Results 8,781-8,800 of 32,864 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions (11 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I refer the Deputy to my reply to Parliamentary Question no. 10500/17 on 2 March 2017.

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (12 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Which I am privileged to represent.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Expenditure Reviews (12 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Work on the 2017 Spending Review began earlier this year, in January. The approach taken to this review differs from the Comprehensive Spending Reviews undertaken in 2011 and 2014 in that it does not cover total Government expenditure in a single year. The 2011 and 2014 reviews were conducted at a time when Ireland was about to enter, or already in an Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP)...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (12 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Freedom of Information Act 2014 provides a very broad definition of public bodies at Section 6(1) and further provides that all new public bodies comprehended by this definition will automatically come under freedom of information (FOI) legislation, unless specifically exempted by order. This reversed the system under previous legislation whereby new bodies would have to be brought into...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions (12 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I believe that the Deputy is referring to those public service pensions which have been awarded in respect of retirements up to end-February 2012, and whose value before the application of the Public Service Pension Reduction (PSPR) is marginally greater than €34,132. Such pensions will remain subject to PSPR when the three-stage part-reversal of PSPR provided...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Sale of State Assets (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: In the context of planning for the use of the proceeds arising from the State assets disposal programme, which included the sale of Bord Gáis Energy, my Department consulted with the Central Statistics Office, via the Department of Finance, in regard to the statistical treatment of the proceeds and their impact on the general Government balance. My Department did not have direct...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Sale of State Assets (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The broad answer to that question is that, over the last number of years, €1.5 billion has been received by the State that is the proceeds of State assets and the disposal of State assets. It has been used at different points. For example, in June 2013, €150 million was made available for investment in schools and roads projects. An amount of those disposal gains has been...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Sale of State Assets (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I will deal first with the Deputy's description of spin in regard to the investment in public housing. There is no spin about the fact €5 billion has been made available for public housing investment.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Sale of State Assets (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The €5 billion is being invested and I have proof of this. I look at the progress being made in Dominick Street where a public housing project, long heralded and much needed, is now going ahead. I look at O'Devaney Gardens, a project that, when it collapsed over ten years ago, was emblematic of the beginning of the collapse of our economy. Later this year we will see the sod turned...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Freedom of Information (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Section 36 of the Freedom of Information Act 2014 sets out an exemption provision under which an FOI request can be refused where the requested information includes commercially sensitive information of a third party. This provision requires that decision makers should consider, before reaching a final determination, whether "the public interest would, on balance, be better served by...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Freedom of Information (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I appreciate from where the Deputy is coming. I was a member of the Committee of Public Accounts for a number of years. The issue in regard to the qualification of public private partnerships and the difficulty in getting information on them is one with which I am familiar. The reason, as I have alluded to, has two elements. The first is that where a semi-State commercial body which is...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Freedom of Information (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I accept the principles the Deputy is raising. When I was commenting on the initial formulation of metro north many years ago, I raised similar points, stating it was very difficult to understand some aspects of the then project because every time one tried to gain access to some information, one was told it was commercially sensitive, to the extent that, at one point, it was actually...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Service Pay Commission (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy is aware, A Programme for a Partnership Government committed the Government to establish a public service pay commission to examine pay levels across the public service. In line with this commitment, the Government agreed in principle in July last year to establish an independent advisory body to examine public service remuneration. This is always a complex matter involving,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Service Pay Commission (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: On the timing, I expect the commission to report in or before May. Therefore, I do not expect the report to be issued towards the end of quarter 2. The discussions will be very difficult, as will all of the proceedings for the next year. The Deputy has made reference to where we stand from a resource point of view for next year. The answer is that, once the commitments the Government has...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Service Pay Commission (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: That is exactly my understanding of the timing in relation to it, that the Minister, Deputy Noonan, and the Department of Finance may make a revision on the figures that I have just shared with Deputy Calleary in June. That will be purely a determination for Deputy Noonan's Department. In terms of any likely change, Deputy Calleary is correct to state that the growth figures for this...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Brexit Issues (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Brexit issues in my Department are co-ordinated centrally by the Department's Brexit/EU/North-South unit. The unit oversees Brexit work across the Department and acts as the contact point with the Department of the Taoiseach and other Departments. It is represented on the interdepartmental group on Brexit and related groups, and supports me in my work as a member of the Cabinet Committee on...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Brexit Issues (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: We have the right personnel and the right vision in relation to this. To back up that assertion, I point to the fact that our national interest in the Border in relation to the movement of people has now been recognised in the draft negotiation mandate that has been provided by the European Council and has also been recognised in a mandate that was drafted by the European Parliament. Not...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Brexit Issues (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: It is good to hear Deputy Mattie McGrath make reference to the positive role of the European Union and the positive role that it has played, through the Single Market, in providing export markets-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Brexit Issues (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: -----to the companies to which he referred. That Single Market and the support that those companies have received from Irish agencies has been crucial in allowing companies to grow and to the significant development that has taken place in the country over the past 40 to 50 years. The Deputy makes the point in relation to the Border. I repeat the point I made to him a moment ago. That...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The fiscal and policy context section of the capital plan, Building on Recovery, sets out the objectives of State investment in infrastructure. It emphasises the Government's commitment, through the capital plan, of supporting strong and sustainable economic growth and raising welfare and living standards for all. Promoting environmental sustainability is, of course, integral to achieving...