Results 12,461-12,480 of 12,487 for speaker:John O'Donoghue

Seanad: National Tourism Development Authority Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2002)

John O'Donoghue: The actual marketing spend on tourism this year, despite the budgetary constraints, will be the highest in the history of the State. The amount available for marketing Ireland will be 20% higher in 2003 than in 2002. This is an indication of the seriousness with which we are addressing the tourism question. It is imperative from our perspective that the industry which is set to become the...

Seanad: National Tourism Development Authority Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2002)

John O'Donoghue: I regret to disappoint Senator Quinn but no civil servant has been as creative as he described. Under the National Development Plan 2000-2006, the amount allocated under the tourism product development fund is €130 million. Senator Quinn will know that half of €130 million is €65 million. That is the reason for the figure of €65 million.

Seanad: National Tourism Development Authority Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2002)

John O'Donoghue: As I said, I condemn discrimination against women or discrimination of any kind. When Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, I introduced the Employment Equality Act and the Equal Status Act which prohibited discrimination on nine grounds in regard to employment and the provision of services. Legislation to deal with discrimination is on the Statute Book. Under the Equal Status Act,...

Seanad: National Tourism Development Authority Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2002)

John O'Donoghue: The effect of this amendment would be to require the authority, under statute, to submit annual accounts for audit to the Comptroller and Auditor General not later than three months after the end of its financial year. While in practice it has been extremely rare for either Bord Fáilte or CERT to have been unable to submit their accounts within three months, it is possible, due to external...

Seanad: National Tourism Development Authority Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2002)

John O'Donoghue: This is a drafting amendment to address an instance of incorrect punctuation. Amendment agreed to.

Seanad: National Tourism Development Authority Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2002)

John O'Donoghue: I regret I cannot accept this amendment. The text of the existing provision is standard. The general practice on receipt of the audited accounts from CERT and Bord Fáilte Éireann has been to have them laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as possible thereafter and it is intended that this practice will continue. The insertion of the word "immediately" would not speed up this...

Seanad: National Tourism Development Authority Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2002)

John O'Donoghue: The effect of this amendment would be to require the authority, under statute, to submit its annual report not later than three months after the end of its financial year. A difficulty in that regard is that the Comptroller and Auditor General has rarely completed his audit of either the CERT or Bord Fáilte accounts within that period. Accordingly, the report would be incomplete due to the...

Seanad: National Tourism Development Authority Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2002)

John O'Donoghue: It is proposed not to accept this amendment. The effect is to require electronic publication of accounts and reports. It is considered unduly prescriptive to include such provisions. The authority is obliged under section 8(5) to have regard to the policies of the Government for the time being extant. In cognisance of this, Bord Fáilte Éireann's annual reports and accounts are as a matter...

Seanad: National Tourism Development Authority Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2002)

John O'Donoghue: I tabled an earlier amendment. It is more or less technical. Amendment agreed to. Section 29 deleted. Section 30 agreed to. SECTION 31.

Seanad: National Tourism Development Authority Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2002)

John O'Donoghue: It is not proposed to accept the amendment. Bord Fáilte Éireann has had an acting chief executive officer for the past 15 months, Mr. Niall Reddy, who has done an extremely good job and is to be congratulated and thanked for it. My understanding is that when the chief executive officer is absent the secretary would be designated to take over his functions. This is something which happens...

Seanad: National Tourism Development Authority Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2002)

John O'Donoghue: The Government decided to insert this standard provision which relates to civil servants, who are instruments of Government policy. The Government of the day is charged with making policy, determining objectives and imposing plans of action. It is simply not permissible for the chief executive of a board like the National Tourism Development Authority to express publicly the fact that he or...

Seanad: National Tourism Development Authority Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2002)

John O'Donoghue: Nobody is forcing public servants to stay in their positions if they do not want to do so. If one's objections to Government policy are sufficiently great that one cannot continue in one's position as a civil servant, one can retire from one's job and decide instead to try to change the policy. It is a reasonable situation. Any other provision would be unreasonable, unworkable and quickly...

Seanad: National Tourism Development Authority Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2002)

John O'Donoghue: It is possible that the converse could occur. The chief executive of the authority, with a view to ingratiating himself or herself to the Government of the day, might decide to tell the committee that the authority has money in abundance when he or she knows quite well that it does not. Surely this is the converse of the argument made by Senator Quinn. It is never desirable for a chief...

Seanad: National Tourism Development Authority Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2002)

John O'Donoghue: This is to correct a subsection reference, as are amendments Nos. 35 and 36. Amendment agreed to. Government amendment No. 35: In page 22, subsection (8)(b), line 17, to delete "section 34" and substitute "section 35". Amendment agreed to. Government amendment No. 36: In page 22, subsection (9)(a), line 23, to delete "section 34" and substitute "section 35". Amendment agreed to. Government...

Seanad: National Tourism Development Authority Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2002)

John O'Donoghue: This is to correct an instance of incorrect punctuation. Amendment agreed to. Section 36, as amended, agreed to. Section 37 agreed to. SECTION 38. Government amendment No. 38: In page 23, line 3, to delete "enactment," where it secondly occurs and substitute "enactment".

Seanad: National Tourism Development Authority Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2002)

John O'Donoghue: This is to correct an instance of incorrect punctuation. Amendment agreed to. Section 38, as amended, agreed to. Sections 39 to 41, inclusive, agreed to. SECTION 42. Government amendment No. 39: In page 24, subsection (2), line 32, after "made," to insert "and".

Seanad: National Tourism Development Authority Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2002)

John O'Donoghue: Again, this is to correct punctuation. Amendment agreed to. Section 42, as amended, agreed to. First and Second Schedules agreed to. Title agreed to. Bill reported with amendments.

Seanad: National Tourism Development Authority Bill, 2002: Second Stage. (27 Nov 2002)

John O'Donoghue: I am pleased to bring this Bill before the Seanad. I made a major statement on tourism to the House in recent weeks and do not propose to rehearse the same ground in what I have to say today. The Bill is tightly focused and its purpose is to provide a statutory basis for a new national tourism development authority. When the authority is established, Bord Fáilte and CERT will be dissolved...

Seanad: National Tourism Development Authority Bill, 2002: Second Stage. (27 Nov 2002)

John O'Donoghue: Not for any of us.

Seanad: National Tourism Development Authority Bill, 2002: Second Stage. (27 Nov 2002)

John O'Donoghue: We had a bad captain.