Results 1,861-1,880 of 13,375 for speaker:Pat Rabbitte

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Gas Regulation Bill 2013: Committee Stage (1 Oct 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: It is unconscionable to suggest that whoever is the Minister would be behind the door in accounting for a transaction of this size. We have never had a forced sale in these circumstances since 1922. This is a significant transaction with its origins in the bailout programme and the fact that we have to borrow money in the fashion that we are all aware. Deputy Naughten has somewhat more...

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Gas Regulation Bill 2013: Committee Stage (1 Oct 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: It should apply to legislation being enacted from here.

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Gas Regulation Bill 2013: Committee Stage (1 Oct 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: If we have a Government-wide commitment to do that and it encompasses the Deputy's amendment, my colleagues should accept my word on it.

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Gas Regulation Bill 2013: Committee Stage (1 Oct 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: This is an important point being raised by Deputy Moynihan. I wish to take a minute to explain the reason I am not minded to accept the amendment as expressed for the reason that information on the retail energy market is already being reported on and published on an ongoing basis by the Commission for Energy Regulation. As Minister, I am regularly updated by the Commission for Energy...

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Gas Regulation Bill 2013: Committee Stage (1 Oct 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: If I may, I will explain why I must oppose the amendment. It seeks to alter fundamentally what we are trying to achieve in the Bill, namely, the sale of the Bord Gáis Energy business. In November 2010, the memorandum of understanding agreed between the then Government and the EU-IMF-ECB in the bailout programme committed "to setting appropriate targets for the possible privatisation of...

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Gas Regulation Bill 2013: Committee Stage (1 Oct 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: I assure Deputy Moynihan it is the absolute intention of Government that the Irish water business will not be privatised. As with the gas networks, our water assets are critical national infrastructure. Irish Water was established therefore as a fully State-owned subsidiary of BGE and there is no intention, now or in the future, to dispose of it or its assets. As the Deputy is aware, my...

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Gas Regulation Bill 2013: Committee Stage (1 Oct 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: I am entirely in sympathy with the spirit of this amendment. As I stated in the earlier debate, the proposition that the Minister should be held accountable by reporting back to the committee is one with which I fully agree. I am entirely disposed towards committing to do precisely that. The advice I have is that I am able to give that commitment without it being enshrined in primary...

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Gas Regulation Bill 2013: Committee Stage (1 Oct 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: It is important to explain that a process is in train into which a great deal of work has been put. The coalface bargaining is at arm's length from me and I am very sensitive about tripping across it. In this regard it would be very unusual - I do not know of any precedent that so requires in primary legislation - if the Government of the day was to commit to doing what the Deputy requests...

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Gas Regulation Bill 2013: Committee Stage (1 Oct 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: There are the most strict procedures in terms of any Minister or Government disposing of State assets, with which I must comply and have complied. The bargaining process, although I am unsure whether that is the correct term, is at the final stages and obviously, as far as the different bidders are concerned, there are questions of commercial sensitivity in this regard. However, on the...

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Gas Regulation Bill 2013: Committee Stage (1 Oct 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: I move amendment No. 3: In page 14, line 22, after “Directive” to insert “during the period beginning on the transfer date and ending on the disposal date”.Again, this amendment is fairly straightforward and technical. It is to provide a sunset clause regarding the ministerial oversight function in respect of the memorandum and articles of the energy company. The...

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Gas Regulation Bill 2013: Committee Stage (1 Oct 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: I move amendment No. 4: In page 15, line 1, to delete “in order to transfer” and substitute “for, or ancillary to, the purposes of the transfer to that company of all, or part, of”.This is a technical amendment for consistency and clarity that aligns the text with section 21.

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Gas Regulation Bill 2013: Committee Stage (1 Oct 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: I move amendment No. 6: In page 15, line 22, to delete “in order to transfer” and substitute “for, or ancillary to, the purposes of the transfer to that company of all, or part, of”.Essentially, it is the same point as I made in respect of amendment No. 4 and is purely technical.

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Gas Regulation Bill 2013: Committee Stage (1 Oct 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: Deputy Naughten's argument about balanced regional development is well made, but Deputy Naughten knows as well as I do that we are discussing an independent function of the regulator. He knows very well that if it were open to me to intervene, which it is not, because the regulator is statutorily independent, it would get me into difficulties at European level. That is not to take from the...

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Gas Regulation Bill 2013: Committee Stage (1 Oct 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: Deputy Colreavy fairly said that it was his first experience of enacting legislation on Committee Stage. It is not a decision for the Chairman or for me but is the advice from the Bills Office that the Deputy's amendments run exactly counter to the purpose of the Bill. In such circumstances - I spent a long time on that side of the room with Deputy Naughten and he will bear this out - the...

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Gas Regulation Bill 2013: Committee Stage (1 Oct 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: There is no doubt the north west, in particular, is somewhat disadvantaged in this regard. I am familiar with the report from the Western Development Commission to which Deputy Naughten refers. Two difficulties arise in this respect. First, we cannot create a hypothecated fund or earmark funds for a particular purpose. The legislation derives from the history and background of the...

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Gas Regulation Bill 2013: Committee Stage (1 Oct 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: It is no longer accurate to say, disparate and all as the ownership structure may be, that it is in the main unlit. Let us take for example the situation of the Metropolitan Area Networks. It is true that two years ago fewer than half of them were lit but this is no longer the case. I understand that only six remain unlit. The new owner of the franchise now manages the MANs. In the case...

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Gas Regulation Bill 2013: Committee Stage (1 Oct 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: The Deputy has made his point well.

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Gas Regulation Bill 2013: Committee Stage (1 Oct 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: It is important to point out that I have no role in that regard.

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Gas Regulation Bill 2013: Committee Stage (1 Oct 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: The Deputy's argument is with the Chairman.

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Gas Regulation Bill 2013: Committee Stage (1 Oct 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: I move amendment No. 1: In page 6, line 35, before “European” to insert “the”.These technical amendments are purely for the purpose of correcting minor typographical and grammatical points, and providing minor clarifications.