Results 21,561-21,580 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy did mention it.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy referenced the minimum wage and living on-----

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Brendan Howlin: One of the very first acts of this Government on coming into office was to restore the cut in the minimum wage of €1 per hour imposed by its predecessor. We did that during the worst part of recession. We also set up the Low Pay Commission to examine the issue of low pay. The Low Pay Commission is an independent body that will report on this issue. The Government has accepted its...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Subsection 6A(7). Every nurse, teacher and member of An Garda Síochána on the mid point of their pay scale will gain an additional €2,000 per annum as a result of this Bill. Those at the new entrance grade, including new entrants to nursing and An Garda Síochána, will gain that amount plus another €200. I think that is the right thing to do. I have used...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The portion of income impacted by the third cut.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Brendan Howlin: It is not related to the full income.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Eventually. Yes.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Brendan Howlin: As agreed in Haddington Road.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Brendan Howlin: For everybody.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Including the high earners. The Deputy should not misinterpret that.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Amendments Nos. 3, 6 and 7 propose that no pay rises provided for in this legislation will serve to increase the salaries of public servants on salaries in excess of €65,000 or those of public servants on annual salaries in excess of €100,000. I will give the committee some background to this. The whole Haddington Road agreement architecture meant pay cuts were progressive and...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Brendan Howlin: In essence, Deputy McDonald has suggested not giving any pay restoration above €65,000. The Deputy particularly focused on not giving any restoration above €100,000. Just under 5,000 public servants earn more than €100,000, which is less than 2% of the total. More than half of those are doctors in the health system. They make up more than half of the people who would...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I did make a clear reference to the Lansdowne Road agreement once I had negotiated it. It is almost exclusively about low and middle income earners. Of course, from the time we negotiated the Haddington Road agreement, it was in black and white that there would be pay restoration. That is implicit in the agreement. That is the agreement we put to the unions, that we negotiated and...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Not if one cuts their pay.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Does the Deputy want to cut their pay?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Therefore, the Deputy wants to cut their pay.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Therefore, the Deputy wants to cut their pay.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy is asking me to renege on the Haddington Road agreement.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Brendan Howlin: It was a solemn agreement that I negotiated, published and on which I asked people to vote. Therefore, I shall not renege on it.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Brendan Howlin: As I made clear on the day we launched this provision, Ministers, officerholders and special advisers to the Government would all voluntarily accept exclusion from the pay restoration provided for in the legislation. It is not provided for specifically because I do not want to single out any category, but it will happen and the individuals concerned, including every member of the Government,...