Results 8,821-8,840 of 32,864 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pay (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I am obliged under the legislation to undertake an Annual Review of the operation and effectiveness of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Acts (FEMPI) which is laid before the Oireachtas by the end of June each year. In my last review of the necessity for the continuing application of the measures provided for under the Acts, my decision was informed by the...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: State Assets (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Government announced its decision on the State Asset Disposal Programme in February 2012. The following month, my Department published a protocol on meetings with market participants and/or advisers in relation to any of the assets that formed part of the overall disposal programme. The protocol, which is available on my Department's website, set out the policy for future engagement...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Infrastructure and Capital Investment Programme (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: PPPs offer an alternative model for delivering infrastructure, that can facilitate the delivery of additional capital projects and that can be effective in particular circumstances. However, the long-term nature of the financial commitments arising under PPPs require that the use of such arrangements must be carefully planned in order to ensure that they are used to address infrastructural...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Lansdowne Road Agreement (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy will appreciate that I cannot disclose the Government's negotiation position in advance of actual negotiations. No party to a negotiation, in any walk of life, would do so as this could jeopardise the outcome of the negotiation. What I can say, in broad terms, is that this Government values collective agreements and will negotiate in good faith to achieve one. We value...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The purpose of the  High Level Community Sector Forum is consultative in nature.  It allows for discussion between the relevant public service management and trade union side interests on matters of  concern in relation to the Community Sector. Following the most recent meeting of the Forum it was agreed that further  consultative provisions agreed under the...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Northern Ireland (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: My Department has joint responsibility with the Department of Finance in Northern Ireland for the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB), which manages the EU-funded PEACE and INTERREG cross-border programmes. Together these programmes will see investment of more than half a billion euro in Northern Ireland and the border region of Ireland over the period 2014-2020. The PEACE IV Programme was...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy will be aware, housing is a key priority for this Government as stated in the Programme for a Partnership Government and as is evident from the decision to allocate in advance of the capital review an additional €2.2b to fund the Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness "Rebuilding Ireland". This amounts to 40% of the available additional capital investment to 2021. The...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pay (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I have of course kept my Government and Cabinet colleagues informed of any significant developments with respect to the management of public service pay expenditure. In response to the Labour Court Recommendation on Garda pay, the Government, collectively, agreed a two phase approach to securing the future of collective pay agreements: - Phase 1 to address anomalies arising from the recent...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions Data (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: My Department is not involved in compiling in any kind of systematic fashion the class of information to which the Deputy refers. However, the Department has access to databases containing information on public service pension terms and administration arrangements operated by organisations such as the OECD and the European Institute of Public Administration which may be consulted as the need...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Expenditure Data (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The management of the annual Exchequer funding provision allocated to Departments is governed by the rules detailed in Public Financial Procedures. Managing the delivery of public services within Budgetary allocations is a key responsibility of each Minister and their Department. My Department is in ongoing communication with Departments and Offices to ensure that expenditure is being managed...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Regulations (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Public Procurement is governed by well-established EU and National rules and guidelines. The aim of these rules is to promote an open, competitive and non-discriminatory public procurement regime which delivers best value for money. EU Directives on public procurement require that public contracts above certain financial thresholds must be advertised on the Official Journal of the EU and...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Meetings between the management and union side interests, including SIPTU, to the Community Sector Forum took place on 24 February 2017 and 7 April 2017. The minutes of these meetings await formal approval by the parties to the Forum and will on such approval be publicly available on my Department's website.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions Data (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Based on data collected in respect of the end-2015 position, there are believed to be about 152,000 persons in receipt of a public service pension, including retirees and recipients of dependant pensions. The annual gross cost of paying these pensions is an estimated €3.3 billion. The Public Service Pension Reduction (PSPR) is being significantly reversed in three stages under...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Based on the current data available to my Department, the total number of public service employees currently in receipt of a salary at end of December 2016 was some 307,000 (full-time equivalent)-FTE). The Exchequer Paybill for 2016 at €15.7bn gross provided for the annual cost of the salaries for approx. 279,000 (FTE) public servants. It should be noted that Local Authority staff,...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Information and Communications Technology (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The purpose of capital investment undertaken by my Department, including the National Shared Services Office (NSSO) and the Office of Government Procurement (OGP), is to deliver greater effectiveness and efficiency across the Civil and Public Service. The nature of many of the reform initiatives set out in ambitious plans such as the Public Service Reform Plan and the Public Service ICT...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministerial Travel (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I travelled to Korea and Japan as part of the 2017 Irish Government's St Patrick's Day Promote Ireland programme. The programme included a 3 day programme in Seoul, Korea and a 3 day programme in Tokyo, Japan. I was accompanied on the visit by two officials; my Private Secretary and Special Adviser. The programme aimed to promote trade, investment and tourism in Ireland through a series of...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Capital Expenditure Programme (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Submissions in relation to the mid-term review and the additional funding available, were sought from Departments in January and are currently being received by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. A public consultation process has also commenced, to ascertain the views of the public and key stakeholders on what our national infrastructure priorities should be and to seek...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Expenditure (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 197, 200, 203 and 206 together. Budget 2015 marked a key turning point when overall expenditure reductions were not required to meet our key fiscal targets. The improving fiscal conditions have allowed the Government to allocate additional resources towards emerging expenditure needs with prudent increases in gross voted expenditure of 3% on average in...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Reform Implementation (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Public Service Reform continues to be a key feature of my Department's policy. Considerable progress has been made since the first Public Service Reform Plan was published in 2011. We are now moving from a stage of reform to one of development and continuous improvement which will cover the period 2017-2020. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform are...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Capital Expenditure Programme (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 199 and 204 together. Both current and capital expenditure levels for 2017 were published in the Revised Estimates for Public Services 2017. All Departments have subsequently provided profiles for how this expenditure will be allocated across the year.  As of March the Exchequer Returns indicate that spend is largely on target so far in 2017. ...