Results 11,061-11,080 of 19,173 for speaker:Shane Ross

Other Questions: Airport Charges (7 Dec 2016)

Shane Ross: As the Deputy will be aware, the daa has statutory responsibility to manage, operate and develop Dublin Airport. I have made no proposals to the daa on airport charges, as the setting of such charges at Dublin Airport, within the regulatory framework established by statute, is an operational matter for the daa. The Commission for Aviation Regulation, CAR, regulates airport charges levied...

Other Questions: Airport Charges (7 Dec 2016)

Shane Ross: I do not feel more muzzled. I regret if the reply is not satisfactory. Nobody has done more in terms of meeting the residents who live close to the airport and passing on their views about the noise regime in which they find themselves currently. The Deputy should be aware that this is just in the 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. period, which arguably is night time. It is a massive and further...

Other Questions: Motor Insurance (7 Dec 2016)

Shane Ross: I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and accept that fully. I will not consider that at the moment, Deputy, but when we met the insurance companies, we faced a lack of adequate information. That is why we have sought for them to revert to us with more information. We are keen to get information about who is insured. That database should be improved. Once we have the information on who is...

Other Questions: Motor Insurance (7 Dec 2016)

Shane Ross: Not in my experience. It has not happened yet.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Smarter Transport (7 Dec 2016)

Shane Ross: I share the Deputy's aspirations and aims. The timetable has gone askew. That is obviously a product of the financial crisis, but that does not mean that we do not still have ambitions. We still have those ambitions and commitments. I accept the fact that if there are clean, good and efficient public transport services in Dublin, it will very definitely contribute towards a reduction in...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Smarter Transport (7 Dec 2016)

Shane Ross: I love the rhetoric. I would love to be a climate justice champion. It would be a great ambition. Ultimately, the exigencies of the Exchequer make it very difficult to do everything we would like to do in such a short period. I acknowledge that the Deputy has mentioned cycling and other modes of transport. Significant funds are awarded to the NTA and the GDA annually for the delivery of...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Smarter Transport (7 Dec 2016)

Shane Ross: I am glad that the Deputy mentioned that matter. I am meeting the Minister for Communications, Climate Change and Environment, Deputy Denis Naughten, tomorrow morning and my officials very shortly to consider what the targets will be. This time we want to make them absolutely realistic. We want them to be within the financial constraints and do not want to overshoot the mark like we did...

Other Questions: Motor Insurance (7 Dec 2016)

Shane Ross: I have not arranged a meeting with the Minister for Finance to specifically discuss the cost of motor insurance. My officials have met Department of Finance officials through a joint group that carried out a review of the future framework for motor insurance compensation in Ireland following the Setanta Insurance liquidation case. The report of the group is available on the Department of...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Brexit Issues (7 Dec 2016)

Shane Ross: I met my counterparts, Mr. Simon Hamilton, MLA, Minister for the Economy and Mr. Chris Hazzard, MLA, Minister for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland in July and November of this year at the North-South Ministerial Council.  Both council meetings considered the implications of the result of the UK referendum.  Full sectoral audits have been carried...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Brexit Issues (7 Dec 2016)

Shane Ross: I have met Tourism Ireland on several occasions, including formally at my office and less formally on other occasions. I am in constant contact with Tourism Ireland on various issues, including Brexit. It is a group I have met more times than any other, although often for only a very short time. We have discussed the issue of Brexit at great length. Tourism Ireland had a great deal to...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Smarter Transport (7 Dec 2016)

Shane Ross: I thank Deputy Ryan for his question on this issue which I know he is particularly interested in. As the Deputy is aware, Smarter Travel: a New Transport Policy for Ireland 2009-2020, was launched in January 2009. The targets set out in that policy were broad and ambitious. As it turns out, they were over-ambitious.  The goal of the policy was to reduce private car use by...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Public Transport Provision (7 Dec 2016)

Shane Ross: I agree that public services are not supposed to be principally or exclusively about profit making. However, as the Deputy will probably be aware, Bus Éireann cannot receive a subvention as it is purely and utterly a commercial operation. The company cannot be viewed in the same way as other semi-State bodies because it must survive without a subvention from the State. On the wider...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Irish Coast Guard (7 Dec 2016)

Shane Ross: There are no proposals in my Department to diminish Irish Coast Guard services or reduce the number of active stations in operation. In my response to Parliamentary Question No. 677 of 15 November 2016 I outlined the legislative provisions that underpinned the activities of the Irish Coast Guard and confirmed that there was no requirement to put it on an...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Irish Coast Guard (7 Dec 2016)

Shane Ross: I do not doubt the authenticity of the concerns to which the Deputy refers, as I have also heard them. They should be allayed, however, by the response I have provided. I reassure the Deputy that, having made inquiries into this matter, they lack substance. On the issue of whether the Irish Coast Guard lacks grounding on a statutory basis, let me spell out the reason it is sufficiently...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Irish Coast Guard (7 Dec 2016)

Shane Ross: It is landlocked.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Irish Coast Guard (7 Dec 2016)

Shane Ross: I do not believe it is necessary and I certainly do not believe it is a majority or particularly vocal view. It is, however, one I have heard around the place, albeit without great authority. No one in the Irish Coast Guard has made representations to me on the issue and I pass the Irish Coast Guard office every day. If I receive any official, authoritative or credible representations I...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Public Transport Provision (7 Dec 2016)

Shane Ross: 2 o’clock I will correct the Deputy because he was not aware that Deputy O'Keeffe was not there this morning. I am talking about this morning. Deputy Troy should be aware of this as it was an important issue. There was a meeting of the select committee on a Supplementary Estimate of €106 million. Deputy O'Keeffe was not there. No one from Fianna Fáil was there....

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Public Transport Provision (7 Dec 2016)

Shane Ross: In future we will try to arrange the meetings of the committee to suit Deputy Troy so that he can shout and roar down there as well as up here. The Deputy knows well of the seriousness of the situation Bus Éireann and its Expressway services face. He knows this because I have commented on it numerous times on the floor of this House and in committee. For the Deputy to affect surprise...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Public Transport Provision (7 Dec 2016)

Shane Ross: First, I thank Deputy Munster for attending the meeting of the select committee this morning. It was good to see her there.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Public Transport Provision (7 Dec 2016)

Shane Ross: ​Deputy Munster can be assured that I am fully engaged with establishing an appropriate response to the challenges and needs of the transport sector. The Deputy has identified a range of issues on the industrial relations front and then implied that these issues stem from inadequate funding of public transport. I have just answered separately a priority...