Results 261-280 of 1,043,819 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Ciarán Cuffe OR speaker:Jennifer Whitmore OR speaker:Martin Heydon OR speaker:Mary Lou McDonald OR speaker:Matt Shanahan)

Electronic Voting. (3 Feb 2004)

Bernard Allen: I am serious.

Electronic Voting. (3 Feb 2004)

Séamus Pattison: Order, please. The Chair calls the next question.

Priority Questions. (3 Feb 2004)

EURATOM Treaty.

EURATOM Treaty. (3 Feb 2004)

Trevor Sargent: Question 141: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the involvement the Government has with EURATOM; the contributions made by Irish taxpayers to EURATOM since Ireland joined the EU; the efforts made to internalise nuclear safety measures into the body of EU law and phase out EURATOM as an unaccountable pro-nuclear arm of the EU; and his plans to bring about...

EURATOM Treaty. (3 Feb 2004)

Martin Cullen: Ireland is a party to the EU treaty and, in accordance with this, pays its contribution to the EU budget. EURATOM is financed directly from the general EU budget, but there is no separate contribution from Ireland towards the budget of EURATOM. This Government's policy is to steer EURATOM's activities towards nuclear safety and radiological protection. EURATOM has been active in both of these...

EURATOM Treaty. (3 Feb 2004)

Trevor Sargent: The Minister's reply on this matter is even more pessimistic than the reply I received from the Taoiseach. Does the Minister accept that EURATOM, which was established in 1957 and is very much pro-nuclear and the expansion of the nuclear industry, lacks democratic control? It was established before the European Parliament and yet it spends money that is not adequately accounted for — some...

EURATOM Treaty. (3 Feb 2004)

Martin Cullen: Ireland's position on nuclear power, the Government's opposition to it and my views are well documented in the public domain. There is not unanimity in Europe on this issue because some countries are nuclear and support the development of the industry. We do not. What is important is the nuclear safety package which is currently under discussion and about which there are differing views. As...

EURATOM Treaty. (3 Feb 2004)

Trevor Sargent: I appreciate that there is a lack of consensus, as the Minister points out. We would not put this question down otherwise. If there were consensus, there would have been movement. Does the Minister agree that he is in a key and timely position as President of the Council of Environment Ministers to pursue a review of the EURATOM Treaty to end an obsolete feature of EU life? Austria,...

EURATOM Treaty. (3 Feb 2004)

Martin Cullen: I do not agree with all the assertions the Deputy has made in the absolutist terms in which he has framed them with regard to EURATOM. While there are issues and questions which we should pursue, it is not open to me to turn round the agenda during the Irish Presidency. The agenda for the Presidency is well documented and publicised. The best thing the Irish Presidency can do is deal with...

Priority Questions. (3 Feb 2004)

Planning Issues.

Planning Issues. (3 Feb 2004)

Eamon Gilmore: Question 138: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the reasons he did not act in almost one third of the cases in which he had been urged by his Department's heritage officials to appeal planning cases to An Bord Pleanála, the reason he has decided to deal with this matter personally rather than leave such issues to officials who have knowledge and...

Planning Issues. (3 Feb 2004)

Martin Cullen: Final decisions on planning applications are a matter for the relevant local planning authority or, in the case of planning appeals, An Bord Pleanála. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is a statutory consultee in the case of any proposed development which may have an impact on built or natural heritage. The Minister is accountable to the Houses of the Oireachtas...

Planning Issues. (3 Feb 2004)

Eamon Gilmore: I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for agreeing to take this question. Of the 28 planning applications which his officials recommended should be appealed to An Bord Pleanála, the Minister decided not to appeal nine. Did the Minister receive any communication from the developers concerned in respect of the nine applications or from any person acting on their behalf? Did he receive...

Planning Issues. (3 Feb 2004)

Martin Cullen: The Deputy is suggesting that I rejected——

Planning Issues. (3 Feb 2004)

Eamon Gilmore: I am only asking a question.

Planning Issues. (3 Feb 2004)

Martin Cullen: The Deputy's assertion is that I rejected professional advice.

Planning Issues. (3 Feb 2004)

Eamon Gilmore: I am not asserting anything.

Planning Issues. (3 Feb 2004)

Martin Cullen: I did not. I took all——

Planning Issues. (3 Feb 2004)

Eamon Gilmore: I ask that the Minister answer my two questions.

Planning Issues. (3 Feb 2004)

Martin Cullen: I would answer, if the Deputy allowed me. I took advice from various sections. The perception the Deputy is conveying externally is that I sit in some office locked away on my own and receive a series of files.