Results 24,121-24,140 of 33,118 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Pension Provisions (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: When inviting the public services committee of ICTU last month to the public service pay talks which are now in progress, I indicated a separate process of consultation would take place with an association representing public service pensioners. Most recently, my officials met with representatives of the Alliance of Retired Public Servants who articulated the concerns and interests of public...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Pension Provisions (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: All the Deputy is offering is hollow rhetoric. He stands up on issue after issue, and in respect of groups that have been affected by the decisions that were made and the calamity of the crisis the country went through he brings them all in and promises them Sinn Féin will give them everything they want. It is hollow rhetoric at best. Deputies stand in the House and say they want...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Pension Provisions (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy may declaim that he accepts the need to cut our choices according to the resources that are available, but I never see any evidence of this from Sinn Féin. I read the document to which the Deputy referred and I am aware of what he wants to do from a public pay policy point of view. My point is still very strong against all that the Deputy claims. Every member of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Pension Provisions (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: We are able to borrow on top of that. We have to make choices available to us on the basis of the funding we have. If we do not do that.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Pension Provisions (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I am very used to this. It does not make any difference. Again and again, I see that Sinn Féin is well able to dole it out but is not able to take it back. The only way it can respond to its arguments being challenged is in the same manner as Deputy Cullinane. 4 o’clock I make the point again that we have seen regarding pensions and pay their efforts to promise to people...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: This matter has been raised by the Deputy and a number of other Deputies for some time, and I and my officials instigated much work to clarify what that figure would be. We estimate, as I said, that it would be more than €209 million. We have come to this figure on the basis of a cost in education of €70 million, using that figure then to work out what the consequences would...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: If one were to accept - and I do not - that we have a generalised recruitment issue within our public services, and if one were then to go on to argue that its main cause is insufficient pay, the largest single contribution the State can make to higher levels of pay is the affordable unwinding of FEMPI legislation. If that is done in a way that is affordable to the State, it will result over...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I have always been very clear about recognising the huge contribution our public servants make to our State and our economy, and I am very happy to make that clear again. Deputy Calleary used the example of the gardaí and the huge contribution they make to keeping our streets and communities safe. I will develop his analysis further. The pay commission accepts that in certain specific...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Then let us consider what is happening in the HSE at present. From November of last year to March of this year, the HSE recruited 500 persons per month to work in the different services the HSE provides. This is because of our commitment to treat people fairly but in a way that is affordable to the Exchequer and recognises all the other needs on which all the Deputies will question me in a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pensions Data (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy. I will answer the tabled question first, and I will then give him the update he seeks. My Department is responsible for Government policy on civil and public service pensions.  In that context, the Department monitors relevant pension developments outside the Irish public service, including in the areas of private sector pensions, social insurance based...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pensions Data (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: On the Deputy's first question as to whether this work was done in advance of the Public Service Pay Commission and this process beginning, it was done in advance of it, but it would be fair to say that it was not commissioned for it. This was work that we had under way and it has informed what we are doing. Regarding the Deputy's second question about what we have tabled, we have...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pensions Data (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: In terms of how we will deal with that body and people who are already pensioners, which is what the Deputy is referring to, I have met that body and had a discussion with it regarding issues on behalf of its members. They will not be part of the process currently under way in the WRC because they do not have a representative status. They do not have the same parity as either a union or a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 2 and 3 together. The 10% reductions in starting pay for certain new entrants were introduced in January 2011 as part of the national recovery plan in order to reduce the public service pay bill by the then Government. The issue of addressing the difference in incremental salary scales between those public servants who entered public...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pay (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy is aware I am obliged under the legislation to undertake  an Annual Review of the operation and effectiveness of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Acts (FEMPI) which is laid before the Oireachtas by the end of June each year. The most recent review, laid before the Oireachtas on 29 June last, found that there was a continued necessity for...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The public service Pension-Related Deduction (PRD) is provided for under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2009. PRD applies to the pay, including any non-pensionable pay elements, of pensionable public servants. Specifically, section 2(1)(b) of the 2009 Act provides that any public servant who is a member of a public service pension scheme or...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Policy (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: 2015 marked the turning point where expenditure reductions were no longer required to meet our fiscal targets. In the three year period 2015 to 2017 there is annual average growth in gross voted expenditure of 3 per cent. This represents prudent growth in expenditure following the period when significant fiscal consolidation was required to put the public finances on a sound footing. The...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Capital Expenditure Programme Review (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 18 and 39 together. The Mid-Term Review of the Capital Plan is still currently ongoing. This process will result in capital allocations being made by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to other Government Departments, rather than allocations being made by my Department to specific projects or geographic areas....

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: EU Funding (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 19, 33, 127 and 128 together. I can assure the Deputy that I share his appreciation for the contribution that EU-funded cross-border programmes make to the border region and the importance of ensuring continued funding for the programmes.  I was glad to have the opportunity to discuss this matter with him and other colleagues when I appeared before...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Regulations (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Whilst the reform of public procurement has been a key element in the ongoing Government reform programme, care has been taken to ensure it is carried out in a manner that encourages SME participation. The EU Procurement Directives, transposed into Irish law in May 2016, contain provisions to make it easier for SMEs to tender for public procurement contracts.  These include the...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Pay Commission Reports (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The initial Report of the Public Service Pay Commission was published on Tuesday, 9 May 2017. For its initial report the Commission was asked to provide input on how the unwinding of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest legislation should proceed having regard to: - The evolution of pay trends in the public and private sectors, based on published data; - A comparison of...