Results 8,981-9,000 of 32,864 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Other Questions: Flood Relief Schemes (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I am advised by the Commissioners of Public Works that the Baile Mhúirne and Ballymakeera scheme is at outline design stage, on which the preferred options for the scheme are being finalised. The River Sullane has a history of containing freshwater pearl mussels which have protected status as an Annex II listed species under the EU habitats directive. An environmental survey was...

Other Questions: Flood Relief Schemes (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: With regard to the different questions the Deputy has put to me, due to the presence of the pearl mussel in some stretches of the river and its protected status, the scheme could not progress, which was the Deputy's point, until a proposal was submitted to the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS. This was submitted in June of last year. The NPWS responded by stating that it had no...

Other Questions: Flood Relief Schemes (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: There are two questions there. From a funding point of view, €74,000 has been expended on this project to date. The project budget will be finalised before exhibition, but we expect that the approximate cost of this will be around €3 million. I can confirm to Deputy Moynihan that this is included in the financial profile of the OPW up to 2020. Assuming that the cost is in...

Other Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Submissions in relation to the mid-term review and the additional funding available were sought by my Department in January and have now been received. Submissions were not sought at that time by my Department directly from local authorities as we do not allocate funding directly to local authorities nor was it envisaged that the review would seek to determine the...

Other Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I do not think the process we have put in place makes a lie of us. The way in which we handle expenditure is by making the funding available to Government Departments, as the Deputy has just said. Government Departments either allocate that funding to local authorities or instigate work on their behalf. The process we put in place was publicly advertised. If a local authority wanted to...

Other Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government will be the deciding body on how it handles funding between the local authorities for which it is responsible for. That being said, I always find it helpful to see submissions like this, and I will read them. It allows me to understand whether there are any particular projects out there or any particular needs that could...

Other Questions: Public Sector Pay (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 12 and 13 together. The 10% reductions in starting pay for certain new entrants were introduced in January 2011 as part of the national recovery plan in order to reduce the public service pay bill by the then Government.  The issue of addressing the difference in incremental salary scales between those public servants who entered...

Other Questions: Public Sector Pay (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Let us talk about some figures amidst the Deputy's comments. From 1 January 2017, under the measures I agreed alongside the Minister for Education and Skills for INTO and TUI members, a new entrant will be paid a salary of €35,837. By 1 January 2018, when the second half of new entrant restoration has occurred, it will be considerably ahead of that. Amidst all the claims the Deputy...

Other Questions: Public Sector Pay (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: It is because the principle of fairness I must respond to is different from the one the Deputy is concerned with. I must be able to make sure I am fair to people who need services and to people who need housing and make sure we have the money available to build housing. The Deputy comes in here and deals with each issue in isolation. I must be able to deal with each matter collectively...

Other Questions: Public Sector Pay (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I am glad the Deputy acknowledged it there. If he can come up with a recipe for me as to how we can find €1.4 billion immediately while meeting all the other needs he raises with me on a regular basis, I look forward to hearing what that formula is. If he could also assure me it would not destroy the economy that produces all the tax to deliver the services we are talking about, I...

Other Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: There is a plan in place to respond to many of the different needs referred to by Deputy Durkan. As set out in the Estimates 2017, it is projected that capital expenditure will increase by almost 75% between 2016 and 2021 but as I have acknowledged in responses to earlier questions, we know there is a need to find new ways to invest in capital infrastructure in our schools, hospitals...

Other Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: It is going to be challenging, because we have many different competing demands. We are working hard to see how we can identify new funding. We have already made progress on this by the identification of a further €2 billion between now and 2021 and 2022 and we are engaged in other pieces of work, for example, with the European Investment Bank, to see if there are additional ways of...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pay (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy is aware 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. The most recent review, laid before the Oireachtas on 29 June last, found that there was a continued necessity for...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The public service Pension-Related Deduction (PRD) is provided for under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2009. PRD applies to the pay, including any non-pensionable pay elements, of pensionable public servants. Specifically, section 2(1)(b) of the 2009 Act provides that any public servant who is a member of a public service pension scheme or...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Policy (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: 2015 marked the turning point where expenditure reductions were no longer required to meet our fiscal targets. In the three year period 2015 to 2017 there is annual average growth in gross voted expenditure of 3 per cent. This represents prudent growth in expenditure following the period when significant fiscal consolidation was required to put the public finances on a sound footing. The...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Capital Expenditure Programme Review (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 18 and 39 together. The Mid-Term Review of the Capital Plan is still currently ongoing. This process will result in capital allocations being made by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to other Government Departments, rather than allocations being made by my Department to specific projects or geographic areas....

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: EU Funding (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 19, 33, 127 and 128 together. I can assure the Deputy that I share his appreciation for the contribution that EU-funded cross-border programmes make to the border region and the importance of ensuring continued funding for the programmes.  I was glad to have the opportunity to discuss this matter with him and other colleagues when I appeared before...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Regulations (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Whilst the reform of public procurement has been a key element in the ongoing Government reform programme, care has been taken to ensure it is carried out in a manner that encourages SME participation. The EU Procurement Directives, transposed into Irish law in May 2016, contain provisions to make it easier for SMEs to tender for public procurement contracts.  These include the...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Pay Commission Reports (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The initial Report of the Public Service Pay Commission was published on Tuesday, 9 May 2017. For its initial report the Commission was asked to provide input on how the unwinding of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest legislation should proceed having regard to: - The evolution of pay trends in the public and private sectors, based on published data; - A comparison of...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Legislation (1 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy will be aware, section 8 of the Freedom of Information Act 2014 obliges FOI bodies to prepare and publish a publication scheme, setting out information that they will publish as a matter of course.  My Department has prepared a Model Publication Scheme pursuant to this section, which includes among the information to be published on an ongoing basis, a disclosure log...