Results 1,641-1,660 of 11,242 for speaker:Noel Dempsey

Departmental Bodies. (10 Feb 2010)

Noel Dempsey: Deputy-----

Departmental Bodies. (10 Feb 2010)

Noel Dempsey: The Deputy is not showing much faith in the democratic process by which the directly elected mayor will be elected rather than appointed by anybody. He or she will have very strong powers and will be able to head up regional authorities. We must wait and see what happens. On the taxi regulator, the taxi regulator will be subsumed into the National Transport Authority. Obviously,...

Departmental Bodies. (10 Feb 2010)

Noel Dempsey: I love the way the Deputy would consider political people appointing people to a board as being more acceptable than-----

Departmental Bodies. (10 Feb 2010)

Noel Dempsey: This is a transparent and open process, and people see it. I am answerable in the House for it. This board answers to me and I need a board that I can trust and that will not play politics one way or the other. That is why I pick as many people as I possibly can who I can trust to do the job on the board. Any of these people will stand up to scrutiny, regardless of whether they are...

Road Network. (10 Feb 2010)

Noel Dempsey: I refer the Deputy to my answer to priority Question No. 73 taken earlier.

Road Network. (10 Feb 2010)

Noel Dempsey: We have had this political discussion on many occasions. There is a gap of about €25 billion between what we are taking in and what we are spending. Everybody on all sides of the House agreed that cuts had to be made. There is no programme of Government that can be exempt from cuts in the current circumstances. We cannot have it both ways. The Deputies opposite cannot attack the...

Road Network. (10 Feb 2010)

Noel Dempsey: The latest role Deputy Broughan has for me is as a mechanic. There is no end to this man. The NRA's role is to administer the funding for local authorities for regional and local road networks. This role used to be fulfilled internally in the Department until recently. The same staff will be involved but this time they will be in the NRA. The NRA will also be able to add its expertise to...

Road Network. (10 Feb 2010)

Noel Dempsey: Unit costs across the local authorities vary considerably. The NRA will advise me on best practice and we will try to have it applied across all local authorities. It will also administer the schemes. The local authority will send its proposed schemes to the authority and it, in turn, makes recommendations to me, like my departmental officials used to do. There was never any question of...

Road Network. (10 Feb 2010)

Noel Dempsey: In the remaining programmes, there will be major works done on several strategic national primary and secondary routes. There will not be any motorway development as it is not necessary from a traffic volume viewpoint. The road building programme will not be finished but the inter-urban motorways will in accordance with the plans I brought to Government in 1998.

Road Network. (10 Feb 2010)

Noel Dempsey: I will give him the information when we come to Question No. 78.

Road Network. (10 Feb 2010)

Noel Dempsey: The Leinster outer orbital route is not included in Transport 21 or the national development plan. It will be considered when either plan is renewed. It would not be up to the Minister for Transport but for consumer affairs and protection bodies to call in Toyota over its recall.

Road Network. (10 Feb 2010)

Noel Dempsey: The Department fully co-operated with Toyota Ireland in identifying the owners of the various cars it wanted to recall to ensure their safety.

Public Transport. (10 Feb 2010)

Noel Dempsey: I propose to answer Questions Nos. 78, 86 and 119 together. I have been briefed on the deterioration in Bus Éireann's financial position due to declining demand, revenue and increased costs, and on the measures necessary to maintain its financial viability. In recent years, Bus Éireann significantly expanded its network of services across the country. However, the economic downturn has...

Public Transport. (10 Feb 2010)

Noel Dempsey: The specifics the Deputy raises are an operational matter for Bus Éireann. There is competition on that route and I am sure if Bus Éireann is not the most-----

Public Transport. (10 Feb 2010)

Noel Dempsey: There is a reason they are the same price. However, it is an operational matter for Bus Éireann and I do not want to get involved in the company's day to day operation. I accept and acknowledge what the Deputy stated about Bus Éireann generally, that the company is an efficient organisation. Bus Éireann has modernised successfully over the past number of years. The passengers are not...

Public Transport. (10 Feb 2010)

Noel Dempsey: Deputy Broughan quoted again the statistics on subsidies. He neglects to mention the capital subsidy that was available for the renewal of the fleet of Bus Éireann over many years which was significantly higher than he would like to acknowledge. In the world in which we live now with the new EU directive and everything else, a public transport company must operate in a commercial...

Public Transport. (10 Feb 2010)

Noel Dempsey: I will give details of the rest of them if the Deputy wants.

Public Transport. (10 Feb 2010)

Noel Dempsey: I am just giving him the details. These are the passenger figures. Deputy Broughan is not doing a service to Bus Éireann or its employees if he will tell them that the company must run buses on these kind of routes and, perhaps, not be able to run a bus where there is some kind of a reasonable demand for it.

Public Transport. (10 Feb 2010)

Noel Dempsey: Which it does.

Public Transport. (10 Feb 2010)

Noel Dempsey: In fairness, Bus Éireann, as Deputy O'Dowd acknowledge earlier, uses private companies. It has been much better at using private companies and sub-contracting. I agree with the Deputy that the company should do more, either through sub-contracting or through the company's own system, to use smaller buses and vehicles. On Deputy O'Dowd's point about An Post, he will be aware that the...