Results 23,521-23,540 of 27,945 for speaker:Michael McGrath

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement 2022: Discussion (14 Jul 2022)

Michael McGrath: I do not think we can look at pay in isolation. I have always made the point that in agreeing a pay deal with the public sector there will also be a need to take account of what the Government has done to date on other cost of living measures and what it plans to do in the budget. All of the advice we have received from reputable bodies, domestically and internationally, has been not to...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement 2022: Discussion (14 Jul 2022)

Michael McGrath: I am happy to take those questions. I thank the Deputy. In the measures we have introduced in recent months, we have tried to strike a balance between ensuring that most of the measures are targeted and generally involve using the social welfare system, such as the fuel allowance scheme, back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance and so on. We have also had measures with a broader...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement 2022: Discussion (14 Jul 2022)

Michael McGrath: We are working through the process at the moment. We are at the early stages of the Estimates process. It is helpful for me as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to have the framework in place. That puts a certain shape on the discussions that are taking place now and through September. The Government will have to identify core priorities and we know what they are in the context...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement 2022: Discussion (14 Jul 2022)

Michael McGrath: To add to what the Minister said there, we all acknowledged during the last two years of Covid that issues that do not always get a high level of attention or traction in political debate are important to people in their day-to-day lives. We all got a renewed sense of appreciation for the environment, local amenities, walkways, greenways, biodiversity and all the issues the Deputy touched...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement 2022: Discussion (14 Jul 2022)

Michael McGrath: With regard to EU funding, we are working on the basis of commitments that have been made already in different funding streams. The principal one I have responsibility for is the national recovery and resilience plan, which is close to €1 billion. In that context, a range of investment projects is being implemented across Government. We are making provision, as can be seen in the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement 2022: Discussion (14 Jul 2022)

Michael McGrath: I should acknowledge the work that the Deputy and the committee on transport have done on this issue over the last number of months. I thank the Deputy in particular, as Chairman, for that because I believe it helped to articulate the challenges that have been growing in recent months for the delivery of different public works contracts. We have been assessing this for a while. We made...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement 2022: Discussion (14 Jul 2022)

Michael McGrath: We will certainly keep it under review, but the early indications are that it has been broadly welcomed and the implementation of it has begun.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement 2022: Discussion (14 Jul 2022)

Michael McGrath: I thank the Deputy for raising that point. I met the CSO in recent weeks. I visited its head office in Cork, met the leadership team there and had a really good discussion. I thanked it for all of the work it is doing. The turnaround time it achieved for the census and the headline population figures was remarkable. It did not raise any specific issues that warranted intervention but I...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement 2022: Discussion (14 Jul 2022)

Michael McGrath: We are working to the overall Government strategy regarding Sláintecare and climate action. Legislation is now in place, the Climate Change Advisory Council is up and running, we have the overall carbon budgets and the sectoral emissions ceilings will be agreed shortly. The allocation of responsibility for those will be agreed by Government. On the capital side, we have multi-annual...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement 2022: Discussion (14 Jul 2022)

Michael McGrath: I thank Deputy Ryan. I make the point that just last week an additional €67 million was announced which included the extension of hot meals to children attending DEIS schools. This was a really important initiative that the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, brought forward. This also included the abolition of school transport fares and the improvement in the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement 2022: Discussion (14 Jul 2022)

Michael McGrath: I will add a quick word to that and I thank Deputy Lahart for coming in. It is inevitable in many respects that the challenges and the negatives tend to get a lot of traction, whether it is Covid, Brexit or the terrible war in Ukraine and the inflationary spiral that is causing. However, there are many positives. Ireland is an outlier in European terms in so many respects on the positive...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Updated Economic and Fiscal Position in Advance of Budget 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Sep 2022)

Michael McGrath: I thank the committee for affording the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, and me the opportunity to meet it as part of its pre-budget scrutiny process. Since we last appeared before the committee in July, there have been a number of developments that impact on our budgetary considerations. As inflation continues to rise in the short term, my Government colleagues and I are cognisant of the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Updated Economic and Fiscal Position in Advance of Budget 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Sep 2022)

Michael McGrath: The position at present is that we have some €3.7 billion unallocated, but in a sense that is a technical term because as the year goes on and as we approach the end point of this year, we will be allocating much of that expenditure to different Votes across government that have been incurring expenditure. We are, of course, doing an assessment as to how much of that will be fully...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Updated Economic and Fiscal Position in Advance of Budget 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Sep 2022)

Michael McGrath: We are continuing to work through that. Consider the end of August expenditure returns; we are about €1 billion over profile on the current side alone. This is because we have not allocated against the different Votes' funding from that particular contingency provision. If one adds to that additional expenditure that will occur from 1 September to the end of this year in respect of...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Updated Economic and Fiscal Position in Advance of Budget 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Sep 2022)

Michael McGrath: Going back to the summer economic statement, on the non-core side there is an overall amount of €4.5 billion. For the purposes of the summer economic statement we put a figure of €3 billion next to that. We are now assessing the allocation of that €4.5 billion across the different elements. It is likely that there will be some change but still within the overall...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Updated Economic and Fiscal Position in Advance of Budget 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Sep 2022)

Michael McGrath: We are sticking to the overall non-core provision of €4.5 billion. We will consider what is the appropriate allocation within those different areas under non-core. There is a lag in respect of incurring some of the Ukraine-related costs. It is increasing significantly. The Deputy is aware of the pressures the system is under with regard to accommodation. New commitments have been...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Updated Economic and Fiscal Position in Advance of Budget 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Sep 2022)

Michael McGrath: It is correct to say that it is a high-level estimate. We are approaching 50,000 people and we are only at the midpoint of September. It is difficult to know what direction the war will take and what impact that will have on international migration from Ukraine. It is prudent to have a good provision there. I am signalling that it is likely we will be in a position to reallocate, probably...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Updated Economic and Fiscal Position in Advance of Budget 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Sep 2022)

Michael McGrath: No.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Updated Economic and Fiscal Position in Advance of Budget 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Sep 2022)

Michael McGrath: It is only related to non-core measures.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Updated Economic and Fiscal Position in Advance of Budget 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Sep 2022)

Michael McGrath: On what might emerge from the European Union proposals, we do not have all the details yet. When they are published they will be assessed. There is work ongoing across all the main Departments to try to determine what Ireland will ultimately receive in respect of those measures. However, we do not have sufficient detail at this point. It will be the end of September before the energy...