Results 8,161-8,180 of 32,726 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Private Partnerships (26 Jan 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The only one missing an opportunity here is Sinn Féin by the Deputy's not taking the opportunity to listen to the answer I gave. I made very clear that the capital spending review will consider the options, benefits and costs that such PPPs offer. Many projects have already been built but because they were pursued under the PPP model, there are payments the State will have to honour in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Expenditure Reviews (26 Jan 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Preliminary work began on this at official level at the start of this year. I will be bringing to Cabinet in the next two weeks papers and proposals further laying out the process and the manner in which I aim to deliver this work. This review will systematically examine the costs of existing policies to identify scope for funding of new initiatives from existing resources. This...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Expenditure Reviews (26 Jan 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes, all Departments will participate. We have selected, at official level, specific subheads within each Department that are equivalent to approximately one-third of the expenditure under which this approach will be used, setting out the objectives for those expenditure subheads and using cost-benefit analysis and other economic techniques to determine whether they are delivering the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Expenditure Reviews (26 Jan 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I answered the Deputy's question about the timing of the review when I said it will be completed in the second half of 2017. Clearly, my objective is to get this work done as early as possible in the second half of 2017. That would facilitate the redeployment of existing expenditure in the hope of delivering new initiatives next year, or delivering existing objectives in a better way....

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions: Public Sector Pay (26 Jan 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: On 29 November last, I announced a two-phase approach to securing the future of collective pay agreements. It was intended that the first phase would address anomalies arising from the recent Labour Court recommendations in respect of An Garda Síochána and the second phase would negotiate a successor to the Lansdowne Road agreement. My priorities for the first phase were to secure...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions: Public Sector Pay (26 Jan 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy does his case a disservice with his characterisation of my answer to Question No. 5. I responded to the various matters he raised in the question and I explained the process the Government is using as it seeks to deal with all of these matters. Unlike the Deputy, I am responsible for deciding how to allocate taxpayers' funds between competing demands. It is simply not possible...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions: Public Sector Pay (26 Jan 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I am in favour of fairness. I want to ensure we have the right level of public services for those who need them. I want us to be in a position to build the homes that Deputy Boyd Barrett quite correctly referenced the need for, to invest in hospitals and universities and to deliver the transport infrastructure mentioned by Deputy Cullinane earlier. The challenge is that the same funding...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (26 Jan 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 7, 8, 26, 29 and 32 together. I have a responsibility, which I will discharge across the year, to put in place measures that bring certainty in respect of the public service pay bill for 2017. I am confident that if I had not taken this measure, Deputy Cullinane would be criticising me on that basis. I have adopted a particular measure and explained the...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (26 Jan 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Deputy Broughan asked whether I sought input from the Public Service Pay Commission on this matter. I did not do so because the terms of reference of that body refer exclusively to the potential for and aftermath of a replacement to the Lansdowne Road agreement. It would not, therefore, have been appropriate to ask the commission's view on this matter. Regarding the Deputy's analysis of...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (26 Jan 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I will make three points. Since I made this announcement, I have outlined that I would put in place the measures and decisions to ensure that services are not affected as a result of doing this. I welcome that all Deputies have agreed with the decision I made and indicated that it was an appropriate response to the matter that developed in the aftermath of the Labour Court recommendation....

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions: Expenditure Reviews (26 Jan 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I outlined earlier the way in which we conduct this work. It is a rolling review because it would not be possible to review all Government expenditure in the level of detail I want within a single year. The amount involved is over €58 billion. Second, we will identify a third of Government expenditure per year. That is why I refer to it as a rolling review. I anticipate that it...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions: Expenditure Reviews (26 Jan 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Ministers, Deputies Varadkar and Ross, have made very clear that there will be no change to the availability of the free travel scheme. The report that gave rise to this debate was one that was put in place many years ago. We did not change that scheme at the very depth of the economic difficulty the country faced and it will not be changed now. The Deputy asked me how the policy...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions: Expenditure Reviews (26 Jan 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy put that question to me earlier when he raised the issue of inflation and I did not answer it. That is related to demographics. We will not select a particular area based on the impact that demographics or inflation will have on it. With regard to public services, the growth of inflation has a particular effect on social welfare payments. It is the responsibility of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions: Departmental Information (26 Jan 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I listened to the Deputy state I have not answered the question to his satisfaction, but we should agree I should answer questions in such a way that reflects the interest of the taxpayers. I was very clear in the answer I gave to Deputy Calleary, that with regard to approaching cases, the State will robustly defend itself. The Deputy is asking me to come in here and identify a potential...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions: Departmental Information (26 Jan 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I am glad to hear the Deputy acknowledge the dangers of his earlier line of approach, because he was asking me to comment on the magnitude of a cost the State does not believe it should incur. We will deal with the matter in court and make very clear, and in the strongest manner possible make known, the views of the Government on the contract for consultants and with regard to payments which...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions: Departmental Information (26 Jan 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: To answer that particular question, if the office is established in 2017, and I hope it will be, I believe the money will come out of the Oireachtas Vote. This is funded. With regard to the issues raised by the Deputies regarding the number of potential cases and what might happen in the coming period, I am willing to supply this information to the Committee on Budgetary Oversight. They...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions: Public Sector Pay (26 Jan 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: It is not going away, but neither is the need for improved public services. I will read out to Deputy Cullinane the number of expenditure requests he has articulated in recent weeks. He has called for increased investment in University Hospital Waterford, increased investment for services for people with disabilities in his county, additional classrooms for a school in his constituency, the...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions: Public Sector Pay (26 Jan 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy is overstating the case a little to say that I am keeping a close eye on everything that he does. He works hard to represent the people of Waterford effectively, but they also deserve consistency from their public representatives. They deserve and need to know how, when he calls for particular matters to be addressed, those issues will be paid for. The Deputy referred to the...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions: Public Sector Pay (26 Jan 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy well knows that any change in respect of new entrants' pay or those who are at the start of a wage curve has consequences for everyone else. We cannot change wage curves for people who are joining the Civil Service, teaching or any other part of the public service without there being profound knock-on consequences for the entire wage bill. For this reason, the issues of retention...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (26 Jan 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: It is the position that the community sector high level forum or working group, previously the informal forum, was convened in 2015 and 2016 to examine certain issues pertaining to the CE sector, having regard to the implications for costs and precedent. The issue includes community and employment supervisors and assistant supervisors who have been seeking, through their union...