Results 1,781-1,800 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Decentralisation Programme. (17 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: Ministerial responsibility for the entire programme rests with the Minister for Finance. The decentralisation implementation group is answerable to the Department of Finance. It is not independent of the Department but works directly to it and the Department of Finance answers for it. On State agencies, the report of the implementation group continues to emphasise the central role of the...

Decentralisation Programme. (17 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The group refers to the fact that some of the unions representing State agency members have adopted a stance of opposition to Government policy from the start. The group continues to highlight the importance of getting active discussions under way with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions on a range of industrial relations issues impacting on the relocation. The Department of Finance has...

Decentralisation Programme. (17 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I remember the first round of negotiations at the end of the 1980s. I was involved in the arrangements within the Department of Finance for three years in respect of relocating large parts of the Central Statistics Office, Revenue and the then Department of Social Welfare. At the time we encountered all the difficulties that have been experienced in this round, which is understandable...

Decentralisation Programme. (17 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I am sorry.

Decentralisation Programme. (17 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: A number of agencies have moved. While I have outlined the difficulties regarding the State agencies, several other agencies, such as the Marine Institute, moved in its entirety. Only a small number of its staff did not move. The Land Registry was in a notoriously difficult position because it had many difficulties in terms of work arrangements and delays. However, when it decentralised...

Decentralisation Programme. (17 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: Once it happens in the next five years, they will be happy. They would be worried about afterwards.

Decentralisation Programme. (17 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I accept the Ceann Comhairle's ruling, but I will answer Deputy Gilmore briefly. He should tell the BIM staff that Clonakilty is a beautiful place, as is Dún Laoghaire.

Decentralisation Programme. (17 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The members of the Department of Transport who have moved down there are extremely happy. He could also tell them that the experts in the Marine Institute, who are considered the leaders in their field, have moved to Galway, which is the Deputy's native area.

Decentralisation Programme. (17 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: More than 90% of them moved. All of the other staff who have moved to locations around the country are also happy. The benefits are to the 40 or so locations around the country where these public service bodies will move to. It is hugely helpful to these towns when staff move there.

Decentralisation Programme. (17 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I am not sure what happened in the first round — I think 7,000 or 8,000 people moved at that time. In this round, 20,000 public servants will be moving, which is a good thing. It is good for the public service and it is good for individuals to return to their own areas. It is also good for this city. Obviously, there is a cost involved. We have spent €4.5 billion on schools and we...

Decentralisation Programme. (17 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: People pick up on this point. The Deputy should say to the people he meets from BIM that they should consider the arrangements now being negotiated between ICTU and the Department of Finance, and that if they do move down to Clonakilty, which is a beautiful area of Cork, they will be immensely happy.

Decentralisation Programme. (17 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I do, a Cheann Comhairle, because I opened the offices of the Department of Transport and they are top-class efficient offices——

Decentralisation Programme. (17 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: ——with proper telephone systems. Maybe they are not answering Deputy Sheehan for some other reason — that is a problem I have often had with Departments — but I will put in a word for him.

Decentralisation Programme. (17 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I will ask them to go down and meet the Deputy on Inchydoney Strand and they can have a stroll around his constituency. It is a beautiful place, beside the Department.

Decentralisation Programme. (17 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: These are questions for the line Minister but, as I stated earlier, if the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the decentralisation implementation group can come to an understanding on the agencies issue, it will certainly help in these areas.

Decentralisation Programme. (17 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I am not aware of the individual case, but overall approximately 40% of the staff due for decentralisation have moved into their new positions. Of course there is a transition period where people must move and be retrained in new Departments or in new sections of Departments that are decentralised, but I understand that has gone fairly well. The reason the group is trying to get an agreement...

Decentralisation Programme. (17 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: If ICTU responds, it is likely to state that 1,000 of the 11,000 want to move. Although I do not want to answer for ICTU, I think it would be reluctant to agree with anything that is compulsory. It is clear from its submission in the Labour Court case that it is prepared at least to think about voluntary decentralisation for those who wish to go. ICTU has stated that it will resist any...

Decentralisation Programme. (17 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: That happens all the time, for example, when an assistant principal is promoted to principal officer or an EO is promoted to HEO and moves to a different section of a Department. Such moves are ever-present in Departments. This involves 4,000 or 5,000 people over three or four years and that should not create an excuse. It raises the old question of whether people want to embrace this and...

Order of Business (17 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: Before I read the Order of Business, it has just been announced in Rome that Archbishop Seán Brady has been nominated by Pope Benedict XVI to the College of Cardinals. On behalf of the Government, I extend my warmest congratulations to Archbishop Brady. In honouring Archbishop Brady, Pope Benedict has acknowledged the transformation that has occurred in Northern Ireland. The success of...

Order of Business (17 Oct 2007)

Bertie Ahern: It is proposed to take No. 8, motion re leave to introduce Supplementary Estimate — Vote 30, subject to agreement; No. 13, Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill 2006 [Seanad] — Second Stage (resumed); 8b, Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007 — motion to instruct the committee, to be taken at 3.45 p.m. today; No. 14, Markets in Financial Instruments and...