Results 61-80 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Order of Business (22 Apr 2008)

Bertie Ahern: It is proposed to take No. 13, motion re ministerial rota for parliamentary questions; No. 14, motion re referral to joint committee of proposed approval by Dáil Éireann for a Council Framework Decision on the organisation and content of the exchange of information between member states; No. 15, Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill 2008 — financial resolution; No. 22, Twenty-eighth...

Order of Business (22 Apr 2008)

Bertie Ahern: The pharmacy Bill is not for this session. No final date has been set for it. May I say a brief word on the WTO?

Order of Business (22 Apr 2008)

Bertie Ahern: On the WTO issue, we are unhappy that the talks have proceeded in a very unbalanced way, which we have made clear to the President of the Commission. The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is in Germany today to continue her talks on the WTO issues. Until we are satisfied that it is a balanced agreement, we will not support it.

Order of Business (22 Apr 2008)

Bertie Ahern: On that Bill, the heads have been prepared. I do not have a date for the Bill's publication. The tribunals Bill is on Second Stage and the position is that it should proceed.

Order of Business (22 Apr 2008)

Bertie Ahern: On the financial services regulation Bill, the advisory forum is working to assist and advise the Department on the completion of the project. The initial work indicates that the consolidation aspect of the project will involve 45 Acts, 250 statutory instruments and 70 commencement orders. The forum hopes to report on the totality of the position at the end of this year.

Order of Business (22 Apr 2008)

Bertie Ahern: The covert surveillance Bill, a relatively short Bill, is to place existing practices by the security forces on a statutory basis in line with the ECHR obligations. The draft heads are being finalised on that legislation. Regarding the confiscation orders Bill, most of the provisions of the framework decision have already been implemented in the Criminal Justice (Mutual Assistance) Bill...

Order of Business (22 Apr 2008)

Bertie Ahern: That Bill will be this session. It will be next year before the first Bill mentioned by the Deputy will come through. I have already answered regarding the pharmacy Bill.

Order of Business (22 Apr 2008)

Bertie Ahern: I cannot answer that.

Order of Business (22 Apr 2008)

Bertie Ahern: All of the legislation cannot come from the Department altogether. The adoption Bill, which has about 160 or 170 heads, will be in this session. The child care Bill, which has almost 40 heads, will be in this session. The residential home Bill will also be in this session. The Department cannot just bring forward all of the legislation.

Order of Business (22 Apr 2008)

Bertie Ahern: On the sale of alcohol, priority is being given to measures to curtail the distribution and sale of alcohol. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Brian Lenihan, will launch the heads of that Bill tomorrow, as well as the Gordon Holmes report. Discussions with the industry to try to build up protocols to assist in such control will continue, at least for a time, rather...

Order of Business (22 Apr 2008)

Bertie Ahern: It is worth the effort. As for the health information Bill, there is a detailed discussion paper on the wide-ranging and complex issues involving this Bill. It is being prepared in the Department and has been forwarded to the Health Service Executive and the Health Information and Quality Authority for their comments. It is intended that the document will form the basis of a public...

Appointments to State Boards. (22 Apr 2008)

Bertie Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 4, inclusive, together. The information sought by the Deputies concerning appointments made by me to State boards and agencies under the aegis of my Department since June 2002 is set out in a schedule which I propose to circulate in the Official Report. The relevant bodies are the National Statistics Board, the Law Reform Commission, the National...

Appointments to State Boards. (22 Apr 2008)

Bertie Ahern: The Deputy asked whether appointments to State boards are divided between Government parties. That is not the case.

Appointments to State Boards. (22 Apr 2008)

Bertie Ahern: Appointments to boards are made on the basis of knowledge, expertise and experience that individuals can bring to the work of the boards. In many cases, appointments are made on the basis of nomination by relevant groups, such as the social partners. I have listed all the groups. In so far as there is a breakdown — it is not between political parties — it is evident in respect of NESC,...

Appointments to State Boards. (22 Apr 2008)

Bertie Ahern: I did not know that. The position is not like it was at one time, when people were queuing up to be on State boards. One must work long and hard to try to get highly competent people to sit on State boards nowadays——

Appointments to State Boards. (22 Apr 2008)

Bertie Ahern: ——because of corporate governance and time commitments. The political identity of a large proportion of people appointed to State boards would not be known, and rightly so. The appointees are appointed on the basis of their expertise in society, and this is increasingly the case.

Appointments to State Boards. (22 Apr 2008)

Bertie Ahern: There is a bit of that too, but only on the basis that they are highly competent people.

Appointments to State Boards. (22 Apr 2008)

Bertie Ahern: To be frank with the Deputy, in respect of all the main boards — most of them are smaller boards now — one would not survive on a board for too long without the necessary expertise and competency. I refer in particular to the commercial State-sponsored boards, which are the main boards. They have large budgets and staffs, audit committees and high governance levels, and it is difficult...

Appointments to State Boards. (22 Apr 2008)

Bertie Ahern: A number of people on boards have raised this question with me over the years. I do not want to get into names but I have seen a number of them step aside. However, overwhelmingly, whether they did or did not, it would be entirely wrong because most of the insinuations made about them subsequently — usually not long afterwards — turn out to be wrong. There are a few cases in point at...

Appointments to State Boards. (22 Apr 2008)

Bertie Ahern: I totally exclude myself. I am thinking more of boards and the like. In the seven or eight I know of — I am talking about ones in the past that are gone and finished — I think in all cases they were totally innocent of anything that was said about them. That would have happened across the party political system. Obviously for something that is very major and is very clear-cut, then...