Results 22,801-22,820 of 33,049 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Other Questions: Public Services Card (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: We do have legislation for this project. The Social Welfare Act to which I referred has been revisited on many occasions and provides the legislative foundation for this Bill. What I referred to earlier was separate legislation which will address the use and sharing of data in future as the opportunities and need to share them increase. The Bill has a firm legislative footing in section...

Other Questions: Public Services Card (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy has made an appalling series of allegations and accused Ministers and the Oireachtas of engaging with this issue in a dishonest way. My understanding of the Deputy's political philosophy is that she favours the State having a role in trying to provide better services for people. I would, therefore, have expected her to favour the State having a role in trying to provide such...

Other Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme Review (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I am sorry that my words did not fill the Deputy with hope. What might have filled her with hope is that we are finally making progress on the national children's hospital-----

Other Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme Review (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: -----and the fact that work is under way on this. It is a project for which the Deputy well understands the need. Funding was set aside for it but additional funding had to be identified and made available to deliver the project, which I did precisely because I recognised the need to support projects such as this. I understand fully what future investment we may need to make in the...

Other Questions: Freedom of Information Remit (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Freedom of Information Act 2014 introduced a modernised, consolidated, restructured and more accessible system. It repealed the 1997 and 2003 freedom of information Acts. The Act extends freedom of information to all public bodies and automatically includes newly established bodies, unless specifically exempt. As part of the analysis and consultation during development of the...

Other Questions: Freedom of Information Remit (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I play no role in freedom of information decisions made within this legislation. If I were to play a role in this, it would undermine the whole spirit of the legislation. I cannot comment on an individual decision made by Bord na Móna and the inquiry the Deputy put in. I imagine the reason it made that decision is that the freedom of information unit in Bord na Móna would have...

Other Questions: Freedom of Information Remit (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Again, I cannot comment on individual decisions made under freedom of information legislation. As I explained, if I were to get involved in that, it would challenge the non-political nature of how these decisions are made in the first instance. The Deputy named an individual who works for the freedom of information unit in a particular organisation and read out an email he received relating...

Other Questions: Living Wage Introduction (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: It would behove the Deputy to better acknowledge the point I made that more than 94% of those who work for our public service earn a salary which is significantly ahead of the living wage. As an employer, the State is already exceeding the level of wages that would be created by the implementation of a living wage policy. Of the employees of the State, 94% have a salary which is in excess...

Other Questions: Living Wage Introduction (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Because of the variety of work public and civil servants do and because of shift work and so on, there are a variety of work agreements and arrangements. That is the reason we have a public service pay agreement. The Deputy asked me what are my principles. We are making faster rates of wage increase available to people who earn less. That is me putting my principles into action. We need...

Other Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme Review (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: It will be published in December. As I have answered a number of questions on the matter already, I emphasise, briefly, that it will look at how we can have levels of public capital investment that will better sustain the long-term growth of our economy and society. It will look at ensuring we have the right levels of investment to deal with the changing demographic profile of our society....

Other Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme Review (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I said it would be published in December.

Other Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme Review (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Department of Health is, of course, pressing the case, as are other Departments, for more funding. I make the point which the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, has also made that the level of funding now available to the Department of Health is at the highest it has ever been in the history of the State. While the Deputy points to needs to which we must respond, including...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed - Priority Questions: Public Services Card (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I appreciate the Deputy's acknowledgment of the merits to the public services card and the approach that underpins it. On the specific questions the Deputy has asked around the use of data, any sharing of data between public bodies has to be consistent with the guidance from the Data Protection Commissioner. The commissioner has raised a number of matters on the operation of the card and I...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed - Priority Questions: Public Services Card (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I do not see how I could be making the case for the Deputy that there is no faith in this project, given that I pointed to the fact that 2.3 million individuals have this card and the roll-out of the card has to be compliant with current law on data protection. I said that very clearly. The data sharing and governance Bill is legislation that has been before the Oireachtas for some time....

Other Questions: Living Wage Introduction (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy is aware, the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection is responsible for setting the national minimum wage, on the recommendation of the Low Pay Commission. The current minimum wage is set at €9.25 and the third report of the Low Pay Commission recommended that this be increased by 30 cent per hour. The Government welcomed that recommendation. We...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed - Priority Questions: Public Services Card (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The public services card and, importantly, its underpinning registration process are about providing people with public services in a safe and efficient manner. The underpinning registration process, which is called SAFE 2, involves a 15-minute visit to an INTREO office and is done just once. This process is used to establish a person's identity to a substantial level of assurance. This...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed - Priority Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I will not read out to Deputy Doherty the answer I have just shared with Deputy Calleary. I will just answer the specific question the former has put to me. I have already identified that we will seek to make a further €500 million available in 2019, 2020 and 2021 as part of the summer economic statement. This will take the additional amount of new capital we will be allocating...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed - Priority Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: When I use a word or phrase such as "infrastructure", I always accompany it with an acknowledgement that we are talking about homes, schools and the overhaul of facilities that in many cases do not meet the needs of our citizens. I am crystal clear that behind technical phrases such as "public capital expenditure" and "where we are as a percentage of national income" is the reality that we...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed - Priority Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I am acting in the best interests of citizens. What always motivates me, as I am sure is the case with the Deputy, is what the long-term best thing is for our country. The only reason I put the kind of focus I do on economic indicators such as where we are with bond yields, interest rates and so on is to give our country the chance to try to create the resources to deal with the kind of...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed - Priority Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme Review (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy is aware, as acknowledged, I published the review of the capital plan on 14 September and a copy of the report was made available to each Deputy on that day. The review of the plan draws on an evidence base that included submissions by Departments and offices, an extensive public consultation and an infrastructure capacity and demand analysis completed by the Irish Government...