Results 7,161-7,180 of 18,851 for speaker:Fergus O'Dowd
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Safety of School Transport Bus Fleet: Road Safety Authority (24 Oct 2018)
Fergus O'Dowd: The point is that all the annual tests produce the finding that 2.2% of buses are defective or dangerous. Thankfully, the roadside test has a much higher volume at 4.3%. As such, the targeting is actually working very successfully in that twice as many cowboys are being caught. Is that not it, really? The question is, therefore, about the scale of that and the number of buses that are...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Safety of School Transport Bus Fleet: Road Safety Authority (24 Oct 2018)
Fergus O'Dowd: What does the authority need to get? I appreciate Ms Murdock stating that the red zone is 10%. If there are going to be 1,600 people in the red zone, then the authority is catching a very small number of them. How do we ensure that the authority has the resources? Obviously, it has the right policy. What additional resources does the authority need?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Safety of School Transport Bus Fleet: Road Safety Authority (24 Oct 2018)
Fergus O'Dowd: It is like a garda who stops a bus and must then sit in court.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Safety of School Transport Bus Fleet: Road Safety Authority (24 Oct 2018)
Fergus O'Dowd: Where is that request at in the political process? How can we help to accelerate matters? That is what I want to know.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Safety of School Transport Bus Fleet: Road Safety Authority (24 Oct 2018)
Fergus O'Dowd: That is on-the-spot fines.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Safety of School Transport Bus Fleet: Road Safety Authority (24 Oct 2018)
Fergus O'Dowd: I accept that.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Safety of School Transport Bus Fleet: Road Safety Authority (24 Oct 2018)
Fergus O'Dowd: They come in with lower tender prices.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Safety of School Transport Bus Fleet: Road Safety Authority (24 Oct 2018)
Fergus O'Dowd: How many inspectors does the authority have?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Safety of School Transport Bus Fleet: Road Safety Authority (24 Oct 2018)
Fergus O'Dowd: I thank Mr. Duggan. I appreciate Deputy Danny Healy-Rae's patience.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Safety of School Transport Bus Fleet: Road Safety Authority (24 Oct 2018)
Fergus O'Dowd: In fairness, while I appreciate and welcome the Deputy's presence, I want to provide the facts. I welcome the Deputy. It is great to have him here, particularly as he has a personal knowledge of the business. The committee asked to talk about the report that was published in The Irish Times. We have no control over the RSA, but it is replying to the question we asked it. The RTÉ...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Safety of School Transport Bus Fleet: Road Safety Authority (24 Oct 2018)
Fergus O'Dowd: What we have is the RTÉ report which specifically stated that over half of all school buses which were subjected to inspection received failing grades and that is what we wanted to discuss. Obviously, I am not going to talk on behalf of the RSA.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Safety of School Transport Bus Fleet: Road Safety Authority (24 Oct 2018)
Fergus O'Dowd: It is a very high figure.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Safety of School Transport Bus Fleet: Road Safety Authority (24 Oct 2018)
Fergus O'Dowd: The heavy volumes and the-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Safety of School Transport Bus Fleet: Road Safety Authority (24 Oct 2018)
Fergus O'Dowd: That is hugely challenging.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Safety of School Transport Bus Fleet: Road Safety Authority (24 Oct 2018)
Fergus O'Dowd: In fairness to everybody here, I want to make one point. We are happy to talk about what we have in front of us. I must be clear with Deputy Danny Healy-Rae.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Safety of School Transport Bus Fleet: Road Safety Authority (24 Oct 2018)
Fergus O'Dowd: The point is that the address from the Road Safety Authority makes it clear that the processes and procedures are with Bus Éireann. The committee is dealing with the road safety and the point is that if a bus is dangerous, it should not be on the road. The problem must be addressed, ideally on the spot, if it is dangerously defective. If it is not, a reasonable time is afforded to put...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Safety of School Transport Bus Fleet: Road Safety Authority (24 Oct 2018)
Fergus O'Dowd: I wish to make something clear. When we begin our meetings, we read out a note on privilege. We ask that anybody who is not here and who is not the subject of our deliberations-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Safety of School Transport Bus Fleet: Road Safety Authority (24 Oct 2018)
Fergus O'Dowd: The phrase used is, "Members are reminded of the long-standing practice that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the House or an official, either by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable." I will be quite happy if the Deputy wants to send something into the committee. We will ask if there is an issue but I will not deal with it...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Safety of School Transport Bus Fleet: Road Safety Authority (24 Oct 2018)
Fergus O'Dowd: I ask the Deputy to write to us about it and we will raise it as an issue.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Safety of School Transport Bus Fleet: Road Safety Authority (24 Oct 2018)
Fergus O'Dowd: It might be an appropriate question to put to the companies.