Results 1,801-1,820 of 33,118 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Sector Staff (9 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: He has always said they are not enough. We are now paying our public servants, across many parts of our public services, wages that are easily comparable with what is available in other parts of Europe, and in many cases ahead. I want to make that case regarding the scale of and funding for our public services.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Sector Pay (9 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 47, 65 and 68 together. The employees of agencies funded under section 38 of the Health Act 2004 are classified as public servants. They are subject to the standard salary scales for the health sector as well as having access, in the main, to a public service pension scheme. The employees are included in public service employment numbers. ...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Sector Pay (9 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes, I am taking Questions Nos. 47, 65 and 68 together.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Sector Pay (9 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: I was involved in this issue when it was dealt with in the Workplace Relations Commission last October. I was involved in the agreement that was reached to provide three different instalments to get up to 8%, with the final one due on 1 March 2024. My understanding is that all the staff employed in relevant organisations should have received their pay increases. That is my understanding....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Sector Staff (9 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 46 and 67 together. I thank the Deputy. The main way we have of addressing the challenges to which he referred is through the pay agreements that are in place up to 2026, aiming to bring forward wage increases of more than 10% over a two-and-a-half year period. That will be accompanied by the continued investment the Government will put in place in...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Sector Staff (9 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: Of course I accept and am aware that we have many cases across our public services of patients who are being let down and of constituents who are not receiving the attention and care we believe they should. However, the analysis the Deputy put forward, that this is due to our inability to recruit and keep staff, is completely at odds with the reality of what has happened in the growth of our...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Development Plan (9 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: I will certainty keep that in mind. Every TD always makes the case for investment in their county and constituency but I am particularly aware of the funding and infrastructure needs Donegal has and the challenges it faces in making sure the road infrastructure and public transport links are in place. I have heard the Deputy make the case over many years that they are not. We will continue...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Expenditure Policy (9 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for raising an important issue for me. Expenditure profiles for 2024 were completed by all Votes in February and submitted to my Department. Performance against these profiles is used in-year to monitor the expenditure position and details are published monthly in the Fiscal Monitor. At the end of the second quarter of 2024, gross voted expenditure stood at...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Expenditure Policy (9 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: I monitor it. Every month when the figures come out, they are given the utmost attention by my Department and me and they form the centre of engagement I have with other Ministers and which my officials have with other Departments. The profiles only become of real use from March, April or May onwards because at that point we are able to see if Government spending is in line with the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Expenditure Policy (9 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: That is being done by the Department of Finance at the moment. It reassesses twice a year its tax forecast for the years ahead. A big part of that will be the corporate tax forecasts, which have a big impact on overall tax figures. The final update for this year will be on budget day.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (9 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: The Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, and I are engaging with one another on the future funding of RTÉ. The aim of the Government is to reach a decision on the matter before the end of this month. With regard to the enhanced oversight arrangements, as I said in my answer a moment ago, my understanding is that the Minister will bring forward the legislation to implement this...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (9 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: The Government is committed to bringing forward enhanced accountability. I have just informed the Dáil of the timeline for the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, to bring forward that legislation. On the Deputy's view and that of her party on the abolition of the television licence, I do not understand the argument that the funding gap that is currently in RTÉ will be improved by...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (9 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: We have a licence for which the majority of people still pay, despite all the difficulty in RTÉ and Sinn Féin's view is that the funding situation will be improved by the abolition of a charge that most people, albeit reluctantly, are still willing to pay. I do not understand that approach or why it would improve where we are. I have heard again and again the case for credible,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Development Plan (9 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: I am happy to answer Deputy Pringle's question, but I have a question from Deputy Durkan.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Development Plan (9 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: I will raise some key points about the progress the national development plan, NDP, is making for the people of County Donegal. I highlight where we are with the national broadband plan. At the moment there are 20 connected remote working hubs in County Donegal. I point to the upgraded N56 in County Donegal, which was reopened following an investment of more than €100 million and I...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Development Plan (9 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: I was not claiming to have delivered the projects myself. I want to make that clear. I just stated that they are examples of projects that the NDP has delivered over a number of years. Work remains to be done on the N56. I heard what the Deputy said about that. I will quickly list other projects that are under way across the county, such as different residential care facilities at...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Budget 2025 (9 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: You are capable of a few of them yourself.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Budget 2025 (9 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: We would get to that point in the same way as we do with many other targets. We would do it step by step. Despite Deputy Boyd Barrett's best hopes and ambitions, we do not live in a centrally planned economy. We do not live in an economy in which there is only one thing in respect of which we have to make progress. We have to build more homes. We also have to build more schools. We also...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Budget 2025 (9 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: How are we going to do that? We are going to do it step by step. How are we not going to do? By means of the type of explosion that Deputy Boyd Barrett appears to be proposing, funded by the very companies and individuals he rails against all the time, he would look to do it all in a single go. Can he accept that there is merit in doing this step by step? He might state that it will take...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Budget 2025 (9 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: Give me an example of a country that successfully implemented a wealth tax.