Results 5,141-5,160 of 10,460 for speaker:Gerry Horkan

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2019)

Gerry Horkan: Recommendations Nos. 19 and 20 have been ruled out of order as they are not relevant to the subject matter of the Bill.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2019)

Gerry Horkan: Recommendation No. 22 has been ruled out of order as it is not relevant to the subject matter of the Bill.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Order for Report Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Gerry Horkan: When is it proposed to take Report Stage?

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Order for Report Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Gerry Horkan: Is that agreed?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Gerry Horkan: It would be more difficult than that to get Mr. Watt fired.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Gerry Horkan: Mr. Watt was definitely at this committee. It was not for seven hours but there were other committees as well.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Gerry Horkan: It was not as memorable as Mr. Watt thought.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Gerry Horkan: I thank Mr. Watt for appearing before the committee. I appreciate that he probably turns up for meetings of the select committee regarding the Estimates but I think this is only his second time before the joint committee in the three and a half years I have been a member so he is very welcome. It would be useful if he came before this committee as the lead person in the Department at least...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Gerry Horkan: Would the Chairman like me to take the Chair so the Senators can continue?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Gerry Horkan: I accept the point Mr. Watt is making. Not everybody in an organisation of 325,000 people will be on par or above par. The vast bulk of employees are. This is Ireland - we all know people who work in various Departments and in the wider public service, which, as Mr. Watt has acknowledged, is much larger than the Civil Service. It is very frustrating to have an employee who consistently...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Gerry Horkan: I appreciate that. It is fair to say that Mr. Watt is responsible not only for the Civil Service but for the wider public service. His Department deals with public expenditure and reform in local authorities, the teaching profession, universities, An Garda and the HSE. The role of the Department is to cover public expenditure. Everything that the State spends should come under the remit...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Gerry Horkan: I thought that might be the answer.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Gerry Horkan: "The policy of administration and the administration of policy". I saw that episode as well.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Gerry Horkan: I did not say that he was not. I am just saying they are large Departments.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Gerry Horkan: Before he was the Minister for Finance, he was quite busy in Mr. Watt's Department. He now has two Departments. That is the point I am making. I saw a report from Mr. Watt's Department last month about the growth in public service numbers and the related planning. There is almost full employment. Mr. Watt has spoken of people's unwillingness to go to senior levels because they might have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Gerry Horkan: As somebody who sat in a room with 30 or 40 school principals and 30 or 40 school chairpersons in the region from the Liffey to Arklow, I can tell Mr. Watt that they cannot find Irish teachers, science teachers, continental language teachers, design and communication graphics, DCG, teachers and technical drawing-type teachers. It is getting ever harder to get them. When a school gets one,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Gerry Horkan: It is because the same salary is being paid. Somebody who came up from the country, for example, might want, as he or she gets older and his or her parents are getting older, to be a bit closer to the parents in Limerick, Longford, Mayo or wherever. All of sudden, the teacher realises that he or she could have a much larger take-home pay at the end of every week or month. I am not asking...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Gerry Horkan: We had it here previously. The average AIB salary is €55,000. At Facebook, it is €153,000, including share options. Those people, if they are lucky to work for Facebook or Google, are welcome to it. Do not get me wrong. They pay plenty of income tax etc. and contribute to the economy. It just means that with the limited housing supply, they are taking the housing, driving...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Gerry Horkan: I would ask that these be looked at between Mr. Watt, his colleagues in the Department of Education and Skills, and the Department of Justice and Equality for gardaí, and so on. I doubt many entry-level gardaí can afford to live in Dublin.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Gerry Horkan: If they have broadband, that will be good, but one cannot do that for teachers and nurses. I accept that point. I have not mentioned public procurement but I want to make the point. There may be a great deal of good public procurement going on that we do not hear about because it is fine. I refer to projects such as broadband, the national children's hospital, which I will not go over,...