Results 14,821-14,840 of 31,374 for speaker:Eamon Ryan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2019: Minister for Transport (30 Jun 2021)

Eamon Ryan: This is another very significant aspect of the legislation. A large number of people are currently using these scooters in a way that is not regulated. Several countries have introduced regulation in this area, which means we are able to look at best practice. There is an interesting paper, to which I refer members before we get to Committee Stage, in which the Road Safety Authority looks...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2019: Minister for Transport (30 Jun 2021)

Eamon Ryan: The Deputy is absolutely right about the importance of good data governance and the whole issue, particularly in the public sphere, of the use of data, privacy concerns and limiting sharing of information. That will be critical. The assistant secretary of my Department, Mr. O'Leary, might comment on this. He may have more specifics on the discussions with the Data Protection Commissioner.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2019: Minister for Transport (30 Jun 2021)

Eamon Ryan: This Bill is full of examples, which I did not mention in my opening statement, of many legislative changes that are important in the sector. One example is driving instruction. We will legislate for people who test members of the Garda, fire brigades and the National Ambulance Service. As you can imagine, those drivers have specific powers and responsibilities in being able to drive in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2019: Minister for Transport (30 Jun 2021)

Eamon Ryan: The Deputy is right that we have to set these regulations in a way that gives flexibility as new devices, such as Segways and hoverboards, and there will be others, come in. We are deliberately calling this powered personal transporters, PPTs, rather than e-scooters legislation because there will be other examples of this form of transport and we have to set the regulations in a way that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2019: Minister for Transport (30 Jun 2021)

Eamon Ryan: There are a number of areas covering the regulation of horses. In my city of Dublin it is an issue that is coming to my attention and people are looking for further regulatory powers to manage it well. To be honest, I do not think we can get it into this legislation. It is a very wide-ranging and extensive Bill now and I am reluctant because of the time pressure and the complexity that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2019: Minister for Transport (30 Jun 2021)

Eamon Ryan: I do not have a timeframe here this morning but I will try to find that and liaise with the committee to give an update as soon as I have it. On rapid antigen testing, I have said right through this crisis that it has a role to play. We have been pushing regularly for antigen testing in a variety of areas, including travel. "Yes" is the answer. I expect in a variety of circumstances,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2019: Minister for Transport (30 Jun 2021)

Eamon Ryan: Our first requirement in the plan as set out is to introduce the digital Covid certificate. Included in that is vaccination status and whether a person has had the virus previously or a PCR test. That is what will apply from 19 July. That does not rule out us looking at antigen testing. I expect it to have an extensive role.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2019: Minister for Transport (30 Jun 2021)

Eamon Ryan: I am reluctant to speak on behalf of NPHET. It can do that well on its own.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2019: Minister for Transport (30 Jun 2021)

Eamon Ryan: I do have an opinion.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2019: Minister for Transport (30 Jun 2021)

Eamon Ryan: My opinion is we will be using antigen in a whole variety of occupations. It will not be used, to make it clear to Deputy Crowe, from 19 July. That will be PCR testing. That does not rule out the use of antigen testing for both travel and domestic arrangements in the future. To do that in travel, it would have to be tested. We will be working with the airlines and others, including...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2019: Minister for Transport (30 Jun 2021)

Eamon Ryan: The decision we made on Monday night was to give ourselves time to work out the application in this regard of a whole variety of solutions we are going to need to apply. I am not going to set out here what that approach should be. The Tánaiste is talking to the restaurant and hospitality sectors today. We need to do that. We need to do further analysis of the capability in terms of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2019: Minister for Transport (30 Jun 2021)

Eamon Ryan: We should not rule out anything, Chairman.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2019: Minister for Transport (30 Jun 2021)

Eamon Ryan: Going back through the past year I have been in regular contact with Ryanair, Aer Lingus as well as NPHET, the Department of Health and the airports, all of which have an interest in this issue. There have been very collaborative arrangements. For our first PCR system, it was Dublin Airport which stood up to help provide the data centre to back that up. Similarly with Aer Lingus and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2019: Minister for Transport (30 Jun 2021)

Eamon Ryan: I will announce further details next week. The European Union gave countries up to eight weeks from 1 July to introduce a system. We picked 19 July for a variety of reasons but a primary reason was that I do not think any other health system in Europe has been subjected to the same cyberattack as we were, which in effect took out our IT systems for the past five or six weeks since the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2019: Minister for Transport (30 Jun 2021)

Eamon Ryan: I am slightly nervous because I have commented on that and I hope I have not distracted the committee from its core work, which is pre-legislative scrutiny. Road safety is also a significant issue. With no disrespect to Deputy Carey, I think my previous answers to Deputy Lowry and others encapsulate what I think on that issue. I am nervous about wandering too far from the contents of the Bill.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2019: Minister for Transport (30 Jun 2021)

Eamon Ryan: On the timing of the Bill, legislation is a slow process, as we all know. If we can get the Bill into the Oireachtas in early or mid-September and get it through both Houses, that process itself ordinarily takes a couple of months. We do not have to rush it. We should use Committee Stage wisely. The timeline we expect is that the President will sign the Bill before the end of the year....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2019: Minister for Transport (30 Jun 2021)

Eamon Ryan: I have been seen to cycle without a helmet but I increasingly do wear a helmet because I am fearful and want to protect my head, but I do not believe that we should make them mandatory, for a variety of reasons. Deputy O'Rourke raised the matter of Dublinbikes. Those hire bikes are being used increasingly widely. People using them do not wear helmets. We do not want to discourage that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2019: Minister for Transport (30 Jun 2021)

Eamon Ryan: Without wandering too far from the Bill, I will comment briefly on the Narrow Water bridge. Deputy Ó Murchú will be aware of the announcement yesterday that the project is to go to tender and that it is being shared by the shared island fund. The Taoiseach has a particular interest in this project. I met the Minister for Infrastructure, Nichola Mallon, on Monday. She also has a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2019: Minister for Transport (30 Jun 2021)

Eamon Ryan: Can I come back on what Deputy Matthews said?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2019: Minister for Transport (30 Jun 2021)

Eamon Ryan: On his last point, we did not have a chance to discuss that earlier. He is right. The ability to avoid clogging up the courts is important. People would have to pay double in those circumstances, but that is better than a court hearing. It is also better for the courts. It is a welcome provision in the Bill. I also agree with Deputy Matthews on scramblers, e-bikes and automated vehicle...