Results 9,081-9,100 of 13,375 for speaker:Pat Rabbitte

Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2007)

Pat Rabbitte: Do I take it from the Taoiseach's reply that within two weeks the bridge will be bought back for €600 million and that the current private toll will be replaced by a public toll? What is the position in respect of the 18 months before barrier-free tolling will be implemented? Ireland penalises motorists more than any country in the European Union in terms of taxation, such as VRT, and the...

Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2007)

Pat Rabbitte: I ask the Taoiseach——

Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2007)

Pat Rabbitte: As for the Taoiseach being stuck with the contract, is it not the case that there is a term in the contract that requires the operator to provide adequate tolling in respect of the traffic flows? This has never been done and the State has never taken any action. This is the same Department and these are the same Ministers who gave us the Luas and the port tunnel at three times their...

Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2007)

Pat Rabbitte: ——and has now created the mess in Cork and Shannon Airports about which Opposition Members warned in this House.

Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2007)

Pat Rabbitte: Moreover, the same Department and one of the transient Ministers gave a black and white commitment to the people of Cork that they would not be laboured with the debt following the construction of the airport terminal. However, this has all changed. Consequently, in such circumstances, why should motorists accept what the Government is now saying?

Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2007)

Pat Rabbitte: The Taoiseach appears to be holding open the option of a multitolling point as soon as the infrastructure is installed. I presume he refers to the grade separations that must be installed at a number of points along the M50. Why not call the operator's bluff——

Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2007)

Pat Rabbitte: ——and lift the tolls for the duration of the renovation until the implementation of barrier-free tolling? Why not test the bluff and the engineers' advice? It would be interesting to give motorists some relief for one month by raising the obstacles on that bridge on a trial basis. Such an initiative should be monitored to ascertain the outcome because there will be no relief for the...

Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2007)

Pat Rabbitte: The renovation of the M50 itself is under way contemporaneously with these developments. Moreover, the feed of trucks from the port tunnel adds to the congestion.

Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2007)

Pat Rabbitte: As soon as the port tunnel has been built——

Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2007)

Pat Rabbitte: ——his partner in Government wants to move the port.

Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2007)

Pat Rabbitte: What relief does the Taoiseach offer to motorists for the next 18 months?

Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2007)

Pat Rabbitte: Try it.

Ministerial Advisers. (21 Feb 2007)

Pat Rabbitte: Question 3: To ask the Taoiseach the role and responsibility of each of the special political advisers or other non-Civil Service staff appointed by him; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3858/07]

Interdepartmental Committees. (21 Feb 2007)

Pat Rabbitte: Question 8: To ask the Taoiseach the progress made by the cross-departmental team on housing, infrastructure and PPPs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3859/07]

Interdepartmental Committees. (21 Feb 2007)

Pat Rabbitte: The Taoiseach's description of the construction of health facilities compared to the normal commercial activity involved in the case he cited of a hotel is sobering and dispiriting. If the man who has been Taoiseach for almost ten years tells us that is the stage of desperation he has reached about moving a project like that from conception to execution, it is a poor lookout. I accept there...

Interdepartmental Committees. (21 Feb 2007)

Pat Rabbitte: The Taoiseach occasionally indulges in a little reverie so the Ceann Comhairle should allow me to also wander off in a stream of consciousness.

Interdepartmental Committees. (21 Feb 2007)

Pat Rabbitte: I am not disputing it.

Interdepartmental Committees. (21 Feb 2007)

Pat Rabbitte: On the question of PPPs, it was an element of the health strategy that the Government would provide 800 community nursing beds under a PPP. What happened to that commitment, why was it abandoned, has it been abandoned or is it still on course? Is the committee project focused, does it have a role in monitoring the national development plan, or is its approach simply that, for example, metro...

Interdepartmental Committees. (21 Feb 2007)

Pat Rabbitte: The Taoiseach did not deal with the question on community nursing homes.

Leaders' Questions (21 Feb 2007)

Pat Rabbitte: Since 2001 I have been raising with the Taoiseach the daily torment inflicted on motorists who must use the West Link toll bridge. During this time the Government has prevaricated and taken different positions. Now, within sight of the general election, we read it has decided to buy the bridge. Will the Taoiseach state the exact position? Yesterday's announcement which coincided with the...