Results 241-260 of 27,668 for speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: At the rate we are going we probably will not reach Senator Ryan's amendment. I do not wish to discuss amendments we have not reached. There is a dilemma here. There is a problem in board members being proposed by various groups who might be beneficiaries of the scheme. There is also a problem if they are appointed by the Minister. I would like to debate this dilemma in detail because I agree...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: We are talking at cross purposes.

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I will come back on that point.

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I am getting worried about how little faith politicians have in their own integrity.

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Senator Ryan may not have faith in Fianna Fáil but it appears that over the years, the public has consistently had faith in it.

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The Senator will, no doubt, point to the recent local elections. When the Labour Party is as large as we are following the local elections, it will be delighted.

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I accept the point, however, and I will look at section 44(3)(a), where there might be some ambiguity. I am jumping ahead but the reasoning behind this is that if a measure comes back and there is a flaw in it, it is reasonable that the Government, having decided on it, can amend it.

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I accept there might be some implication that we could change projects. I do not want CLÁR to give that impression. I will consider that between now and Report Stage because that was not the intention. I accept that meaning could be taken from it. I will explain what worries me. I set up a scheme under CLÁR for topping up water schemes and it has been very successful. Very simple criteria...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: If I find that arises, I try to insert another rule to stop misuse of a scheme. I have no problem with changing criteria in an open way and publishing it in order to close a loophole. The integrity of the entire scheme is protected in that way. We tried to find a balance between having all the required objective criteria and good systems and flexibility to take remedial action where something...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Letters I write to Ministers are not generally on the subject to which the Senator refers.

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I operate these things already. We have, for example, a good, open template in CLÁR and RAPID. I invite Senators to look at the printout of how all the schemes operate under CLÁR. It is on my Department's website. They will find that I do not personally make any decisions, except as to the group allocation of money under each heading. In other words, I decide whether to allocate €1...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: That is not the case because we are still in Government. Is this not what democracy is about? Each year, we will answer to an independent board which will make an evaluation and, ultimately, to the electorate. The electorate are not fools and I guarantee that if we were to do the crazy things outlined by Senator Ryan and were slated by the independent board, the electorate would let us know...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: We have discussed the amendment.

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I agree with the spirit of the amendment. There is no way I would appoint a board that was not representative or did not include high calibre people, particularly from the voluntary and community sector. It would not enter my mind not to appoint the number of representatives from the voluntary and community sector specified in the amendment. Normally, in appointing a board one seeks...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: ——and carefully and that the person selected is of the utmost integrity and independence. I am not sure, however, that he would have considered himself a candidate if I had established an extensive interview system. I remember meeting him by chance on a Galway street one week before the nomination. He asked me when I would appoint the Coimisinéir Teanga to which I replied I would do so...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: No, but I will reflect on it overnight.

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I will reflect on it. The issue is one of balance. I remember from my time as Minister of State at the then Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development that I always had reservations about the idea of particular organisations nominating people to boards. I am not keen on that approach. Some of us believed that this system, which I accept was introduced for good reasons, has not...

Rural Social Scheme. (5 Oct 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an Teachta O'Dowd as ucht an dea-mhian a chuir sé in iúl dom féin agus don Aire Stáit, agus ba mhaith liom an rath céanna a ghuí air féin an tseachtain seo. The number of persons employed on the rural social scheme is 285, including supervisors, at present. The total number of applications received which have been reported to my Department...

Rural Social Scheme. (5 Oct 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Like all schemes, this was slow at the beginning. One of the causes of the delay was the decision to use existing community structures to deliver the scheme, that is, the Leader companies. A major delay over the summer occurred as a result of having to wait for the Leader companies to declare themselves ready to take on the scheme. The Deputy will be glad to hear the scheme is now available...

Rural Social Scheme. (5 Oct 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I have confirmed that the Christmas bonus arrangement will be the same as the community employment scheme. I will also check with the health authorities as to the exact status of the rural social scheme. The case my Department has made is that it should be the same as the community employment scheme. I understand some arrangements must be made. I will check if they are in place and will...