Results 521-540 of 1,078,115 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:John Carty OR speaker:Mairead Farrell OR speaker:Johnny Mythen OR speaker:Richard O'Donoghue OR speaker:Thomas Pringle OR speaker:Cian O'Callaghan OR speaker:Pauline Tully OR speaker:Holly Cairns OR speaker:Mattie McGrath OR speaker:Dara Calleary OR speaker:Chris Andrews OR speaker:Dessie Ellis OR speaker:Gerald Nash OR speaker:Jack Chambers OR speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett OR speaker:Imelda Munster OR speaker:Neasa Hourigan OR speaker:Eamon Ryan OR speaker:James Lawless)

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Service Performance Report 2023: Department of Transport (6 Nov 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I accept what Deputy O'Rourke says. I do not have detailed information about the particular project. We have something like 1,000 projects on the go at any time. They are not all of that scale, which is a significant project with a €6 million budget. I accept the concern and frustration the Deputy has reflected if there has been a significant overrun in terms of time and budget. I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Service Performance Report 2023: Department of Transport (6 Nov 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I accept that. There is significant oversight. The Department has oversight of the NTA, which is the approving authority. We do regular overviews of the broad range of projects going through. The NTA has specific oversight with the local authority at the project level. It is important to be able to measure success and accountability. I will make two other relevant points. One of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Service Performance Report 2023: Department of Transport (6 Nov 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I thank the Deputy and I wish him well too.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Service Performance Report 2023: Department of Transport (6 Nov 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Absolutely. First, on what the Cathaoirleach has said about greenways, it is very true that their popularity meets so many different needs. We need to design greenways. I always say to TII, to which we have given the task, that it must remember that this is for local use first and foremost. The local use might be someone cycling, jogging. Its primary care might be for those going for a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Service Performance Report 2023: Department of Transport (6 Nov 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I thank the Chair. I will ask Dr. Keith Walsh, my assistant secretary, to come in on the issue of the post offices and the licensing. Before he comes in, I will speak briefly to a number of those other issues. With regard to Portrane to Donabate, the Deputy is right, it is lengthy and also windy and exposed. The Deputy would be surprised; electric bikes are completely changing the range...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Service Performance Report 2023: Department of Transport (6 Nov 2024)

Eamon Ryan: It takes some time. In addition, with any new technology, particularly in the depots, there is the issue of learning the lessons. We were doing it in Athlone and Summerhill. It is about how you change the entire depot around towards electrification. It is a bit like what I was saying earlier about cycling infrastructure. It takes a while to build up the experience in order that it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Service Performance Report 2023: Department of Transport (6 Nov 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I might ask Dr. Walsh to come in on licensing and post offices.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Service Performance Report 2023: Department of Transport (6 Nov 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Sorry, I should have answered that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Service Performance Report 2023: Department of Transport (6 Nov 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Both the grants for new electric vehicles and home charging are largely demand-led and, therefore, it is not something we have complete control over. As I said, the figures showed slightly below what was expected but that is a function of the household decision, rather than any policy choice.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Service Performance Report 2023: Department of Transport (6 Nov 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I thank Senator Craughwell for his very kind words. I would like to have achieved a hell of a lot more but I very much appreciate what he said. I always felt the Senator and I had a very good relationship even though we may have differed on a variety of issues. I always enjoyed my engagement with him both at the committee and around the Houses. Where we did differ most was on the search...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Service Performance Report 2023: Department of Transport (6 Nov 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Exactly. It was from that desire to see the Air Corps take on some of that role that we put a break clause into the contract after three years, I think, to allow for that possibility. That is one example. On rigour, safety is the first priority in aviation and there are so many layers. I do not have details. The Senator said the aircraft being provided for the top cover was 12 years old...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Service Performance Report 2023: Department of Transport (6 Nov 2024)

Eamon Ryan: On the Coast Guard, I agree with the Senator that it is hugely important. I only realised this time in government how embedded the organisation is in communities right around our coast. I had the pleasure of visiting a number of our Coast Guard stations in the past four years. There have been difficulties in particular areas. While I agree with the Senator’s assessment, we have had...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Service Performance Report 2023: Department of Transport (6 Nov 2024)

Eamon Ryan: We should avoid anything that would return all those commuters to the roads. We are going to put the first battery-electric trains into Drogheda and run them south along the northern commuter line. It would hobble the commuter and Enterprise services to provide an airport link, particularly in the absence of all those capacity improvements. We have an alternative. The decision involves...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Service Performance Report 2023: Department of Transport (6 Nov 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I thank the Deputy for his friendship as well. We have always got on well. We have disagreed sometimes on various issues, but I have always found him to be most respectful and collegial. On investment in transport, public transport and roads, maybe I will bring them together. I have a perspective looking forward, rather than back to 2023, that the country has never had a more...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Service Performance Report 2023: Department of Transport (6 Nov 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I thank the Senator. As he said, we have a long friendship through politics and beyond. I will go very local as a way of making a point. The Senator knows these roads very well as do I. If a person is coming from Goatstown, from the Goat Grill into town and is going down Goatstown Road on to Clonskeagh Road and then to Sandford Road and the junction by Eglinton Road. There are three...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Service Performance Report 2023: Department of Transport (6 Nov 2024)

Eamon Ryan: It was quite tight and narrow and you could not overtake. You would be at quite a high speed going into town, as it is downhill. There were many of those wands and bollards. I thought there was a lot going on and it was not ideal. We found that out and a lesson was learned from that. If we look at the section from the mosque down to Clonskeagh Bridge, that is the design that is going to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Service Performance Report 2023: Department of Transport (6 Nov 2024)

Eamon Ryan: It is a nice surface. It is wide enough and a cyclist needs width. There are a couple of pinch points where they compromised too much but by and large, it is a very good-quality lane. It is comfortable and safe and not expensive, as it is a standard surface treatment. The third piece - and we need to go on into town and to do a lot more, more quickly - to go back, I was involved in the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Service Performance Report 2023: Department of Transport (6 Nov 2024)

Eamon Ryan: It can only be a 9 m wide road. I remember speaking to the engineer and asking whether we could reduce it to one lane each. He said that was no problem. All we are doing with that is storing cars. They are not moving, which means there is no space for anything else. It completely killed the cycling capability. Cyclists had to go on the footpath, there was literally no space. What we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Service Performance Report 2023: Department of Transport (6 Nov 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Yes. We need to ramp up and we are going to ramp up the deployment of those cameras. We can use that technology in a way where we might have a camera box but rotate the actual camera between different boxes to give the signal to improved behaviour. Cameras within vehicles have a role. Certainly, cameras on buses are critical in tackling antisocial behaviour and in respect of any incidents...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Service Performance Report 2023: Department of Transport (6 Nov 2024)

Eamon Ryan: That is a different issue.