Results 20,701-20,720 of 33,049 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministerial Remuneration (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: An impromptu meeting took place with a number of Ministers of State on the margins of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party meeting in late 2018. There was no minute taker or official present. A request was made by a number of Ministers of State present to me, which I had no plans to facilitate. I never had any intention to change policy in this area.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Standards in Public Office Commission (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 124 and 125 together. The Deputy is referring to recommendations made by the Standards in Public Office Commission (the Commission) in its submission to the second statutory review of the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 (the Act). Recommendation 12 made by the Commission states, "Failure to comply with section 22 of the Act (either in relation to submitting an...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Covid-19 Pandemic (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: In total the Government has agreed to an additional Covid-19 related gross funding of €1.83bn for the health sector to deal with the outbreak. As the Deputy is aware, the situation regarding the outbreak is very fluid and to date this spending has been monitored through the Health Budget Oversight Group (HBOG) comprising of officials from my Department, the Department of Health and...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Enterprise Support Services (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: In recognition of the challenges facing businesses in terms of liquidity, my Department has engaged with the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation as the Government sought to provide both additional direct Exchequer funding for business and to increase the loan finance available under a number of lending schemes. In April, the Government announced a number of measures which,...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Covid-19 Pandemic (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The Stability Programme Update (SPU), published last month, outlined overall expenditure of €78.4 billion for 2020, including €8 billion (across Health, Social Protection, and Business, Enterprise and Innovation) directly arising from the Covid-19 crisis. This represents a significant investment that will be partly funded through additional borrowing with a deficit of c....

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The estimated gross costs of extending annual leave by 15 days for the staff of my Department and the staff of the bodies under the aegis of my Department are set out in the table below. Public Body Gross Costs Department of Public Expenditure and Reform €1,741,847 Office of Government Procurement €694,340 ...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The reduced new entrant pay scales for civil and public servants introduced in 2011 were abolished in 2013 under the Haddington Road Agreement, where it was agreed to merge the new scales and existing scales - typically by adding the lower two points of the new scale to the existing scale. As such there are no separate reduced pay scales for civil and public servants. Under the Public Service...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: Firstly, I should advise the Deputy that the Department has issued a Circular on this matter, Circular 19/2019, which gives further advice on the application of the pension increase policy agreed by the Government as part of the Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA) 2018-2020 (available online at: ). This policy applies for the duration of the PSSA. Under that policy, increases granted to...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Expenditure (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The estimated cost to the vote of my Department of an increase in the rate of employer PRSI to 15.75% for the portion of salaries over €100,000 is €25,704.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy may be aware the supplementary pension is part of the provisions of occupational pension scheme arrangements in which the pensions of fully insured (Class A PRSI) public servants recruited prior to 2013 are co-ordinated with the social insurance system. This means that social insurance benefits are taken into account as part of the overall pension benefits for retired public...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Labour Court Recommendations (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 137 to 139, inclusive, together. This issue relates to a claim by community employment supervisors and assistant supervisors who have been seeking, through their union representatives, the allocation of Exchequer funding to implement a 2008 Labour Court recommendation relating to the provision of a pension scheme. The matter was the subject of...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I am assuming that the Deputy is referring to current measures to ameliorate the Public Service Pension Reduction, a reduction imposed on certain public and civil service pensions since 2011 and/or the pension increase policy currently in place with respect to public and civil service pensions. I have been advised by the National Shared Services Offices (NSSO) who administer the pensions...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The policy of abatement of a public service pension is long-standing within the rules of various public service pension schemes. It was not introduced in the Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and other Provisions) 2012 Act (the 2012 Act) but rather it is a principle that dates back to the Superannuation Act of 1834. With the introduction of the 2012 Act the application of abatement...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Gender Balance (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The Public Service Stability Agreement 2013-2016 ('Haddington Road Agreement’) provided for a series of reforms as agreed with unions in relation to the work hours, rostering, redeployment and performance management of public servants. There have been 2 public service pay agreements since Haddington Road (The Landsdowne Road Agreement and the Public Services Stability Agreement...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Protected Disclosures (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has procedures in place for protected disclosures that have been developed in line with the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 and agreed upon by the Management Board. These procedures detail: how staff members can make a disclosure; what happens when disclosures are made; and what the Department does to protect the staff members. The...

Covid-19 (Finance): Statements (20 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I want to begin by offering my condolences, as always, to the families who have lost loved ones during this pandemic and to again pay tribute to all of those who are on the front line for our country in this time of great challenge. I welcome the opportunity to update the House on the ongoing economic and budgetary situation. The necessary measures introduced to protect public health and...

Covid-19 (Finance): Statements (20 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I am very much aware of this as an issue and of course the intention of the legislation was to treat all of our citizens and employees equally. It is the case that the description of payroll in the primary legislation and the date have created this issue to which the Deputy has referred. I am examining it with the Department of Finance and the Revenue Commissioners to identify whether there...

Covid-19 (Finance): Statements (20 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: Of the decisions made by the Government on the business support package, the ones that are likely to impact on our deficit position for this year relate to where we are with the restart grant and the rates waiver. While, of course, hundreds of millions of euro is a considerable amount of money those decisions of themselves only move us beyond that €23 billion figure by that amount....

Covid-19 (Finance): Statements (20 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes. In the meeting we had with the banks we put that to them. However, a number of them had already indicated that an extension to the time by which the loan could be repaid might be a better way for some loan owners to deal with the issue of the management of the repayment of debt. I am not aware at the moment of any bank that is not complying with that. If it is the case, and it may...

Covid-19 (Finance): Statements (20 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I am aware of the matter and I have seen the work that has been done on it, in particular by theIrish Examiner, which has been examining this issue. My view is that participation in the wage subsidy scheme should not be a reason for treating an applicant in a different way. What I expect to happen is that if somebody's income has come down as a result of what has happened with Covid-19, the...