Results 30,121-30,140 of 33,280 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Spending Code (18 May 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: The majority of public investment projects are delivered on budget and on time and there is a high level of professionalism across the sectors. However, noting the higher risk profile of larger projects, my Department introduced additional procedures in November 2021 in order to improve project out-turns, avoid cost overruns and avoid delays to project delivery. Responding to this need,...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Office of Director of Public Prosecutions (18 May 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: The office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) was established by law under the Prosecution of Offences Act, 1974. Total gross expenditure in the Office as set out in the annual REVs over the period 2006 to 2023 is set out in the table below. In 2006, the Office spent €31.7 million. In the period since 2013, expenditure has increased by €17 million or by 46 per cent....

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Spending Code (18 May 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: The Government has committed to €165 billion in capital investment through the National Development Plan (NDP) published in 2021. As a percentage of national income, annual capital investment is now among the largest in the EU. In 2023, almost €12 billion will fund vital infrastructure in areas such as housing, transport, education, enterprise, sport and climate action....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (31 May 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank Deputy McDonald for raising what is an exceptionally sensitive and important report into the most difficult of circumstances possible. When the Minister, Deputy Harris, was briefing the Government on this report yesterday morning, it reminded me, and I am sure it has reminded all of us, that there are a set of tragic circumstances that I think are beyond the ability of most of us...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (31 May 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy is right in being very clear in calling out crimes that are the subject of such trauma and sorrow. Like the Deputy, when I see the reports of the crimes and particularly the funerals and those mourning the loss of life because of the crimes, I find it difficult to comprehend. My human response is to look away briefly, particularly if the loss of life of children is involved. We...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (31 May 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for again raising what everybody in this House knows is such an important matter. I said previously that the decision to end the eviction moratorium was one of the most difficult and complex I have ever been involved in as a member of the Cabinet, but I am acutely aware and can see in my constituency that whatever difficulty was involved in making the decision was minor by...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (31 May 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: Respectfully, the maintenance of the moratorium on evictions in the rental sector ran the great risk over time of leading to even fewer rental properties being available.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (31 May 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: Prolonging the eviction ban also ran the risk of even greater difficulty arising when it ended. That is the reason the Government made what we accept was a difficult decision, one that has been the subject of much explanation in the House and debate elsewhere. I wish to challenge Deputy Bacik on one point. She stated that our provision of 11,800 social homes, which is our ambition for...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (31 May 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: This is a matter with which I am familiar; Deputy Cannon has been raising it as well. I am sure he has been attending the same meetings as the Deputy and engaging with parents, pupils and teachers who are concerned about the issue. I acknowledge the scheme's importance and the valuable role it plays in supporting school access and supporting families. I also acknowledge the importance...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (31 May 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: That is a fair point. We put in place those measures to make a much needed, and I believe much valued, contribution to families at a time in which the cost of living and the increase in the cost of living was so urgent and causing such hardship. I am aware from Deputies on these benches of the anomaly to which Deputy Canney refers and also of the frustration that many families and pupils...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (31 May 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I emphasise that while this review is under way, we will continue to deliver against all of the commitments on the current scheme. I have no doubt that Bus Éireann and the Department of Education will do all they can to try to resolve individual issues that are developing. I cannot promise that we can resolve all of them, but I know everyone will do their best.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (31 May 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I am sure the Deputy would not be short of many great ideas regarding how to spend €1 billion in County Kerry. I am also sure he would be able to turn that money to very good effect. But on the point about €1 billion, it is important to make the case that during two of the three years that Deputy Healy-Rae refers to, we were dealing with a pandemic during which the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (31 May 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: The sole reason as to why there were capital underspends for the year before last is that during that period the construction sector was not functioning in a normal way. That is the key reason.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (31 May 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I completely agree with the point Deputy Healy-Rae made about voids. In many ways, the term "void" is very misleading. It is an empty home. In Constitution Hill, at the heart of Dublin Central, a very different setting, I have seen the way in which properties that were described as voids have now been turned into homes for people who needed them. That is why the successful delivery of,...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (31 May 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I appreciate the importance of the empty house programme; it is why, between 2020 and 2022, more than 8,000 so-called voids were turned into homes across the country. In recognition of the Deputy's point that we should turn empty properties into full homes at a time of such great housing difficulty, that has happened. The programme for 2023 is to use €31 million, which I mentioned a...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (31 May 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: The Government is already recognising the challenges many face with the cost of living. For example, in June, an additional €100 payment per child will be available through a bonus child benefit payment, we are making a further increase in the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance, the hot school meal is being extended, we have made efforts to reduce school transport costs...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (31 May 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: We are all aware of the huge importance of this as a healthcare policy. We are also aware of the important report the Government and Oireachtas received on the matter. On the operational points the Deputy raised, we in the Government appreciate their seriousness. We have requested that the HSE put in place an implementation group to respond to the important operational issues raised in the...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (31 May 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: The census to which the Deputy refers reminds us all of the scale of change under way in our society and economy. From my experience of divestment programmes and procedures, I have seen the reason they do not happen or happen slowly is that the school community takes time to consider this process and does not always reach a view that a change in patronage is appropriate. We need a more...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (31 May 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: The Government wishes to provide all the access we can to important medicines that we know make such a difference to the lives and health of those battling cancer. I am aware of the report referred to by the Deputy and I believe it is the case that the only treatments approved by the HSE have been ones eligible for credits from the high-cost claims pool within the risk equalisation scheme...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (31 May 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for raising what we all know is such an important matter. In the aftermath of the loss of life and health he referred to, the Government and the Department of Health took many steps to try to improve the level of confidence patients will have in the cancer screening procedures. This is because we know that a successful cancer screening health programme is so important in...