Results 141-160 of 12,487 for speaker:John O'Donoghue
- Written Answers — Sports Capital Programme: Sports Capital Programme (18 May 2004)
John O'Donoghue: I propose to take Questions Nos. 278 to 280, inclusive, together. The national lottery funded sports capital programme allocates funding to sporting and community organisations at local, regional and national level throughout the country. It is advertised on an annual basis. A review was completed at the end of 1998. Since then applications for funding each year have been evaluated against...
- Written Answers — Sports Capital Programme: Sports Capital Programme (18 May 2004)
John O'Donoghue: The national lottery funded sports capital programme is administered by my Department. It allocates funding to sporting and community organisations at local, regional and national level throughout the country. It is advertised on an annual basis. My Department evaluates applications in accordance with published assessment criteria. To obtain an assessment score applicants must meet basic...
- Written Answers — Sports Capital Programme: Sports Capital Programme (18 May 2004)
John O'Donoghue: My Department administers the national lottery funded sports capital programme. It allocates funding to sporting and community organisations at local, regional and national level throughout the country. It is advertised on an annual basis. The closing date for receipt of applications under the 2001 sports capital programme, and indeed for the 1999 and 2000 programmes prior to that, was early...
- Abbey Theatre. (25 May 2004)
John O'Donoghue: The Government, on 29 January 2003, authorised me to invite expressions of interest by way of public invitation from the private sector in participating, on the basis of a PPP, in the capital redevelopment of the Abbey Theatre in and/or around the vicinity of the site of the existing theatre. My Department, with the Department of Finance and the Office of Public Works, has been working to...
- Abbey Theatre. (25 May 2004)
John O'Donoghue: The current site has not yet been ruled out. We need further information but there is no doubt that a serious problem exists regarding the acquisition of properties. The Carlton cinema site offers one alternative. We have not yet examined that site. However, if the Office of Public Works reports a definite view to me, I will take a view on the matter. At this point it is too early to say....
- Abbey Theatre. (25 May 2004)
John O'Donoghue: I am aware it is the centenary year of the Abbey Theatre and naturally because of that I am anxious to provide an answer to the problem faced by the theatre. I will do everything I can to come to an early conclusion.
- Sports Capital Programme. (25 May 2004)
John O'Donoghue: I have no plans to establish an independent body to monitor grant aid to sporting organisations allocated funding under my Department's sports capital programme. The current arrangements for administering the scheme which have been applied by successive Governments over many years have been extremely successful in ensuring the programme is responsive to local needs. It is entirely...
- Sports Capital Programme. (25 May 2004)
John O'Donoghue: I do not accept it is a slush fund. The current criteria which apply to lottery funding are much stricter than the criteria which applied, if any, when the Deputy's party was in office. There were no calls for a change in procedures then. It is a matter of public record that I made representations on behalf of the Killorglin rowing club, by writing two letters to the then Minister with...
- Sports Capital Programme. (25 May 2004)
John O'Donoghue: I do not know the exact position with regard to the scores and to the best of my recollection I did not know then. I made representations in the same way every other Deputy makes them. Every day of the week I receive representations from Deputies on various projects. None of the projects which is awarded provisional grant allocations under the sports capital programme can access any of the...
- Sports Capital Programme. (25 May 2004)
John O'Donoghue: The national lottery funded sports capital programme allocates funding to sporting, voluntary and community organisations at local, regional and national level. The programme is advertised on an annual basis. In regard to the 2004 sports capital programme, I announced funding allocations, totalling â¬50.8 million, to 717 projects on 7 May last. I set out in the following tabular form the...
- Sports Capital Programme. (25 May 2004)
John O'Donoghue: In terms of Government aid, the Deputy should not focus on my Department in isolation. He should consider the entire spectrum of Government and he would note that there have been substantial transfers of resources to his constituency since 1997. That is a fact. For example, I travelled to Monaghan earlier this year to examine the swimming pool in Monaghan town and there is no question but...
- Sports Capital Programme. (25 May 2004)
John O'Donoghue: The difficulty that would arise in that regard is that criteria are laid down against which every project is benchmarked. Under the tourist development scheme in my Department, which is overseen by a committee, Killarney in my constituency is not included while the Deputy's constituency is included. Therefore, one cannot be selective and one must view this matter in an overall context.
- National Conference Centre. (25 May 2004)
John O'Donoghue: As the Deputy is aware, the Office of Public Works received four submissions for the provision of a national conference centre following its advertisement for expressions of interest on 11 November 2003. The closing date for the receipt of submissions was 21 January 2004. Those submissions have undergone detailed evaluation by an assessment panel representative of my Department, the Office of...
- National Conference Centre. (25 May 2004)
John O'Donoghue: The procurement of the national conference centre is a particularly complex and lengthy undertaking. While I hope to take the matter to the Cabinet for a decision later in the year, I cannot rule out the possibility that deliberations and negotiations will continue into next year. I assure Deputy Deenihan that I am fully committed to delivering the project at the earliest possible...
- National Conference Centre. (25 May 2004)
John O'Donoghue: When the decision on the smoking ban was being made, I asked Tourism Ireland's officials throughout the world to report on the likely effect of the ban on tourism numbers. The response I received was the effect would be negligible. It was argued that the smoking ban would help to increase the number of visitors coming to the country from the United States. I understand that Norway followed...
- Tourism Promotion. (25 May 2004)
John O'Donoghue: I welcome the enlargement of the European Union, which was celebrated so warmly by people throughout this island on 1 May last. I consider it as a great opportunity and not as a threat. I disagree with the Deputy's assertion that we have been unable "to develop fully a foothold in the continental European market" so far. We had 6.3 million visitors to our shores last year, of which 1.5...
- Tourism Promotion. (25 May 2004)
John O'Donoghue: Ireland's share of the continental European market has not been as high as one might have wished. That 1.5 million people from that region came to this country last year shows that we are making significant gains. It is quite encouraging that we are making gains in markets as diverse as Germany, Italy, France and Spain. The tourism authorities are engaging in an aggressive marketing campaign...
- Tourism Promotion. (25 May 2004)
John O'Donoghue: Yes. The amount of funding that has been made available for marketing Ireland abroad is at its highest ever level. We are spending record sums of money in all our main markets, as well as in other markets that do not offer as many visitors as we would like. The marketing is ongoing and between the public and private sectors it is quite considerable. I am satisfied, as is Tourism Ireland, that...
- Swimming Pool Projects. (25 May 2004)
John O'Donoghue: A provision of â¬15 million has been made in my Department's Estimates for this year to meet costs associated with the local authority swimming pool programme. This provision represents an increase of 67% on the provision for 2003. So far this year, I have approved grant aid to projects located in Tuam, County Galway, Churchfield in Cork city and Ballymun in Dublin. The likely grant drawdown...
- Swimming Pool Projects. (25 May 2004)
John O'Donoghue: I will answer the last question first. To assist the Department in formulating future policy on swimming pools we have commenced an expenditure review of the local authority swimming pool programme. Among other things, the review is examining how the programme has worked to date, the benefits that have accrued to areas where pools have been built through the existing programme, and what...