Results 8,201-8,220 of 10,035 for speaker:Martin Cullen

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: They are minor.

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: This is by no means to be taken as suggesting or implying that deficiencies did not occur in cost estimation and control. Undoubtedly they did. In response, the NRA has strengthened its cost estimation, control and procurement procedures. This is designed to have more accurate cost estimates from the earliest stages of a project and to ensure greater certainty of outturn costs between tender...

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: These measures have led to an improvement in project management and consequential tightening on cost controls.

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: We are building for at least 100 years, not for next week. The beneficial impacts of these measures are evident, for example, in the completion of most projects in recent years within budget and ahead of contract completion dates. The bypasses at Monasterevin, Ashford-Rathnew, Cashel and Ballincollig are well ahead of schedule, and on budget. The initiatives being taken by the Minister for...

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: Cost benefit analyses are carried out as projects progress through planning so that the impact of cost increases is taken into account and evaluated before binding contracts are made. It should also be noted that road construction contracts are subject to an open competitive tendering process that ensures that projects are competitively priced. In addition, a number of independent evaluations...

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: I would rather take the view of the independent assessors in all of this than listen to some of the guff coming from the other side of the House.

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: I would like to put on record the good progress we are making in implementing the very ambitious upgrade programme provided for in the NDP and in transforming our national roads network for the benefit of everyone. Efforts to focus on cost increases that occurred in the period up to 2002 cannot detract from the irrefutable fact that route by route, the national road network is being...

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: Work is under way on another 24 with a combined length of 240 km including nearly another 180 km to motorway-dual carriageway standard. Another 19 with a combined length of more than 330 km including more than 280 km of motorway-dual carriageway standards are at tender stage. I will not mention all the projects that have been delivered. The estimated cost of the national roads development...

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: ——to make them economically sustainable, to create jobs and have a social capacity and quality of life that does not require that everybody look to the capital city. That is what this Fianna Fáil-led Government is delivering and I am proud to be a member of it.

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: It results in keener tendering.

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: Thank God, they are not. They can see the benefits throughout the country.

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: That is the reality.

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: That cost has not accrued in the past three years, and the Deputy knows that as well as I do.

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: To suggest that amount accrued in the past few years is a nonsense. The Deputy should refer back to the coalition Government in the mid-1970s, which was the root of the problem.

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: It has not been €500 million a year since 2001.

Public Expenditure: Motion. (17 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: I did not instigate it. The Opposition blocked the use of the machines, which worked perfectly well.

Written Answers — Rail Accidents: Rail Accidents (12 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: I assume the Deputy is referring to an incident which took place on 6 April 2005. The Interim Railway Safety Commission has already been in contact with Iarnród Éireann about this incident and will monitor closely the company's internal inquiry. If this monitoring reveals issues of importance to railway safety, the Interim Railway Safety Commission will take appropriate action. In the...

Written Answers — Ministerial Meetings: Ministerial Meetings (12 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: Since taking office I have met the chairman of CIE on a number of occasions to discuss major developments affecting the CIE Group. Matters raised during the course of these meetings would include issues of a general strategic and financial nature. I also have regular informal conversations with the chairman. A meeting with the full board of CIE is scheduled for the 1 June 2005. In addition,...

Written Answers — Airport Development Projects: Airport Development Projects (12 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 12, 20, 51 and 139 to 142, inclusive, together. I have already dealt in detail with the position in regard to the provision of additional terminal capacity at Dublin Airport in my earlier reply today to Priority Questions Nos. 2 and 4. With regard to Aer Lingus, as one of the main customers of Dublin Airport, Aer Lingus operational requirements will have to be...

Written Answers — Rail Network: Rail Network (12 May 2005)

Martin Cullen: In total my Department provided some €214.12 million to Iarnród Éireann for the purchase of rolling stock in the period 1999-2004 as follows: 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 â'¬m â'¬m â'¬m â'¬m â'¬m â'¬m 15.41 23.56 4.4 62.52 88.28 19.94 No funding was provided to Iarnród Éireann for this purpose...