Results 21,341-21,360 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Policy (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The fiscal adjustment required to bring sustainability to the public finances required both significant expenditure reductions and tax increases. For Budget 2016 the Spring Economic Statement (SES) outlined that fiscal space of the order of €1.2 to €1.5 billion will be available in Budget 2016, and that the Government has decided to split this evenly between...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Infrastructure and Capital Investment Programme (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Yesterday, I announced the publication of "Building on Recovery: Infrastructure and Capital Investment 2016-2021".  The Capital Plan sets out the Government's commitment to Exchequer investment of €27 billion over the six-year period 2016-2021 across a number of key priorities.  In recognition of the importance of transport to our recovery and the large scale investment...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Contracts (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The national platform for the management of tendering, eTenders, which is managed by the OGP, does not collect data relating to consortia or joint bids as part of the tendering process. Directive 2014/24/EU published by Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) on February 26th 2014 which is yet to be transposed in to Irish Law, instructs that information on whether contracts are awarded...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Government supports the use of social clauses in a manner which can address issues such as social exclusion, long term unemployment or provide enhanced opportunities through the provision of training. Whilst Government is convinced of the merit in using social clauses in particular circumstances, it is important that contracting authorities are not compelled to use them on every contract...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Open Government Partnership (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: As the Deputy is aware, Ireland became a full member of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) in July 2014 following the publication of its first National Action Plan 2014-2016.  There are 26 commitments in the Plan which span the following three core areas: 1.Open Data and Transparency 2.Fostering citizen participation/more active citizenship 3.Strengthening...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: EU Directives (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: On 28 March, 2014, the European Commission published three new Directives as a collective reform of the existing EU regime for public procurement under the existing provisions of Directive 2004/17/EU - co-ordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors and Directive 2004/18/EU - on the co-ordination of procedures for the...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Performance Management and Development System (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: My Department has engaged in an ongoing review and reform of the Performance Management and Development System (PMDS) on in the civil service.  A particular priority has been to address significant weaknesses in the performance management system overall.  These include the extremely low proportion of serious underperformance identified and the...

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

Brendan Howlin: For the number of full-time equivalent public servants at end 2014, I would refer the Deputy to the Databank on my Department's website, at , which shows an outturn of 289,643 at end year. For 2015, provision was made in the Budget for just over 292,000 public servants, on an full time equivalent basis. Further information on the departmental breakdown of this...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Infrastructure and Capital Investment Programme (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Earlier this week, I announced the Government's large scale Exchequer investment programme of €27bn over the period 2016 to 2021.  This will increase the State's infrastructure, support economic recovery and jobs, support sustainable communities throughout Ireland and provide modern fit for purpose buildings to deliver services to our citizens.   This...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan Measures (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Shared Services is a key element of the Public Service Reform Plan and a core priority for my Department. The National Shared Services Office (NSSO) within the Department is leading on shared service strategy and implementation within the overall Reform and Renewal context. It is responsible for delivering Shared Services projects in the Civil Service and for the operation of Civil...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Register of Lobbying (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: There are currently just over 340 organisations or individuals registered on the Register of Lobbying.  The Deputy can get the up to date numbers by logging on to and clicking either the 'Directory of Registrants' button at the top right hand corner or the 'Search the Directory' button at the bottom right hand corner of the home page.  For each organisation or...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The reform of the procurement system across the public service is a key element of the reform programme for the public service.  Reform of Public Procurement is being carried out in a manner that recognises the importance of SMEs including micro business.  In its report "Public Service Spend and Tendering Analysis for 2013", the Office of Government Procurement (OGP),...

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

Brendan Howlin: As part of the measures required to repair the Government finances and meet our international commitments to reach the GDP Deficit target of 3% by end 2015, it was necessary in 2013 for the Government to secure agreement (the Haddington Road Agreement) with Unions and Associations representing public servants for the introduction of significant productivity measures and also additional...

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

Brendan Howlin: The 2015 civil service graduate recruitment competitions have just been launched by the Public Appointments Service. It is currently expected that over 200 roles will be filled in the civil service, in roles such as Third Secretaries, Administrative Officers, graduate economists and trainee auditors. The specific location of these positions will be determined once the panel is...

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

Brendan Howlin: The Spring Economic Statement (SES) and the corresponding Stability Programme Update (SPU) outlined that fiscal space of the order of €1.2 to €1.5 billion is expected to be available for Budget 2016 split evenly between expenditure increases and tax reductions. This would allow Government to target an increase in government expenditure of between €600m and...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Policy (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 87, 88, 90, 92, 93, 95 and 96 together. Ireland met or exceeded its key fiscal targets in each year of the EU/IMF programme of financial support. This resulted in a successful exit from the programme in December 2013. As a result of the fiscal policies of this Government and the efforts of the Irish people, Budget 2015 marked a turning...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Housing Provision (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The issue faced by the Government in responding to the housing crisis is not related to the availability of funding, but rather to the fiscal space available to the Government under the fiscal rules of the Stability and Growth pact which restrict Government's ability to increase expenditure, including on capital projects.   Any funding that would be raised through the issuing...

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

Brendan Howlin: The management of public expenditure and the formulation of overall  public expenditure policy in recent years have played a crucial role in the economic recovery now underway.  Public expenditure policy has helped stabilise the public finances on a sustainable basis, protect and support key public services, support employment, invest in vital infrastructure (as evidenced by the...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan Update (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Government's first Public Service Reform Plan was published in 2011. This plan provided the basis for the most significant programme of reform since the foundation of the State and was a key component of Ireland's recovery. Building on progress made in the first plan, the second Public Service Reform Plan was published in January 2014, covering the period 2014 to 2016. ...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Revenue Commissioners Resources (6 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Revenue Commissioners and my Department are engaged in ongoing discussions in regard to the Commissioners' own resource requirements for 2016 and subsequent years. These discussions are taking place in the context of the finalisation by the Government of the Estimates for Public Services 2016.