Results 21,321-21,340 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Government Expenditure (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: That is correct.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Government Expenditure (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy asked two questions and I will answer them separately. I will provide the figure we have already allocated to indicate the shape of the additional expenditure I have sanctioned to date. As he will be aware, an additional provision has been made for health in respect of delayed discharges, the fair deal scheme and the winter and waiting lists initiatives. These were set out in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Government Expenditure (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: No, that is not the case. The Deputy is fully aware of the new rules under the Stability and Growth Pact. We are exiting the corrective arm of the pact. Our legal objective this year was to have a deficit below 3% of gross domestic product. As long as we maintain a deficit below 3% of GDP under the corrective arm, we could adjust expenditure within that context. However, that will change...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Recruitment (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The remit of the Public Appointments Service, PAS, includes conducting a wide range of campaigns for key roles across the Civil Service and broader public service. Its recruitment mandate encompasses a large volume of entry level competitions, including clerical officer and Garda Síochána trainee recruitment as well as administrative, professional and specialist posts at all...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Recruitment (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: PAS is one of the success stories of Irish public administration. It is very well regarded not only by the Irish public but by international comparisons. It has robust online procedures which meet the best international practices. If the Deputy has any individual concerns about them, I would be happy to hear from him. PAS itself would also be delighted, I am sure, to meet with the Deputy...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Recruitment (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I will. I will also ask the chief executive of PAS to contact the Deputy directly to go through that, see what concerns he has and how they may be addressed.

Other Questions: Rural Development Policy (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I thank the Deputy for his question. I published the plan, Building on Recovery: Infrastructure and Capital Investment 2016-2021, this week.  It sets out the Government's €27 billion Exchequer capital plan for the next six years.  It includes a new third phase in the Government's public private partnership, PPP, programme and is in addition to other State-led...

Other Questions: Rural Development Policy (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I totally agree with the Deputy that we need to have regional balance. That has been the focus of the Government from the outset. If we consider job creation across the country, the national figure is a 3% increase in the past 12 months. The regional figures are much better than that. In my own area, for example, the south east, it is better. The focus of the Government has been on...

Other Questions: Rural Development Policy (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Department of Education and Skills has direct Exchequer funding over the horizon of this programme of €3.8 billion and another €200 million in public private partnerships, PPPs, aimed at the IT sector, which again can assist the regions. In terms of prefabs, the first objective of this Government was to eliminate hired-in prefabs in all schools. That has been achieved....

Other Questions: Departmental Expenditure (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Office of Government Procurement, OGP, is the office responsible for public procurement. The OGP Vote for 2014 was €12.4 million, of which €6.7 million was transferred from the Office of Public Works, OPW, for the national procurement service and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform's, DPER's, national public procurement policy unit. Actual...

Other Questions: Departmental Expenditure (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I am disappointed in the attitude of the Deputy to the modernisation of procurement. The Deputy is quite content to have a dysfunctional procurement operation that was the hallmark of his own time in Government when nobody knew the price of goods and services and every State agency was buying the same products from the same suppliers at different prices. We professionalised that system but...

Other Questions: Departmental Expenditure (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Reformed procurement activities have saved approximately €100 million over the past two years. In the embryonic stage of the OGP we have saved €100 million in direct savings and an additional €16.5 million in utility savings. This is before we really get operational to invigilate a proper professional procurement regime. The Deputy asked about service level...

Other Questions: Government Expenditure (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The economic crisis obviously had a profound impact on the public finances. Nobody in this House would deny that. The fiscal adjustment implemented in order that Ireland could successfully exit the troika programme and return sustainability to our public finances required expenditure reductions. Gross voted expenditure was reduced from its peak of just over €63 billion in 2009, when...

Other Questions: Government Expenditure (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The proportion of expenditure versus tax reduction will be debated in the course of the general election campaign next year.

Other Questions: Government Expenditure (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: In terms of the public sector spend, I frequently read different takes on what we actually spend and very peculiar analyses and comparisons being made. A very interesting article published by Seamus Coffey, the UCC economist, indicates that across all countries health, education and social protection for families and working-age population represent the biggest chunk of expenditure normally....

Other Questions: Government Expenditure (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: That is what I am saying.

Other Questions: Government Expenditure (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The problem about quoting statistics and facts is that we all have facts to support our argument. However, there is objective fact: there must be some objective truth in all of this. In truth, I am reading from a UCC economist who has analysed the figures. He indicated that measuring as a percentage of GDP is problematic for Ireland because of the operation of multinational companies....

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Reform Implementation (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Public Service Reform was a key element of the Government's response to the crisis and continues to be an essential part of our strategy for recovery.  The reforms we have implemented have enabled us to maintain and improve public services in the face of necessary reductions in staff numbers and budgets, and at a time of increased demand for public services.  ...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Budget 2016 (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The budgetary reforms introduced at national level, including the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, operate within the broader context of the reforms at EU level to the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP). Ireland is currently subject to the corrective arm of the SGP. While in the corrective arm the key budgetary objective is to bring the deficit each year below the limit...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: National Lottery Funding Disbursement (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The National Lottery provides funds for "Good Causes" in accordance with the National Lottery Act 2013.  The areas to be funded are set out under section 41 (1) of the National Lottery Act as follows: -sport and recreation; -national culture and heritage (including the Irish language); -the arts (within the meaning of the Arts Act 2003); -health of the community; -youth,...