Results 7,701-7,720 of 32,643 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (19 Oct 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: The answer to the question of how we can better deal with delivering projects on time and in line with their original expectations is the fact that we have a strengthened public service spending code and an entire Department in the form of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform that is focused on this area. The creation of Transport Infrastructure Ireland, which merged the Rail...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (19 Oct 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: The 10% reductions in starting pay for certain new entrants were introduced by the then Government in January 2011 as part of the national recovery plan in order to reduce the public service pay bill. The issue of addressing the difference in incremental salary scales between those public servants who entered public service employment since 2011 and those who entered...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (19 Oct 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: I will examine the facts. Under the agreement I negotiated, along with my colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Bruton, with representatives from the INTO and TUI, significant progress was made in terms of in addressing an issue that mattered to the members of those unions. Let us examine the figures involved, none of which the Deputy acknowledged. The Deputy did not...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (19 Oct 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: I would not expect the Deputy to acknowledge the argument I have made and he has not done so. The progress being made is being achieved by a change in our economic fortunes that the Deputy said would never happen. He claimed that the country would not get to the point where we would be able to make progress on these matters. We have made progress. The Deputy claimed we were recruiting...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (19 Oct 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: The establishment of a public service pay commission to examine pay levels across the public service is a commitment in the confidence-and-supply agreement and programme for partnership Government. In July, the Government agreed, in principle, to the establishment of a public service pay commission. In line with this decision, my Department had to conduct a public...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (19 Oct 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: I acknowledge that we are dealing with some serious challenges in our public services. We must acknowledge that more than 20 unions have signed up to the Lansdowne Road agreement. As a result of this, more than 200,000 civil and public servants are covered by the agreement. While I understand and respect the Deputy's role in raising the issue of those who are outside the Lansdowne Road...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (19 Oct 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: Regarding the Deputy's observation on the need for a representative panel on the pay commission, I do not want to put together a group of people whose job it is to represent any individual sector. Were I to do so, I would be undermining the fabric of the organisation. However, I am committed to putting together a panel to assist Mr. Duffy in his work that will be diverse and broadly based....

Other Questions: Teachers' Remuneration (19 Oct 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 12 and 23 together. Officials from my Department and the Department of Education and Skills met the ASTI regarding the union's concerns on 7 July, 18 August and 13 September. The issues of new entrant teachers' pay and supervision and substitution payments among other matters were discussed in respect of ASTI members, forming the focus of those meetings....

Other Questions: Teachers' Remuneration (19 Oct 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: My overriding message in light of where we stand with the ASTI and the representative bodies of An Garda Síochána is the need for continued engagement in the coming days and into next week between them and both Departments. It is vital that the Government's proposals and the framework offered by the Lansdowne Road agreement be used to determine whether an affordable agreement can...

Other Questions: Teachers' Remuneration (19 Oct 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: I am not aware of the ads to which the Deputy referred, but the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Bruton, has made it clear that he wants to do everything possible to minimise the disruption caused by the closure of secondary schools across the country, if we get to that point. The Minister is mindful of the difficulties and challenges that will be created within schools, but he is...

Other Questions: Expenditure Reviews (19 Oct 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: In my statement on the expenditure Estimates on budget day, I announced that a spending review will take place in advance of budget 2018. The exact review will be determined over the coming months but will be informed by the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service paper, Spending Reviews in Ireland: Lessons for the Future. This was published within the expenditure report for 2017....

Other Questions: Expenditure Reviews (19 Oct 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: The main way we will deal with the consultation needs within the Oireachtas that the Deputy outlined will be through engagement with the relevant Oireachtas committee. It would appear to me at this stage that the best committee for engaging with this process would be the Committee on Budgetary Oversight. I am open to feedback from colleagues on that. There will be a savings figure that we...

Other Questions: Expenditure Reviews (19 Oct 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: I have not yet set a budget for this work. My anticipation would be that nearly all of it would be done in-house because I am confident that I have the expertise within my own Department to do this work in the way it needs to be done. If there are any particular areas of focus that require external support, I am happy to look at them. However, I believe we will be able to do nearly all of...

Other Questions: Public Sector Pensions Data (19 Oct 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: Based on data sets that are available to my Department in respect of public service pensioners across all sectors, it is estimated that savings of the order of €85 million per year would be generated for the public finances if pensions were capped at €50,000. I should point out, however, that the payment rates and award levels of higher value public...

Other Questions: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (19 Oct 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: I am aware of the issues being discussed in, and the activities of, the community sector higher level forum, or the working group, which was convened to examine certain issues pertaining to the community employment sector, having regard to the consequences for costs and precedent. This includes community and employment supervisors and assistant supervisors who have been seeking,...

Other Questions: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (19 Oct 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: I will put in place a chairman to get that work under way again. This relates to the debate I had with Deputies Murphy and Broughan earlier as one of the issues I face is the knock-on effects of such an arrangement across other sectors. For example, there are more than 3,000 section 39 bodies in the health sector. They are in receipt of State funding and they have their own employees....

Other Questions: Institutes of Technology Funding (19 Oct 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 17 and 30 together. A key consideration in relation to the scope for independent borrowing by institutions in the higher education sector is whether the subsequent expenditure funded by the borrowings is classified as falling inside the general government sector and, therefore, whether it impacts on the general government balance.  A...

Other Questions: Institutes of Technology Funding (19 Oct 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: I hoped the Deputy would acknowledge that we are trying to create the legal provision to deal with this matter. I acknowledge the case he is making, which has been made to me by the Minister for Education and Skills. This is the reason an enabling provision has been included in the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2016. We still have to resolve the matter of who would be able to...

Other Questions: Institutes of Technology Funding (19 Oct 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: The Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2016, which has just been published. I will then need to deal with the issue of IOTs being able to access that borrowing because they do not all have the same financial health and cannot borrow in the same way. Great strides have been made in delivering more student accommodation around DIT and elsewhere but in recognition of the challenge this...

Other Questions: Institutes of Technology Funding (19 Oct 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: I agree with the Deputy. I hope we can reach a classification of the borrowing levels that will ensure this can be done in an affordable and sustainable way. I agree with the sentiments the Deputy has concluded with.