Results 17,801-17,820 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Public Sector Reform (11 Oct 2011)

Brendan Howlin: -----responsibility, but I will pass on-----

Public Sector Reform (11 Oct 2011)

Brendan Howlin: -----the Deputy's profoundly felt views to the Minister, Deputy Hogan.

Public Sector Reform (11 Oct 2011)

Brendan Howlin: Ireland is committed under the EU-IMF programme to reducing the overall public service wage bill. Delivering this reduction will require continued implementation of the moratorium on recruitment with exceptions being limited to essential posts only and the utilisation of redeployment as the primary mechanism to fill posts that have been approved. In order to protect front line services, the...

Public Sector Reform (11 Oct 2011)

Brendan Howlin: Deputy Fleming has raised a number of important issues to which we must have regard. To put it in context, we are committed to downsizing the public service. There is no gainsaying this. The previous Government, supported by Deputy Fleming, signed up to a programme of reduction and we have put in place an enhanced production profile because, to be blunt, there is a €500 million gap in...

Public Sector Reform (11 Oct 2011)

Brendan Howlin: I would have to be asked a specific question on this as I do not have in my head the number of nurses who have moved under the Croke Park agreement. It is the framework and I have stated from the beginning the Government will live up to its side of it, the main features of this being no future wage cuts or compulsory redundancies, but on the other side is flexibility, including the ability...

Public Sector Staff (11 Oct 2011)

Brendan Howlin: On the specific institution referred to by the Deputy I would say it is a matter for the board and management of the HSE to set staffing and services priorities in accordance with Government policy. It is part of the day-to-day function of the boards and management of all public bodies to assess, budget and plan for current and ongoing staffing requirements within existing resources. Any...

Public Sector Staff (11 Oct 2011)

Brendan Howlin: Has Deputy Donnelly raised this matter with the Department of Health?

Public Sector Staff (11 Oct 2011)

Brendan Howlin: I am surprised the Deputy is so clear in his assertion that a hospital closed because staff were pregnant. I will go back to the HSE to ascertain the basis of the assertion. This is primarily a matter for the Minister for Health and I will ask him to revert to the Deputy directly in this regard. The Deputy is correct with regard to the general principle. I agree there is a certain...

Public Sector Staff (11 Oct 2011)

Brendan Howlin: Quotations are not permitted in the House.

Public Sector Staff (11 Oct 2011)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy is straying well beyond his question.

Public Sector Staff (11 Oct 2011)

Brendan Howlin: I hope I am not encroaching on a question that is to come, but the Leas-Cheann Comhairle may stop me if I am. I am aware of the difficulty the Deputy has identified. While it is not possible legally to give different dates to different categories of public service workers, we must have a strategy to deal with that issue when it arises.

Fiscal Policy (11 Oct 2011)

Brendan Howlin: The General Government deficit target for 2012, as set by the ECOFIN Council in December 2010, is 8.6% of GDP. The Government is fully aware of the importance of achieving this target in the context of the 2012 budget as well as the views of those who have called for a more ambitious deficit target. The Government is currently examining all options as regards the required consolidation in...

Fiscal Policy (11 Oct 2011)

Brendan Howlin: I will deal with that in the supplementary reply.

Fiscal Policy (11 Oct 2011)

Brendan Howlin: There is a lot of wisdom in what the Deputy said. The target we have to achieve next year is 8.6% of GDP. The problem is we have not quantified exactly the level of adjustment, both in term of expenditure reductions and taxation measures, that will get us to that. We cannot do that until we see, later in the year, the outturn figures from the State revenue and get a clear picture on the...

Ministerial Staff (11 Oct 2011)

Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 48, 66, 181 and 182 together. The guidelines on staffing in ministerial offices were revised following decisions by the Government on a number of cost saving measures relating to the personal appointees of Ministers and Ministers of State. The guidelines specify that all appointments of ministerial staff, including the pay and terms and conditions of...

Ministerial Staff (11 Oct 2011)

Brendan Howlin: To explain to the Deputy-----

Ministerial Staff (11 Oct 2011)

Brendan Howlin: They are excluded from my purview.

Ministerial Staff (11 Oct 2011)

Brendan Howlin: There is a view that special advisers are fair game. I have been privileged to work in three Departments. Special advisers play a unique role as a sounding board. Most of the people we recruited have come at a reduced cost. In many cases we are asking people with full-time, pensionable jobs to give them up and to work for an unknown period of time. We do not know how long their positions...

Ministerial Staff (11 Oct 2011)

Brendan Howlin: I know the Deputy prefers to broadcast than to receive, but I thought I had answered those questions. We are in a crisis as a country. We are marshalling the resources of the State and making decisions that have major impacts in real time.

Ministerial Staff (11 Oct 2011)

Brendan Howlin: Over the last six or eight months the decision was made to establish my Department, followed by decisions on the economic management council, bank recapitalisation issues, the comprehensive review of expenditure and the public sector reform agenda, which we will talk about in other questions. I need help as well as the public service help I have, as does every other Cabinet Minister. We...