Results 121-140 of 3,664 for speaker:Ciarán Cannon

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Sep 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: I also support the call for an immediate debate on special needs education. A cull of special needs assistants, SNAs, has taken place over the past number of weeks. Most parents of children availing of special needs services were not aware that the cull had taken place until they presented with the children on the first morning of the new term. I spoke to two or three sets of parents over...

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Sep 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: An issue that was raised, as I recall, last May by Senator Quinn and me, and at the time the Leader concurred with our opinion, was that of our unemployed and the contribution they can potentially make to our communities, towns and villages. As we approach an unemployment figure of 450,000, I am sure many of us know people in our families and neighbourhoods who are unemployed for the first...

Seanad: Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009: Committee Stage (6 Oct 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: I move amendment No. 2: In page 7, subsection (1), line 25, to delete "licence" and substitute "contract". I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Tony Killeen. I am delighted, as I am sure all my colleagues are, to see him operating at full capacity again and I wish him very well in future.

Seanad: Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009: Committee Stage (6 Oct 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: This is the first substantial legislation in 77 years to deal with public transport. It is vital to get it right because the opportunity may not arise again for a considerable period. This is a real opportunity to introduce healthy and open competition into the public transport system and finally end the predatory practices of both Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann in trying to force transparent...

Seanad: Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009: Committee Stage (6 Oct 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: I support the stance adopted by Senators Quinn and O'Malley on this issue. I have grave concerns about affording preference to one sector over another. I do not agree with Senator Norris on what he terms retaining a public transport system. The transport system he described as public has only one function, which is to serve the public need. Whether that service is provided by the public...

Seanad: Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009: Committee Stage (6 Oct 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: I support the views of Senators Quinn and O'Malley. Senator Quinn mentioned that he was at Dublin Airport a number of weeks ago and remarked on the efficient bus service which operates from that facility. The bus service was initially provided by Aircoach. That company identified this niche and, with no assistance from the State, did market research and decided to take a risk. That is...

Seanad: Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009: Committee Stage (6 Oct 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: Section 10(1)(a) sets out to do two things, the first of which it does not have the capacity to do, namely, decide what demand or potential demand for a service might exist. The authority would not have the expertise or business acumen to do this. The subsection also seeks to protect current public bus passenger services. However, subsection (1)(b)(iii) goes a long way towards doing so...

Seanad: Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009: Committee Stage (6 Oct 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: I move amendment No. 9: In page 11, subsection (2), between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following: "(j) the fare system to be used.". This seeks to ensure a consistency of approach between this Bill and the Dublin Transport Authority Act which includes a provision for the assessment of a fare system to be used during the licensing process. It is strange that in this Bill, every aspect of...

Seanad: Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009: Committee Stage (6 Oct 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: The Minister of State is saying that, once all the other conditions have been satisfied, it is for the operator to decide what fare structure will be imposed. I would have no problem with that.

Seanad: Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009: Committee Stage (6 Oct 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: May I discuss amendments Nos. 10 and 11 together?

Seanad: Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009: Committee Stage (6 Oct 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: May I elaborate briefly?

Seanad: Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009: Committee Stage (6 Oct 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: I move amendment No. 10: In page 11, subsection (3), line 12, to delete "may" and substitute "shall". This may be semantics on our part, but the word "may" offers the national transport authority too much latitude. "Shall" would leave less room for manoeuvre. The Minister of State has agreed that it would be a prerequisite for any licensed contractor to display a timetable of services and...

Seanad: Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009: Committee Stage (6 Oct 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: I move amendment No. 19: In page 20, subsection (1), lines 10 to 13, to delete paragraph (g) and substitute the following: "(g) by the repeal of section 52.".— I have no doubt as to the intended thrust of this legislation. Senators Quinn, O'Malley and I are very much on the same wavelength in regard to what exactly we would like to see achieved. I have one major concern, namely, that the...

Seanad: Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009: Committee Stage (6 Oct 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: The provision goes against the spirit of what the legislation sets out to achieve. The Minister of State mentioned Galway-Dublin bus services, a number of which are provided by private operators. Healthy competition has allowed the public to benefit from a very efficient and well operated service from Galway to Dublin for a fraction of the price the public service operator was charging 20...

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Oct 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: I raise an issue which will inform the debate I hope we will have soon on the report of the Commission on Taxation. In 2001, a family based near Cashel, in Tipperary, a mother and her two children, was involved in an horrific traffic accident in which the mother was left with 5% of her sight, her young five year old daughter completely paralysed and her other son badly injured, although...

Seanad: Public Transport: Motion (7 Oct 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: "Rural transport is a gift and a godsend that meets a huge social need in rural Ireland. The proposal on €11 million for the rural transport scheme does not seem to make sense, given the great and important good the scheme is doing right across the entire nation. Every Member of the House knows the value of rural transport. Under no circumstances will we stand by and allow rural...

Seanad: Public Transport: Motion (7 Oct 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: It should be a matter of not removing a service of value to the people of rural Ireland. I will conclude with the words spoken by the Leader two weeks ago, when he stated: "Under no circumstances will we stand by and allow rural transport services to be taken away for the sake of €11 million". Many of us have received handwritten letters from the self same elderly people asking us to...

Seanad: Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Oct 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: I move amendment No. 22: In page 26, lines 8 and 9, to delete all words from and including "(other" in line 8 down to and including "GDA)" in line 9. Members will agree that the general intent behind this legislation is twofold, namely, to establish the public transport needs of the entire country and to address and provide solutions in respect of those needs. The thrust of the amendments is...

Seanad: Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Oct 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: I thank the Minister of State for his response. From the general thrust of his comments and those of his ministerial colleagues when discussing this legislation, this national transport authority will be toothless and powerless and will not achieve what the legislation sets out to do. I cannot understand the distinction that has been made between the greater Dublin area and the rest of the...

Seanad: Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Oct 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: This constitutes a postponement of work that needs to be done immediately to some distant point in the future that may never quite be reached.