Results 121-140 of 1,415 for speaker:Tom Kitt

Statistics on Farming. (22 Mar 2005)

Tom Kitt: On that last question, the full-time figure for the 1980s was 188,000 with 35,000 the part-time number. If that is added to the list, obviously there has been a fall in numbers between 1991 and 2003. The Deputy asked about the proportion of income involved but my information refers to farming being the sole occupation or a major or subsidiary occupation on a part-time basis. The figures for...

Statistics on Farming. (22 Mar 2005)

Tom Kitt: Does the Deputy want the CSO to transfer the old figures into the new system, where acres were measured but now hectares are used? I stated in my reply that inactive farms were measured. It is a fair point. If it can translate that information into the new regime, as it were, it should be done. I will take the matter up with the CSO.

Statistics on Farming. (22 Mar 2005)

Tom Kitt: I was Minister of State with responsibility for trade for five years and I was involved in the World Trade Organisation talks in which we tried to deal not only with the developing world but also with our own agricultural requirements. I worked closely with the Minister for Agriculture and Food in that context. The Government has consistently been conscious of the need to protect small...

Statistics on Farming. (22 Mar 2005)

Tom Kitt: Yes, but the Deputy has suggested that the Government has been negligent about small farms. One of the many initiatives was to try to promote agritourism and so forth. There was and is a consistent effort by the Government to deal with that aspect of farming. I will be glad to take up the Deputy's point with the CSO to see if anything can be done to draw better parallels between the situation...

Statistics on Farming. (22 Mar 2005)

Tom Kitt: They are. I do not have figures on the REPS or on the expansion of farms. They are not part of my remit. The questions are quite technical and would have to be referred to the Minister for Agriculture and Food. However, one can glean from the figures that farms are being expanded given that the numbers are reducing incrementally each year in the case of full-time farmers. Obviously,...

Statistics on Farming. (22 Mar 2005)

Tom Kitt: I do not. The question was about full-time and part-time farmers. I do not have figures about other people employed in the sector. I can try to get them for the Deputy. According to my officials, a farm is defined as a single unit both technically and economically which has a single management and which produces agricultural products. These questions were asked previously of my predecessor....

Computerisation Programme. (22 Mar 2005)

Tom Kitt: In 1999 the Government published its action plan for the implementation of the information society in Ireland. In 2002, a further plan, New Connections, was published. Both plans were aimed at stimulating greater participation in the information society through the creation of infrastructures, raising awareness and promoting engagement by business, the public service, the public and...

Computerisation Programme. (22 Mar 2005)

Tom Kitt: I have asked my officials to look at the areas I have mentioned and to see how best that fund can be used under the e-inclusion approach. Last year, projects included the Rathkeale homework club and the Empowering Minds Lego Brick initiative, which I saw in a special class in Ballymun national school. That programme was working so well that children from other classes were coming in to see...

Computerisation Programme. (22 Mar 2005)

Tom Kitt: I will certainly examine the UK report to which Deputy Enright referred. I agree with her that we must concentrate on the use of technology in schools and I have mentioned one particular aspect of this concerning schools in disadvantaged areas. The ICT proofing of the post-primary syllabus and the national digital learning repository, which is a collaborative proposal from all universities...

Computerisation Programme. (22 Mar 2005)

Tom Kitt: We should all be conscious of the misuse of mobile phones and if anything can be done at departmental level I will be happy to address it. I will mention the matter to my officials. I presume there are technological ways of dealing with this matter but parents, teachers and school principals have a responsibility to examine it also.

Computerisation Programme. (22 Mar 2005)

Tom Kitt: The Deputy will be aware that the issue of broadband has been raised on a number of occasions since I took up my role in regard to the information society. I am pleased progress has been made.

Computerisation Programme. (22 Mar 2005)

Tom Kitt: Some progress has been made. Following European studies and the Cap Gemini Ernst and Young report, it is important we have some European system watching over us to ascertain the progress being made because, as the Deputy noted, these studies suggested we were lagging behind on broadband. However, to be fair to the Minister and his predecessor, they worked hard on this and some of the figures...

Computerisation Programme. (22 Mar 2005)

Tom Kitt: I do not have the relevant statistics available but I presume many would be available for a town like Ennis. It was a good idea to consider particular towns in regard to the use of IT, especially in western seaboard and BMW areas. I am sure data are available and I would be glad to share it with the Deputy. The current approach is to develop the metropolitan area networks, MANs, project and...

Computerisation Programme. (22 Mar 2005)

Tom Kitt: Progress on broadband has been made in recent times. Some of the relevant figures were mentioned in my reply. The €25 million county and group broadband scheme offers small towns and rural communities the chance to come together with the service provider to obtain broadband connectivity for their areas with funding assistance from Government. The scheme is open to smaller towns and rural...

Tourism Industry. (22 Mar 2005)

Tom Kitt: We are back to tourism. I could easily refer this question to my good colleague, the Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism, Deputy O'Donoghue.

Tourism Industry. (22 Mar 2005)

Tom Kitt: The CSO introduced a new monthly release on overseas travel in January 2004. This release gives summary monthly figures in addition to the CSO's more detailed quarterly figures on tourism. The monthly release shows the total number of overseas trips into and out of the Republic of Ireland classified by area of residence. The latest figures available are for December 2004. They show that there...

Tourism Industry. (22 Mar 2005)

Tom Kitt: Before coming in here I got figures on the number of trips to Ireland. These are the December 2004 CSO figures on overseas travel. There were 436,200 overseas trips to Ireland in December 2004, an increase of 8.9% on the 400,400 in the same month of 2003. I already gave the Deputy the figure of 6.6 million for 2004. The figures for visitors from Great Britain may be of interest to the Deputy...

Bilateral Convention on Social Security: Motion. (22 Mar 2005)

Tom Kitt: I move: That the proposal that Dáil Éireann approves the terms of the Convention on Social Security between the Government of Ireland and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland which was signed at Dublin on 14 December 2004 and was laid before Dáil Éireann on 3 March 2005, be referred to the Select Committee on Social and Family Affairs, in accordance...

Rotterdam Convention: Motion. (22 Mar 2005)

Tom Kitt: I move: That the proposal that Dáil Éireann approves in accordance with Article 29.5.2° of Bunreacht na hÉireann the accession by Ireland to the Rotterdam Convention on the prior informed consent procedure for certain hazardous chemicals and pesticides in international trade, be referred to the Select Committee on Agriculture and Food, in accordance with paragraph (1) of the Orders of...

Central Statistics Office Review. (23 Mar 2005)

Tom Kitt: The Central Statistics Office published the report on vital statistics for 2002 on 31 January this year, when it was also laid before this House. The main statistics contained in the report had already been published, classified by year of registration, in the CSO quarterly vital statistics reports. The annual report gives a further breakdown in respect of births, deaths and stillbirths...