Results 20,861-20,880 of 27,945 for speaker:Michael McGrath

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Programme for Government (7 Jul 2020)

Michael McGrath: I wish to advise the Deputy that the Department of the Taoiseach has arranged for the publication of material provided by Government Departments in accordance with agreed procedures, via the Department of the Taoiseach, to Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party, as part of Government formation negotiations. This material is available on the gov.iewebsite at the following link...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Consultancy Contracts (7 Jul 2020)

Michael McGrath: The details of the diversity and inclusion training delivered in my Department from 2018 to date is set out in the following tables. Department of Public Expenditure and Reform Year Training provider / Consultants name Cost 2019 Ernst & Young € 30,750 Office of Government Procurement Year ...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Legal Costs (7 Jul 2020)

Michael McGrath: I wish to advise the Deputy that all details of my Department's consultancy spend is regularly updated and published on gov.ie. In this context, details of external legal fees since the Department’s establishment in 2011 up to the end of April 2020 can be found at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/organisation-information/8b97d6-consultancy-co sts/.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Relief Schemes (7 Jul 2020)

Michael McGrath: The Office of Public Works, under the provisions of the Arterial Drainage Acts, has submitted the proposal for the Glashaboy Flood Relief Scheme, accompanied by an Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIAR) and Natura Impact Statement (NIS), to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform for formal Confirmation. On foot of the European Union (Environmental Impact Assessment)...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Prison Service Staff (7 Jul 2020)

Michael McGrath: The post-1995 occupational pension scheme for prison officers, as with the pre-1995 pension scheme, does not preclude prison officers from taking up further employment post-retirement. There are two issues which can affect the pension of a public servant where the individual chooses to take up employment subsequent to retirement - pension abatement and supplementary pension rules. 1....

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts (7 Jul 2020)

Michael McGrath: Under normal conditions of competition, ‘sheltered workshops’ or social enterprises whose main aim is to integrate disadvantaged people in the workplace might not be able to obtain contracts. Under the EU Procurement Directives, contracting authorities are able to restrict some tendering procedures to ‘sheltered workshops’ and social enterprises. To participate in...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministerial Responsibilities (7 Jul 2020)

Michael McGrath: I wish to advise the Deputy that the briefing document provided to me by my Department following my appointment will be published in the coming weeks. The published version will have regard to the relevant provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2014.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Programme for Government (7 Jul 2020)

Michael McGrath: I propose to take Questions Nos. 235, 236, 237, 238 and 244 together. As outlined in the ‘Programme for Government - Our Shared Future’, the government has committed to developing a set of wellbeing indicators to give a more well-rounded, holistic view of how our society is faring. Initially focusing on housing, education and health, a set of indicators will be developed to...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Budget Process (7 Jul 2020)

Michael McGrath: By national satellite accounts I understand the Deputy to mean statistics that cover activities linked to the domestic economy but not part of the core national accounts. These include the modified measures of output and augmented sectoral accounts as produced by the Central Statistics Office. Such metrics are already used in a key area of the Budgetary process, namely in the Department...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts (7 Jul 2020)

Michael McGrath: I propose to take Questions Nos. 240 and 241 together. The Government has set out a number of commitments in the Programme for Government in relation to public procurement including evaluating and managing the environmental, economic and social impacts of procurement strategies within the state and tasking the Office of Government Procurement ("OGP") to update all procurement frameworks...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Question Heading for question(s) 242 (7 Jul 2020)

Michael McGrath: I propose to take Questions Nos. 242 and 243 together. As the Deputy is aware, the current public service pay agreement - the Public Service Stability Agreement 2018-2020 - runs to the end of the year. Within the Programme for Government there is a commitment to seek to negotiate a new agreement with the public service unions which would take account of, inter alia, the State's financial...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Private Partnerships (14 Jul 2020)

Michael McGrath: The Deputy may be interested to know that financial information for individual Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects are published on the PPP.Gov.iewebsite. The following table outlines the 2019 unitary / availability payments broken down by project for each sector. Department/Agency Project 2019 PPP unitary / availability payments (€,m) ...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Pension Provisions (14 Jul 2020)

Michael McGrath: Public service pensions, including those of retired members of An Garda Síochána, were reduced under the FEMPI legislation by way of the Public Service Pension Reduction (PSPR). The PSPR was introduced on 1 January 2011 under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act (FEMPI) 2010 and extended on 1 July 2013 under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministerial Responsibilities (14 Jul 2020)

Michael McGrath: I wish to advise the Deputy that the briefing documents provided by my Department to Minister of State Smyth and myself following our appointments will be published on the Department's website on Friday, 17th July. The published version will have regard to the relevant provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2014. I understand that the Office of Public Works will be making similar...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts (14 Jul 2020)

Michael McGrath: The Government has set out a number of commitments in the Programme for Government in relation to public procurement including evaluating and managing the environmental, economic and social impacts of procurement strategies within the state, developing and implementing a sustainable procurement policy and tasking the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) to update all procurement frameworks...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (14 Jul 2020)

Michael McGrath: All indications are that the Freedom of Information system continues to function well on a day-to-day basis in delivering its objectives of openness, accountability and transparency of public bodies. According to the Information Commissioner's Annual Report, 2019 once again saw a new record in FOI activity, with 41,176 requests dealt with by public bodies over the course of the year....

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministerial Responsibilities (14 Jul 2020)

Michael McGrath: I propose to take Questions Nos. 327 and 328 together. There are two Ministers of State appointed to my Department: - Deputy Ossian Smyth is Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform with responsibility for Public Procurement and eGovernment; and - Deputy Patrick O’Donovan is Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform with...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Pensions Data (14 Jul 2020)

Michael McGrath: This question concerns two separate, but related, issues, both of which concern the balance between on the one hand the goal of transparency in public administration, and personal privacy rights on the other. Firstly, there is the routine publication of individualised information relating to pension payments. Consideration was given to this practice at the time of the introduction of...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Inquiries (14 Jul 2020)

Michael McGrath: The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has had no tribunals, public investigations or commissions of investigations under its remit since it was established in 2011.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Commercial Rates (16 Jul 2020)

Michael McGrath: In May the previous Government agreed to waive commercial rates for businesses affected by the covid pandemic from end March to end June. This followed on from a earlier decision to defer rates for certain sectors most impacted such as the leisure, hospitality, retail and childcare sectors. The Programme for Government includes a commitment to "set out how commercial rates will be treated...