoints and has a range of options in how to breath-test someone.

Road Traffic Offences. (1 Feb 2006)

Martin Cullen: I have been on to the Garda about this issue.

Road Traffic Offences. (1 Feb 2006)

Martin Cullen: I am not responsible for the operational matters of the Garda and the Deputy knows that. There are cases where we have had to increase the number of gardaí. It has been pointed out that there are many forms of alcohol that do not emit a smell of alcohol, while some forms of alcohol consumed are more obvious than others. A garda can immediately form an opinion because he or she can smell the...

Road Traffic Offences. (1 Feb 2006)

Martin Cullen: The Deputy knows that is not the case.

Road Traffic Offences. (1 Feb 2006)

Martin Cullen: She does.

Road Traffic Offences. (1 Feb 2006)

Martin Cullen: I thank the Deputy for the question because it was I who called a meeting with the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and all of the senior members of the Garda. I spent hours discussing this issue with the Garda on precisely the points the Deputy has raised. I wanted to establish from the Garda the actual training and methodology it uses in doing this. Much of the discussion...

Road Traffic Offences. (1 Feb 2006)

Martin Cullen: I am not the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. I am the Minister for Transport. The Deputy asked me whether I had done anything about it. I have confirmed to her in a very open manner that I called a meeting and met not just the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform but all of the senior gardaí from the Commissioner to the deputy and assistant commissioners. It was the...

Road Traffic Offences. (1 Feb 2006)

Martin Cullen: Of all the people accused of doing nothing, I find myself in a bizarre position. My problem is that I am always being accused of doing something. Most of the time the Deputy does not like what I do, but she does not accuse me of doing nothing. What kills her is that I will make decisions. She does not like them when they are made and——

Road Traffic Offences. (1 Feb 2006)

Martin Cullen: ——keeps moving the goalposts every time I do something.

Public Transport. (1 Feb 2006)

Martin Cullen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 107 and 108 together. I am committed to the further expansion of bus services both in Dublin and nationally. In this context, Transport 21 provides for significant Exchequer investment in expanding bus services in the greater Dublin area and in other urban and rural areas outside Dublin. As regards the bus market in Dublin, as I have indicated to this House...