Results 10,181-10,200 of 32,864 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Other Questions: Living Wage Introduction (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy is aware, the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection is responsible for setting the national minimum wage, on the recommendation of the Low Pay Commission. The current minimum wage is set at €9.25 and the third report of the Low Pay Commission recommended that this be increased by 30 cent per hour. The Government welcomed that recommendation. We...

Other Questions: Living Wage Introduction (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: It would behove the Deputy to better acknowledge the point I made that more than 94% of those who work for our public service earn a salary which is significantly ahead of the living wage. As an employer, the State is already exceeding the level of wages that would be created by the implementation of a living wage policy. Of the employees of the State, 94% have a salary which is in excess...

Other Questions: Living Wage Introduction (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Because of the variety of work public and civil servants do and because of shift work and so on, there are a variety of work agreements and arrangements. That is the reason we have a public service pay agreement. The Deputy asked me what are my principles. We are making faster rates of wage increase available to people who earn less. That is me putting my principles into action. We need...

Other Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme Review (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: It will be published in December. As I have answered a number of questions on the matter already, I emphasise, briefly, that it will look at how we can have levels of public capital investment that will better sustain the long-term growth of our economy and society. It will look at ensuring we have the right levels of investment to deal with the changing demographic profile of our society....

Other Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme Review (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I said it would be published in December.

Other Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme Review (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Department of Health is, of course, pressing the case, as are other Departments, for more funding. I make the point which the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, has also made that the level of funding now available to the Department of Health is at the highest it has ever been in the history of the State. While the Deputy points to needs to which we must respond, including...

Other Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme Review (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I am sorry that my words did not fill the Deputy with hope. What might have filled her with hope is that we are finally making progress on the national children's hospital-----

Other Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme Review (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: -----and the fact that work is under way on this. It is a project for which the Deputy well understands the need. Funding was set aside for it but additional funding had to be identified and made available to deliver the project, which I did precisely because I recognised the need to support projects such as this. I understand fully what future investment we may need to make in the...

Other Questions: Freedom of Information Remit (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Freedom of Information Act 2014 introduced a modernised, consolidated, restructured and more accessible system. It repealed the 1997 and 2003 freedom of information Acts. The Act extends freedom of information to all public bodies and automatically includes newly established bodies, unless specifically exempt. As part of the analysis and consultation during development of the...

Other Questions: Freedom of Information Remit (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I play no role in freedom of information decisions made within this legislation. If I were to play a role in this, it would undermine the whole spirit of the legislation. I cannot comment on an individual decision made by Bord na Móna and the inquiry the Deputy put in. I imagine the reason it made that decision is that the freedom of information unit in Bord na Móna would have...

Other Questions: Freedom of Information Remit (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Again, I cannot comment on individual decisions made under freedom of information legislation. As I explained, if I were to get involved in that, it would challenge the non-political nature of how these decisions are made in the first instance. The Deputy named an individual who works for the freedom of information unit in a particular organisation and read out an email he received relating...

Other Questions: Brexit Issues (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Clearly Brexit will pose significant challenges for Ireland. The Government is committed to addressing these challenges, mitigating the impacts and taking the best advantage of available opportunities. Last May, the Government published a document setting out in detail its approach to Brexit and the structures it had put in place to ensure a strategic and whole-of-Government response to it....

Other Questions: Brexit Issues (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: In terms of the broader action the Government is taking, this is the reason we are aiming to introduce a budget that will increase capital investment in a number of important areas of the economy. While we intend to do this work in any case, the challenge posed by Brexit makes it even more necessary. We will follow up on the budget with a ten-year national capital plan to be published in...

Other Questions: Brexit Issues (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The British Prime Minister, Ms Theresa May, articulated recent developments in her speech on Friday last. While a significant amount of work remains to be done and there will be difficult negotiations later this year, the renewed focus of the British Prime Minister on a transitional period and its duration and the focus the United Kingdom is now placing on customs policy are important...

Other Questions: Public Services Card (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: We do have legislation for this project. The Social Welfare Act to which I referred has been revisited on many occasions and provides the legislative foundation for this Bill. What I referred to earlier was separate legislation which will address the use and sharing of data in future as the opportunities and need to share them increase. The Bill has a firm legislative footing in section...

Other Questions: Public Services Card (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy has made an appalling series of allegations and accused Ministers and the Oireachtas of engaging with this issue in a dishonest way. My understanding of the Deputy's political philosophy is that she favours the State having a role in trying to provide better services for people. I would, therefore, have expected her to favour the State having a role in trying to provide such...

Other Questions: Public Services Card (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The record of the House will show that the Deputy made accusations about the honesty and faithfulness with which this card was rolled out,-----

Other Questions: Public Services Card (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: -----and I called those out for that they were. The Deputy is not the only person in the House who is motivated by good intentions and is trying to find ways of ensuring that public services are made available-----

Other Questions: Public Services Card (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: -----to people in more efficient ways. Deputy Connolly made a set of accusations that I rebutted. She has made claims about this being a national identity card, which I reject and are unfounded in any comment that I or the Government has made. We are making this card available so that public services can be better provided to people with a view to ensuring that they do not have to supply...

Other Questions: Vacant Sites Data (26 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Government's property asset management delivery plan, "Accommodating Change - Measuring Success", was published in July 2013 with the main objective of managing "the Public Service property portfolio in a professional, co-ordinated and efficient manner". The OPW, with its chairman as the delivery plan’s senior responsible officer, has led these changes across the public service...