Results 10,401-10,420 of 19,173 for speaker:Shane Ross

Priority Questions: Rail Services Provision (8 Feb 2017)

Shane Ross: I will try to update the Deputy on what is happening. In September 2015, the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA, recommended that the tunnel element of the DART expansion programme should not proceed as currently designed but should be redesigned, as recommended, to provide a lower cost technical solution. This project will cost in the order of €4 billion. It has to be...

Priority Questions: Bus Éireann (8 Feb 2017)

Shane Ross: I thank the Deputy for his question. As he will note from our encounters here and at the Oireachtas joint committee, the responses I have been making on this matter have been consistent and fairly clear. The company is losing money and those losses must be addressed. The losses arise primarily as a result of the poor performance of its commercial Expressway services, services which do not,...

Priority Questions: Bus Éireann (8 Feb 2017)

Shane Ross: To address the Deputy's supplementary on the subvention first, he will be aware that the subsidy in past two years increased and it is my intention to increase it even further in the coming years. I have no wish to see any loss of services to people throughout the country who need that subvention and connectivity. That particularly applies to rural Ireland. I do not see what Stepaside...

Priority Questions: Bus Éireann (8 Feb 2017)

Shane Ross: Deputy Barry accused me of repeating the same mantra. He is more repetitive than I am. It is quite extraordinary and that is quite an achievement. He has managed to bring Stepaside into it and has repeated the mantra as frequently as I have. That is pretty good going. The answer to his question is the same as the one I have given him previously. Intervention is a matter for the...

Priority Questions: Bus Éireann (8 Feb 2017)

Shane Ross: I have debated this with Deputy Munster several times. I thoroughly respect the position she is taking. I ask her not to say I am asking the workers in the company to accept 30% cuts. I am asking nothing; I am making no comment on the demands of either side. The Deputy knows that and everybody else knows that. At this stage, I ask only that the unions and the management come together and...

Priority Questions: Bus Éireann (8 Feb 2017)

Shane Ross: I cannot spell it out more clearly. Both sides have used those words. The Deputy is saying she does not believe one but she believes the other. I happen to believe both; I think they both genuinely mean what they say about this. I think this will lead to them talking at some stage. If people, either on the union or management side, have said what they want prior to coming together that...

Priority Questions: Rail Services Provision (8 Feb 2017)

Shane Ross: Following a review of the business case for the DART underground project and the recommendation of the NTA following that review, the Government decided in September 2015 not to activate the compulsory purchase order powers of the railway order for the project and, instead, to seek a new railway order for a lower-cost revised scheme. The NTA identified that the DART underground project could...

Priority Questions: Rail Services Provision (8 Feb 2017)

Shane Ross: That is an operational matter for Iarnród Éireann and I will refer the Deputy's question to it and see what its plans are in that regard.

Priority Questions: Bus Éireann (8 Feb 2017)

Shane Ross: I thank Deputy Troy for his remarks. I think he misunderstood me. I will reread what I said as I do not think he heard it. I stated, "there was no such report submitted to my Department in January 2016". Many proposals were made and many reports were submitted at the time. Many reports were made to Bus Éireann management. There was no such report made to me in 2016. I did have...

Priority Questions: Bus Éireann (8 Feb 2017)

Shane Ross: Deputy Troy asked me about what he referred to as my "negotiations" with the chair. I do not have negotiations with the chair. The chair will, hopefully, have negotiations with the unions in the time to come. I talked to the chair, I asked him to be accountable for his stewardship and I asked him about his plans. The Deputy asked whether I told him there should be no preconditions. I...

Priority Questions: Bus Éireann (8 Feb 2017)

Shane Ross: Both parties are making themselves available, supposedly without preconditions, yet they are not meeting. It is an absurd situation. I can only say this: I hope and believe that they will come together - I appeal to them to do so - without preconditions because there is no other way out of this dispute.

Priority Questions: Bus Éireann (8 Feb 2017)

Shane Ross: ​The Deputy is aware of my stated and consistent position in this regard. I am fully aware of the problems faced by Bus Éireann and I am acutely sensitive to the fact 20 February is an important day in the calendar for Bus Éireann and its staff and workforce, to which the Deputy referred. The company must address the financial losses it incurs as a result of its loss-making...

Priority Questions: Bus Éireann (8 Feb 2017)

Shane Ross: I thank the Deputy for his question. Regarding the industrial relations issues at Bus Éireann, I have been clear in my calls for discussions between the two relevant parties, the management and trade unions, to commence immediately. I do not doubt that those discussions will be difficult. However, it is obvious that they must occur. As I clarified to the joint Oireachtas...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Safety Strategy: Discussion (8 Feb 2017)

Shane Ross: I share the Chairman's sentiments about condolences. There was another fatal accident yesterday and I express my sympathies to the family, as I did in the Seanad yesterday. I also thank the committee for the invitation to come here today to discuss what may be the most emotional subject in my Department. Saving lives is a very high priority, if not the top priority, and that is what we are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Safety Strategy: Discussion (8 Feb 2017)

Shane Ross: Does the Chair want me to address that question now?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Safety Strategy: Discussion (8 Feb 2017)

Shane Ross: The Deputy will be aware, as I said in my opening statement, that I am tackling this problem. There was an exemption in the legislation introduced in 2009 or 2010 which allowed people in certain circumstances to pay a charge and, even though they were over the legal limit, not be disqualified. I find that totally unacceptable. The first measure which we are implementing is going to mean...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Safety Strategy: Discussion (8 Feb 2017)

Shane Ross: I addressed that matter earlier. The scheme will come before Cabinet next week. The legislation will be ready very shortly afterwards. It will be a two-page Bill as far as I know. The intention is to get it through the Dáil at a very early stage, hopefully by the end of April.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Safety Strategy: Discussion (8 Feb 2017)

Shane Ross: It is a matter for the local authority. The Deputy is aware of the 20 km/h speed limit.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Safety Strategy: Discussion (8 Feb 2017)

Shane Ross: I have set aside €250,000 for a pilot scheme in 2017 and further guidelines will be given to local authorities advising them of lessons learned from the scheme. I take that extremely seriously. I cannot comment on any particular problem in Louth but I guarantee that we will monitor what happens in this pilot scheme and that is why we have given it money.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Safety Strategy: Discussion (8 Feb 2017)

Shane Ross: Ramp procurement is a matter for the local authority. If the design meets the basic design standards-----