Results 1,681-1,700 of 33,118 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (18 Sep 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: Because inflation rates have decreased, there is definitely a strong argument, which I make, that the scale of the cost-of-living measures should reflect the fact that inflation has fallen so much. Just because inflation has decreased does not mean prices have done so. Prices have increased. We are all aware in all of our budget deliberations that even though on a macro level our economy...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (18 Sep 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: I expect it will probably happen in the second half of November.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Local Authorities (18 Sep 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: The Office of the Ombudsman has provided me with a breakdown of complaints by Local Authority for the period 2019 to 2024. Council 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 (to-date) Carlow County Council 7 5 10 15 24 12 Cavan County Council 10 9...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Artificial Intelligence (18 Sep 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 213 and 214 together. The Government published interim guidance on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Public Service in February 2024 and instructed that all AI tools used by the Irish Public Service comply with the seven requirements for ethical AI that have been developed by the European Commission’s High Level Expert Group on AI. These...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Appointments to State Boards (18 Sep 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: I am informed by the Public Appointments Service that the process for the position of Chairperson of Rásíocht Con Éireann took place earlier this year. Eight applications were received with Five candidates deemed suitable to meet with the Assessment Panel.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Equality Issues (18 Sep 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: Equality budgeting has been a core component of performance budgeting policy since 2018. It focuses on ten themes - Gender; Marital Status; Family Status; Age; Disability; Sexual Orientation; Race; Religion; Membership of the Traveller and Roma Communities; and Socio-economic Status. The two key annual outputs of the equality budgeting calendar are the Revised Estimates Volume for the...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions (18 Sep 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: I can confirm that I have received the correspondence from the Deputy and that the issues raised are currently under consideration by my Department.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: EU Funding (18 Sep 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR) As a consequence of the UK’s decision to leave the EU, the EU put in place funding support for Member States to mitigate the resulting impacts, in the form of a Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR). Ireland’s BAR allocation is €802 million, the largest allocation for any Member State. Ireland has received its share in the form of...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions (18 Sep 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: The Single Public Service Pension Scheme is a statutory Public Service Career-Average Defined Benefit Pension Scheme, established on 1 January 2013 under the Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Act 2012. The Single Scheme was established to place publicly-funded retirement benefits on a more sustainable footing in the context of longer life expectancies and is a...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Capital Expenditure Programme (9 Sep 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: I take it that the Deputy is asking about capital investment in County Carlow. As Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform I am responsible for setting the overall capital allocations across Departments and for monitoring monthly expenditure at Departmental level. The responsibility for the management and delivery of individual investment projects or sectoral policy...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Regional Development (9 Sep 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: As Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform I am responsible for setting the overall capital allocations across Departments and for monitoring monthly expenditure at Departmental level. The responsibility for the management and delivery of individual investment projects, within the allocations agreed under the National Development Plan 2021-30 (NDP), rests with the individual...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Programme for Government (9 Sep 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: There are a significant number of commitments in the Programme for Government which are assigned to my Department. A large amount of useful information on the work of my Department, including in respect of these commitments, is contained in the Department's Annual Report for 2023, which was published in June 2024 and is available on the gov.ie website. Some of the progress to-date on these...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Circulars (9 Sep 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy may be aware, the principle of abatement of a public service pension is longstanding within the rules of various public service pension schemes and pension abatement is an important aspect of the Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Act 2012 (the “2012 Act”). The Act provides for the abatement of a public service pension where a retired...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Expenditure Policy (9 Sep 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: For the purposes of this response, I will assume that the Deputy is referring to Table 1 in the Summer Economic Statement 2024 document which details the Government's Budgetary Strategy for Budget 2025. In the first footnote of the table (which relates to the 'Budgetary Decisions' line), the reference to "NDP" is to the windfall increases in capital investment for 2025 and 2026. The...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Expenditure Policy (9 Sep 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: Table 1 of the SES 2024 sets out the funding 'to be allocated' over the period 2025 to 2030. As noted beneath Table 1 of the SES, the funding 'to be allocated' in 2026 includes allocation of funding from the Infrastructure Climate and Nature Fund. The legislation underpinning the establishment of the ICNF allows the Government to invest up to €3.15 Billion over 2026 to 2030 from the...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions (9 Sep 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: Paragraph 19 of the Coillte Teoranta Main Superannuation Scheme provides that if a member or former member is aggrieved by a refusal to make an award or the amount of an award made under the Scheme then they may appeal to the Minister for Agriculture who shall refer the dispute to the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform for decision. A pension appeal has been lodged by an...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Pension Provisions (9 Sep 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: Having sought further clarity from the Deputy, this question is being answered on the basis that it relates to occupational public service pension schemes. These schemes include the Single Public Service Pension Scheme (‘Single Scheme’), for new-entrant public service employees appointed since 1 January 2013, and “pre-existing” public service pension schemes, for...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Official Travel (9 Sep 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: Since assuming office as Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform in December 2022, I have taken no flights to Shannon Airport, Cork Airport or Knock Airport.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Services Provision (9 Sep 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: The Public Service Performance Report (PSPR) is a key output of my Department's performance budgeting framework. That framework, which has been in operation since 2012, promotes the systematic use of performance information to inform resource allocation decisions by strengthening the link between budget allocations and the delivery of results. It provides greater transparency about the use of...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Staff (9 Sep 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the table below. I am advised that the Office of Public Works will respond to the Deputy directly in respect of employees of that Office encompassed by this Question. Year Number of staff in categories in question Annual Salary and Job Title Role 2020 5 Civilian Drivers (Change of Minister during year) (4 posts) 4 Civilian...