Results 7,881-7,900 of 10,035 for speaker:Martin Cullen

Written Answers — Consultancy Contracts: Consultancy Contracts (28 Jun 2005)

Martin Cullen: The information sought by the Deputy is being compiled and will be forwarded to him as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (28 Jun 2005)

Martin Cullen: The OPW is responsible for the provision of all accommodation requirements for this Department. All rent, lease and purchase agreements are negotiated and reviewed by the OPW.

Written Answers — Ministerial Staff: Ministerial Staff (28 Jun 2005)

Martin Cullen: Details of staff employed by the Minister and the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, as requested by the Deputy, are as follows. There are no political advisers employed in the Department of Transport. Ministerial staff. Number Name Position Date appointed Salary scale 1 Sean Dower Personal assistant 30/9/2004 €40,543 —€51,463 1 Inez O'Neill ...

Written Answers — Road Network: Road Network (28 Jun 2005)

Martin Cullen: The allocation of funding in respect of national roads improvement projects to local authorities is a matter for the National Roads Authority, NRA, under section 19(f) of the Roads Act 1993. I understand that investment in national roads in the BMW region up to end-2004 amounted to €1.134 billion — 70% of that forecast in the NDP — ESIOP. However, total expenditure on national roads in...

Written Answers — Public Transport: Public Transport (28 Jun 2005)

Martin Cullen: Under the National Development Plan, NDP, a total of €232 million was invested directly in public transport projects in the BMW region between 2000 and 2004. Further expenditure in the region is proceeding, resulting in continuous improvements to bus and rail services in the BMW region. As evidence of progress to date, all rail lines in the BMW region have now been upgraded to continuous...

Written Answers — Departmental Revenue: Departmental Revenue (28 Jun 2005)

Martin Cullen: Toll charges on cars increased from 90 cent in 1995 to €1 on 1 January 1996. In accordance with the West Link toll agreement, no payments to the Exchequer became due until average daily traffic volumes exceeded 27,000. The first payment of €3.044 million was reflected in the 1998 appropriation account. User toll charges did not increase over the period 1996 to 1998. Increases in rates...

Air Navigation and Transport (Indemnities) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Second Stage. (24 Jun 2005)

Martin Cullen: It is the largest Irish cargo exporting company. I will put the name on the record.

Air Navigation and Transport (Indemnities) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Second Stage. (24 Jun 2005)

Martin Cullen: To be helpful, it is not our decision. We do not have a choice. It was decided within the European Commission as a European regulation so we must do it.

Air Navigation and Transport (Indemnities) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Second Stage. (24 Jun 2005)

Martin Cullen: I thank all the Deputies for their contributions on Second Stage. Despite the fairly short notice of the Bill, it is clear Members took time to study its impact and raised various points in that regard. Deputy Olivia Mitchell is correct. I do not disagree with her, and other Deputies made the same point. I would rather not be here — I am sure everyone here is of the same view — dealing...

Air Navigation and Transport (Indemnities) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Second Stage. (24 Jun 2005)

Martin Cullen: Deputy Boyle might accept that much corporate activity is extremely legitimate in terms of foreign direct investment into this country. We rightly must take account of the situation. Nuclear, marine and property insurance matters are excluded. However, war on terrorism cover has been provided for aviation activities and is a requirement of the new EU regulation, Regulation 785/2004. The...

Air Navigation and Transport (Indemnities) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Jun 2005)

Martin Cullen: Regulation 2407/92 concerns requirements for the granting and maintenance of operating licences by member states in regard to air carriers established in the Community. It does not concern other aviation activities, such as the operation of airports or the provision of services at airports. Regulation 785/2004 establishes minimum third party and passenger insurance requirements for air...

Air Navigation and Transport (Indemnities) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Jun 2005)

Martin Cullen: I did not realise all these amendments were ruled out of order. I was ready to deal with them. If I am permitted to raise the point of the amendment to section 7, the Deputy is correct. One may want to reduce or increase. It is not urgent now but it may well be in a year. This matter will have to be examined then. The Deputy was correct and we will probably take account of this later. The...

Air Navigation and Transport (Indemnities) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Jun 2005)

Martin Cullen: I do not want to open up a debate on the matter. I was simply acknowledging the Deputy's point, which is not a bad one.

Air Navigation and Transport (Indemnities) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Jun 2005)

Martin Cullen: The Deputy's amendment No. 5 would mean there could be uncertainty about when an indemnity would terminate. If a condition of terminating an indemnity were that it must be transmitted in a manner likely to come to the attention of the intended recipient there could be a legal challenge on the meaning of the section. The current text of section 14 is absolutely clear that the latest a...

Air Navigation and Transport (Indemnities) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Jun 2005)

Martin Cullen: This is the same territory as the last amendment. The impact of this amendment would be to eliminate the one-hour notice of termination or suspension. I will not read out the response I gave to the Deputy's last amendment. As part of the conditions we will agree with the undertakings on the method by which notice of termination will be made so that termination can take place immediately. We...

Air Navigation and Transport (Indemnities) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Jun 2005)

Martin Cullen: The purpose of an order under section 16(6) is to set down a date before which all claims on foot of any indemnity must be received so that the State can be certain that all claims have been received and that compensation can be apportioned appropriately. The purpose of this Bill is to allow civil aviation to continue to function in the face of a withdrawal of certain insurance by the...

Air Navigation and Transport (Indemnities) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Jun 2005)

Martin Cullen: Yes. To some degree, we do not know what might happen in an incident and the scale of it. We are trying to be as cautious as possible from the taxpayers point of view.

Air Navigation and Transport (Indemnities) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Jun 2005)

Martin Cullen: The Deputy is correct in her assertion but there is a specific reason this is not the case here. While it is a common feature of Irish legislation that Acts may be grouped together as a series, it is not a requirement nor does it affect the validity of any part of the Act or Acts in question if they are not grouped together. In this case, the Parliamentary Counsel has advised that it is not...

Air Navigation and Transport (Indemnities) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Jun 2005)

Martin Cullen: I do not have an issue with that. I am used to dealing with Bills, as we all are, but the parliamentary counsel's advice was specific on this one. The strong advice was to keep it separate and do it this way.

Air Navigation and Transport (Indemnities) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Jun 2005)

Martin Cullen: There has been strong resistance from all governments to this issue. The Deputy is correct in the sense that it was flagged for some months, but that is why we were not giving an indication, overtly in any fora, that EU governments might consider this. However, it became clear this month that we had no choice. The effect of the amendment would be to insert a sunset clause in the Bill....