Results 45,521-45,540 of 46,575 for speaker:Simon Harris

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Simon Harris: Regarding the dirt money allowance which is paid in the university sector at a cost of €48,298 to maintenance and ground staff, I presume it is for dirt on their boots. Is this another anomaly where the system fails to rectify people’s pay levels and gives them allowances to bump them up in line with others? It is certainly a badly named allowance.

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Simon Harris: This is an issue we are coming across time and again. First, the allowances are badly named. I accept there may be a historical reason but if one were to tell the taxpayer that maintenance staff get a dirt money allowance, it does not exactly instil confidence. Second, the taxpayer would wonder what additional duties are involved in this allowance which would not be part of the day-to-day...

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Simon Harris: Presumably, it is a cultural issue.

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Simon Harris: It would be great if the Secretary General were to forward the figures to the committee. On the issue of substitution, on which the Secretary General has already touched with my colleagues, I refer to special report No. 67 of the Comptroller and Auditor General. The Secretary General should outline the reason the cost of substitution has grown so much in recent years from an estimation by...

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Simon Harris: Members of the committee have been having a discussion with almost all Secretaries General on the issue of allowances versus core pay. I meet a great number of public servants and teachers in my clinic who tell me they feel very aggrieved that allowances are being discussed when, in their view, their allowances effectively are core pay. Those responsible in the public sector, both at...

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Simon Harris: It was to apply from then on.

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Simon Harris: Does the Secretary General see scope for including other allowances in core pay?

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Simon Harris: In respect of allowances, people obviously get some allowances for expenses incurred. People get other allowances which should not be called allowances for taking on additional responsibilities and acquiring additional qualifications. One gets them in the private sector also. Then there are the others which potentially drag down the system, although I acknowledge they might only account...

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Simon Harris: Is this something that, in general, has originated in the local authority sector?

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Simon Harris: This genuinely is not a flippant question, but the caretaker in County Mayo VEC gets the allowance; is that because County Mayo VEC has been more proactive in seeking payment of an allowance? This is not to single out County Mayo VEC, but is one to take it that every other caretaker in every other VEC has on-site facilities in which to eat?

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Simon Harris: I do not expect Mr. Crosby to have the data to hand. Not to speak for him, I refer to the concept espoused by Deputy Deasy to the effect that some allowances have sprung up. The committee needs to try to get a handle on whether there is an element of some local sectors within the education system perhaps being more proactive in the pursuit of allowances than others. This is a subject to...

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Simon Harris: Again, I am picking out these allowances in the context of the comments I have made, which is that many allowances seem logical because someone is doing additional work but others simply do not make sense to me. I refer to allowances paid in the VEC and institute of technology sectors, namely, the junior caretaker allowance, the senior caretaker allowance and then another junior caretaker...

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Simon Harris: I take the Secretary General's point, although it is slightly confusing for me to take in what it means.

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Simon Harris: The meeting with the Department of Defence and the representative bodies of the Defence Forces was very productive. I understand the representatives of the personnel in the Defence Forces are not covered by congress. However, it is very useful to have them here. I acknowledge we cannot compel representatives to come here but I am aware that congress will attend. When the congress...

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Simon Harris: I am certainly not presenting it as that; I am just saying it would be constructive and helpful, and in the interest of both the professions and this committee, to have an exchange about the specific sector. As the Chairman said, it is the choice of the representatives in question.

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Simon Harris: I am very much aware of that. Significant work is taking place under the Croke Park agreement. I am aware of some of the changes happening in schools in my constituency as a result of it. Could Mr. Ó Foghlú give us a broad outline of the tangible benefits of the changes made in the education sector under the Croke Park agreement? It would be useful to put these on the record.

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Simon Harris: That is useful. There can often be one-way traffic when we are discussing the Croke Park agreement. It is healthy at the outset to list some of the examples of change management in the sector in these difficult times. It is important to acknowledge this. Let me return to the issue of supervision and retired teachers re-entering the classroom. This is a bugbear of the taxpayer and every...

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Simon Harris: Is the Department able to tell from its systems and data when a retired member of staff is brought back? While the Department can issue circulars, does it have any figures?

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Simon Harris: While I am not committing Mr. Ó Foghlú to a figure, could he state whether the percentage is very small?

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Water and Sewerage Schemes (24 Oct 2012)

Simon Harris: To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his plans for the provision of a new sewerage treatment plant (details supplied) in County Wicklow; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46656/12]