Results 9,641-9,660 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Official Engagements. (8 Feb 2005)

Bertie Ahern: On the first issue, Deputy Rabbitte is correct. The Dutch Presidency made it clear, following the presentation at the European Council by Kofi Annan of the Weisman report and his endorsement of that report, that Europe would work collectively with him. That is our position. Throughout his period of office, Kofi Annan has worked extremely hard to get into this position and I give him...

Official Engagements. (8 Feb 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The issue of signing UN orders by the country was not raised. I am not sure whether that is an issue——

Official Engagements. (8 Feb 2005)

Bertie Ahern: Yes. I suggest the Deputy submits a parliamentary question but I will raise the matter in any case. The Government's national plan to deal with racism and migration issues was published a fortnight ago. The plan takes account of the Equality Act 2004, which transposes the race directive and is designed to meet the commitments entered into by the UN world conference. This may answer the...

Official Engagements. (8 Feb 2005)

Bertie Ahern: On the first issue, Deputy Joe Higgins is right. It has been the Irish Government's position on this issue for many decades to work for the absence of all arms, nuclear and otherwise, and it has made such efforts over many decades. The last major round of this work was done by the former Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. David Andrews, when he was in the Department. That is our position and...

Official Engagements. (8 Feb 2005)

Bertie Ahern: On the second issue, we will definitely have the referendum before the date on which we must have it, that is, October next year.

Official Engagements. (8 Feb 2005)

Bertie Ahern: As I stated to Deputy Sargent, our position, while restrictive, is clear. If there is a UN mandate, constitutionally we can be involved and we will make the decision on whether we will be involved.

Official Engagements. (8 Feb 2005)

Bertie Ahern: As of now, no.

Written Answers — Dublin-Monaghan Bombings: Dublin-Monaghan Bombings (2 Feb 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I received a letter recently from Prime Minister Blair on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974 and the Dublin bombings of 1972 and 1973 which I passed to the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights on foot of its current deliberations. In the letter dated 10 January 2005, the Prime Minister stated: The Government welcomed the establishment of the Barron inquiry...

European Council Meetings: Statements. (2 Feb 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I attended the European Council in Brussels on 16 and 17 December 2004. I was accompanied by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, and the Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs, Deputy Treacy. The Presidency's conclusions of the European Council have been laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. The future enlargement of the European Union was the...

European Council Meetings: Statements. (2 Feb 2005)

Bertie Ahern: We have no embassy there.

Leaders' Questions. (2 Feb 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The Deputy has made a statement of his views and there is no point in me trying to change any of them. As I said last week, the sentence imposed on Mr. Ray Burke on Monday of last week demonstrated that any citizen who breaks the law will face its full rigours. I am satisfied that justice has been done and been seen to be done. The people can, therefore, have faith in our system of justice....

Leaders' Questions. (2 Feb 2005)

Bertie Ahern: When I knew and it became clear to this House, the Government brought forward proposals, on which the House collectively agreed, to set up investigations into all these matters many years ago. Those investigations have examined all of the files in all the areas where they had any doubts, connections or involvement. They continue to do that to this day. Unfortunately, I did not know all of the...

Computerisation Programme. (2 Feb 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The e-Cabinet project has progressed very well and the key aspects of the system came into operation during 2004. Further development is in progress and will be incrementally deployed in the course of this year. Phase one went live in summer 2004 and was launched by the then Minister of State with responsibility for the information society, Deputy Hanafin. It enabled all Departments to author...

Computerisation Programme. (2 Feb 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The project is more or less on schedule. It has been an enormous project because it affects all Departments and offices. We are now at implementation stage. It is planned to further augment its features and functionality over several more phases this year. Those phases are electronic briefing facilities for Ministers; key features which automatically generate one-page overviews of memos; a...

Computerisation Programme. (2 Feb 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The answer to the Deputy's question is "Yes". They are all now using the one system. It is in the Cabinet secretariat and is now on all memorandums. All sections of Departments are using the one system. Many of these things are new and different but they have worked most effectively and this will be built on. This puts us in a position where we are well advanced. It is of great benefit to the...

Computerisation Programme. (2 Feb 2005)

Bertie Ahern: Yes. In fairness, I did this at the start——

Computerisation Programme. (2 Feb 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I did this at the start when we commenced the work. Former Deputy, John Bruton, and Deputy Quinn raised the issue at the time. It does cover the entire Government service. I assure Deputies that I am not an expert on this. I am afraid age is against me in terms of being a technology buff. However the system is very good and we can all be very proud of how it works in the Civil Service. It has...

Official Engagements. (2 Feb 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 2 to 25, inclusive, together. I made an official visit to China and Hong Kong from 18 to 22 January at the invitation of the authorities there. The overall purpose of the visit was to further enhance Ireland's strong economic and trade links with China. I was accompanied on the trip by my colleagues, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the...

Official Engagements. (2 Feb 2005)

Bertie Ahern: As the Deputy knows, two-way trade is important in the context of balance of trade. A small number of larger Irish companies are seriously examining the prospect of investing in the Chinese market. On this occasion we were involved with Kerry Group, which is due to open its ingredients plant. It sees a significant gain in investing in the huge Chinese market and has therefore built up...

Official Engagements. (2 Feb 2005)

Bertie Ahern: It is an EU arms embargo. Every government and parliamentary delegation to China is asked about this as it is a big issue there. The first item raised at every press conference is the arms embargo. When the Chinese media visit Ireland, it also raises the issue. While it is seen by the Chinese as a great affront, we see it differently. I reiterated the Irish position on the matter, which is...