Results 3,041-3,060 of 35,563 for speaker:Pearse Doherty
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)
Pearse Doherty: Is it not strange that Mr. Kinnane has the figure negotiated last year but he does not have the figure the Department agreed just four weeks ago?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)
Pearse Doherty: I am making the point again. This is just fiction. It is complete and utter fiction. Does Mr. Kinnane not have the figure? What are the component parts that make up this figure? I am challenging him to put to bed this idea that what the Department has presented as the standstill costs for health next year, is a work of fiction. The Department of Health and the HSE say it needs to be...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)
Pearse Doherty: I do not care who it is agreed by. I want to know what it is made up of. A portion of that money is made up of wage increases so that is gone. Then I need to know what the other components are because we need to get to the bottom of this. People in my constituency and elsewhere are suffering as a result of this here.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)
Pearse Doherty: The head of the HSE wrote to the Minister for Health saying there would be dire consequences for public safety if this went ahead and the Minister for Health went ahead with it.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)
Pearse Doherty: I want to make this point. I am asking Mr. Kinnane this question because the general secretary of the Department told the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform and Taoiseach, that he had no sight of the letter that the Minister for Health furnished to the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. I am asking Mr. Kinnane if he had any...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)
Pearse Doherty: Was Mr. Kinnane aware of the letter?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)
Pearse Doherty: Is it Mr. Kinnane's understanding that letter was furnished to the Department?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)
Pearse Doherty: That is fair enough.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)
Pearse Doherty: That is a straight answer and I respect and appreciate it. Was Mr. Kinnane party to or aware of any discussions in the Department regarding the warning letter the HSE's chief executive officer issued to his line Minister, the Minister for Health, which was furnished to Mr. Kinnane's Department with commentary from the Minister?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)
Pearse Doherty: It was sent before the budget.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)
Pearse Doherty: Whether Mr. Kinnane was involved in it or not, he was not aware of any discussions of the letter before budget day. Is that correct?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)
Pearse Doherty: I know it is not Mr. Kinnane's area of responsibility but-----
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)
Pearse Doherty: That is fine. That is all I wanted to know. Mr. Kinnane made the point the Government agreed this, and absolutely, the whole of Government agrees this and has made this final decision. I assume he agreed with the allocation of the ELS for health, or did he? He is an acting assistant secretary general in the Department. Is that something he agreed? If that is the case, I genuinely...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)
Pearse Doherty: To clarify, I asked whether Mr. Kinnane agrees with the ELS of €708 million for health next year and whether there has been any dissent within his Department in respect of that figure.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)
Pearse Doherty: I would like to have the clarification now because I do not have representatives of the Government in front of me. We have asked Mr. Kinnane to come in and he is an official in the Department. Was there any dissent within the Department in respect of the figure that was agreed, namely, the €708 million? We know how this works. The officials deal with it and so on, and it is then...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)
Pearse Doherty: I am not talking about the health Estimate.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)
Pearse Doherty: It is not about the health Estimate. With respect, I am talking about the ELS provision. That is the subject matter of this discussion. The largest component of ELS in budget 2024 is health. It is absolutely acceptable to ask a question about it and Mr. Kinnane should have been prepared for one. It is a simple question and he does not have to answer in numbers or anything like that. To...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)
Pearse Doherty: Does he know what rate health inflation is running at?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)
Pearse Doherty: Let us with finish with this-----
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)
Pearse Doherty: Yes, I would imagine so.