Results 12,321-12,340 of 12,487 for speaker:John O'Donoghue

Sports Capital Programme. (25 May 2004)

John O'Donoghue: The national lottery funded sports capital programme allocates funding to sporting, voluntary and community organisations at local, regional and national level. The programme is advertised on an annual basis. In regard to the 2004 sports capital programme, I announced funding allocations, totalling €50.8 million, to 717 projects on 7 May last. I set out in the following tabular form the...

Sports Capital Programme. (25 May 2004)

John O'Donoghue: In terms of Government aid, the Deputy should not focus on my Department in isolation. He should consider the entire spectrum of Government and he would note that there have been substantial transfers of resources to his constituency since 1997. That is a fact. For example, I travelled to Monaghan earlier this year to examine the swimming pool in Monaghan town and there is no question but...

Sports Capital Programme. (25 May 2004)

John O'Donoghue: The difficulty that would arise in that regard is that criteria are laid down against which every project is benchmarked. Under the tourist development scheme in my Department, which is overseen by a committee, Killarney in my constituency is not included while the Deputy's constituency is included. Therefore, one cannot be selective and one must view this matter in an overall context.

National Conference Centre. (25 May 2004)

John O'Donoghue: As the Deputy is aware, the Office of Public Works received four submissions for the provision of a national conference centre following its advertisement for expressions of interest on 11 November 2003. The closing date for the receipt of submissions was 21 January 2004. Those submissions have undergone detailed evaluation by an assessment panel representative of my Department, the Office of...

National Conference Centre. (25 May 2004)

John O'Donoghue: The procurement of the national conference centre is a particularly complex and lengthy undertaking. While I hope to take the matter to the Cabinet for a decision later in the year, I cannot rule out the possibility that deliberations and negotiations will continue into next year. I assure Deputy Deenihan that I am fully committed to delivering the project at the earliest possible...

National Conference Centre. (25 May 2004)

John O'Donoghue: When the decision on the smoking ban was being made, I asked Tourism Ireland's officials throughout the world to report on the likely effect of the ban on tourism numbers. The response I received was the effect would be negligible. It was argued that the smoking ban would help to increase the number of visitors coming to the country from the United States. I understand that Norway followed...

Tourism Promotion. (25 May 2004)

John O'Donoghue: I welcome the enlargement of the European Union, which was celebrated so warmly by people throughout this island on 1 May last. I consider it as a great opportunity and not as a threat. I disagree with the Deputy's assertion that we have been unable "to develop fully a foothold in the continental European market" so far. We had 6.3 million visitors to our shores last year, of which 1.5...

Tourism Promotion. (25 May 2004)

John O'Donoghue: Ireland's share of the continental European market has not been as high as one might have wished. That 1.5 million people from that region came to this country last year shows that we are making significant gains. It is quite encouraging that we are making gains in markets as diverse as Germany, Italy, France and Spain. The tourism authorities are engaging in an aggressive marketing campaign...

Tourism Promotion. (25 May 2004)

John O'Donoghue: Yes. The amount of funding that has been made available for marketing Ireland abroad is at its highest ever level. We are spending record sums of money in all our main markets, as well as in other markets that do not offer as many visitors as we would like. The marketing is ongoing and between the public and private sectors it is quite considerable. I am satisfied, as is Tourism Ireland, that...

Swimming Pool Projects. (25 May 2004)

John O'Donoghue: A provision of €15 million has been made in my Department's Estimates for this year to meet costs associated with the local authority swimming pool programme. This provision represents an increase of 67% on the provision for 2003. So far this year, I have approved grant aid to projects located in Tuam, County Galway, Churchfield in Cork city and Ballymun in Dublin. The likely grant drawdown...

Swimming Pool Projects. (25 May 2004)

John O'Donoghue: I will answer the last question first. To assist the Department in formulating future policy on swimming pools we have commenced an expenditure review of the local authority swimming pool programme. Among other things, the review is examining how the programme has worked to date, the benefits that have accrued to areas where pools have been built through the existing programme, and what...

Swimming Pool Projects. (25 May 2004)

John O'Donoghue: It is difficult to answer that question because some commitments have been recognised, while others have not yet arrived. Refurbishments and new projects total about 13.

Swimming Pool Projects. (25 May 2004)

John O'Donoghue: Five are at construction stage, four are at tender stage, 18 are at contract document stage and 15 are at the preliminary stage. We have initiated an expenditure review and I have outlined the reasons for that. I will be seeking to advance the cause of other pools——

Swimming Pool Projects. (25 May 2004)

John O'Donoghue: ——including Cobh and Youghal, if I can. However, I cannot give any cast-iron guarantees at this stage. All I can do is to try to advance the pools that are at tender stage, as well as advancing the others to the next stage. I am currently examining those aspects.

Swimming Pool Projects. (25 May 2004)

John O'Donoghue: It will be difficult to do that, but I will try to communicate to Deputy Stanton how much money is left.

Swimming Pool Projects. (25 May 2004)

John O'Donoghue: Ballybunion pool is currently at contract document stage. My understanding is the contract documents have been with the experts at the Office of Public Works for three or four weeks. I sincerely hope there are no technical difficulties. If there are none, the next stage would be to approve the contract documents. However, to the best of my knowledge, we have not yet received the report back...

Tourism Industry. (25 May 2004)

John O'Donoghue: I propose to take Questions Nos. 35, 43, 44, 58 and 251 together. Since my appointment as Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism in June 2002, I have spoken of my concern regarding the increasing levels of dissatisfaction evident in visitor attitude surveys about the value for money offered by the overall tourism experience in Ireland. I welcomed the fact, therefore, that one of the strongest...

Tourism Industry. (25 May 2004)

John O'Donoghue: Naturally, I would like to see us producing as much of our own energy as possible, as Deputy Gogarty suggests. However, issues regarding oil and oil prices come under the remit of the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources. If the Deputy tabled a question to the Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, I am sure he would deal with the issues raised by him. My understanding is that...

Tourism Industry. (25 May 2004)

John O'Donoghue: As the Leas-Cheann Comhairle pointed out, it is not possible for me to express a view on behalf of the Minister for Finance whose remit it is to introduce next year's budget to the House in December. However, in the context of value for money it is important to point out that there are very good packages on offer in regard to access and accommodation, or both. As Deputy Deenihan stated, the...

Tourism Industry. (25 May 2004)

John O'Donoghue: We are conscious of the need to maintain the low cost access to Ireland and we do everything we possibly can to encourage low cost access. I am not aware of any such report in my Department——