Results 1,321-1,340 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Written Answers — Departmental Advertising: Departmental Advertising (21 Nov 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The total expenditure by my Department on advertising and promotional campaigns since 2002 is €390,450.65. A breakdown for each year is included in the following table under the headings Print Media, Internet Media (Website) and PR (including television). The more significant incidences of this type of expenditure are concerned with publication/ advertising of major state ceremonial...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (21 Nov 2007)

Bertie Ahern: Expenditure by my Department is kept under review on an ongoing basis to ensure that the Department maximises value for money in carrying out its activities.

Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The Deputy raised a number of points. I agree the vast majority of practices in the State work well, do not create difficulty and provide a service to individual members of the public and to companies. Self-regulatory bodies the world over, including in this country, tend to move away from this and the idea of self-regulation is seen as something from other times. Most organisations are...

Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The answer to those questions is yes. The Government has examined the Competition Authority's report. The authority has produced a number of reports and it reported to the House on this matter two or three weeks ago. That may not be the only model that can be taken, but the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform is examining it. I am not satisfied that self-regulation, as it has...

Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2007)

Bertie Ahern: We discussed industrial relations issues last week in Aer Lingus and Dublin Bus and at that stage I called on workers and management to try to resolve the issues, notwithstanding the fact that in CIE's case the matter had gone through the conciliation process, the Labour Relations Commission and the Labour Court. Every dispute has its own unique position and those involved should try to...

Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2007)

Bertie Ahern: Close liaison is being maintained with ESB management and contacts are ongoing within union circles. The Government will bring forward a memorandum on the various aspects of the transfer of the transmission assets. The legislation and financial arrangements will also be presented to the Government in the coming months. The Minister and the Department will continue to liaise on the matter...

Office of the Attorney General. (21 Nov 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 4, inclusive, together. In reply to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 1 to 8, inclusive, on 1 November 2006, I stated substantial progress had been made in implementing the recommendations of the Sullivan report. Further progress has been made since. Implementation of the recommendations of the report formed part of the Attorney General office's action plan...

Office of the Attorney General. (21 Nov 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The rapporteurs are in place and have been actively involved. References were made in the Attorney General's annual report and, as I said, there will also be an update early next year. If the decision was that they were to present a report to the House, I will have to check that matter because I cannot recall seeing a published report, but perhaps I am wrong. However, the rapporteurs are...

Office of the Attorney General. (21 Nov 2007)

Bertie Ahern: Yes, it has operated since October 2006 and all relevant issues in the Attorney General's office are discussed. The process is that cases of importance are brought to it. While hundreds of cases challenging legislation or statutory instruments are current at any one time, the key cases, as per the Sullivan report, are brought forward to the legal MAC. I understand the Government receives...

Office of the Attorney General. (21 Nov 2007)

Bertie Ahern: To the best of my knowledge, there was only a small number of those cases. I do not have the information on them but I understand most of them were brought back in under different clauses and they all took effect. It is a number of months since I was briefed on it but, to the best of my knowledge, I do not believe there were any difficulties with them. I understand all the procedures have...

Office of the Attorney General. (21 Nov 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I would be a little wary to say nothing like that could ever happen.

Office of the Attorney General. (21 Nov 2007)

Bertie Ahern: If one puts a file covering 25 million people in the post and does not register it, what does one expect? We never know what might be happening at any time. That is the point I am making. Seriously, all these matters have been followed through. When I checked the position regarding the legal MAC and the number of cases current at any one time, I presumed that I would have been told...

Office of the Attorney General. (21 Nov 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The Deputy will appreciate that is not totally within my control. We will have to try to resolve that in the House as well. I will give the Deputy my view and the Government's view on this. We gave a commitment last spring that we would have a children's rights referendum within a year. I would like to try to honour that. We have set up a committee with terms of reference. I understand...

Office of the Attorney General. (21 Nov 2007)

Bertie Ahern: That is a fair summary of what I stated. If we are to hold the two referendums together, it means the work has to be done as speedily as possible. It seems to me a large amount of work has been done and the Minister of State, Deputy Smith, advises me that the committee will take until the end of April. Then a referendum Bill will have to be passed, but it is really a matter of how to...

Office of the Attorney General. (21 Nov 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The answer to the last question is that the percentage is tiny, but that does not impede the effort. I do not have a breakdown. To be honest, I was surprised there were that many cases through the legal MAC. I had not realised the number was that high, but only a small percentage of cases are ever successful. A fair number of them are pushed all the way, however. The Deputy has been in...

Economic Regulation. (21 Nov 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 to 8, inclusive, together. The programme for Government contains a commitment to instigate a review of the entire economic regulatory environment. This review will be designed to ensure that the existing regulatory regime is operating efficiently, balancing the needs of users with the requirements of producers and is not imposing excessive costs on the...

Economic Regulation. (21 Nov 2007)

Bertie Ahern: And on me.

Economic Regulation. (21 Nov 2007)

Bertie Ahern: We have a large number of regulators, as the Deputy implied, and the review is designed to ensure the existing regulatory regime operates efficiently, balances the needs of users with the requirements of producers and does not impose excessive costs on the economy. That is exactly what I want to see done. The regulatory system we have built has reflected international practice for the past...

Economic Regulation. (21 Nov 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I do not want to get into insurance and financial regulation, which are covered by the Tánaiste and the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The Government's position is that it has set up the interdepartmental group which will be tasked with examining the range of legislation to enhance the accountability and transparency of regulators' operations in their entirety. These...

Economic Regulation. (21 Nov 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I do not agree with that position. Hedge funds are not akin to somebody going to Paddy Power. I know one could use this argument in respect of how they are classified. Punting a few hundred euro and punting hundreds of millions of euro into vehicle funds is entirely different. It would not take until lunch time to work out that even if one put a limit on it, all these issues would come...