Results 12,421-12,440 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Written Answers — Departmental Contracts: Departmental Contracts (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 260 to 263, inclusive, together. Under a public works contract the contractual relationship is between the public body and the main contractor. A public body has no contractual ties with a subcontractor engaged by a main contractor. Any contractual relationship is exclusively a matter between the main contractor and its sub-contractor. Most private sector...

Written Answers — Oireachtas Officeholders' Remuneration: Oireachtas Officeholders' Remuneration (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: Pay reductions for 2 Oireachtas Office holders were implemented on a voluntary basis with effect from 10 March 2011 by the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission. Legislation to implement pay reductions for Office holders was enacted in December 2011 effective from 1 January 2012 under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Amendment) Act, 2011 and provides for reductions in...

Written Answers — Oireachtas Members' Remuneration: Oireachtas Members' Remuneration (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: No members of the current Oireachtas have made a request through my Department to reduce their remuneration to that of the average industrial wage.

Written Answers — Departmental Contracts: Departmental Contracts (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: It is a core principle of Government policy that a competitive process should always be used in the award of public works contracts. The advertising requirements for public works contracts are determined by the value of the contract under national guidelines and EU Directives. All public works contracts above 50,000 euro must be advertised on the national public procurement website...

Written Answers — Semi-State Bodies: Semi-State Bodies (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: As the Deputy may be aware, the NewERA unit was established within the National Treasury Management Agency in July 2011 to reform the manner in which Government manages the commercial semi-State companies. NewERA will initially undertake the corporate governance function, from a shareholder perspective and reporting to relevant ministers, of ESB, Bord Gáis Éireann, EirGrid, Bord na Móna...

Written Answers — Public Sector Remuneration: Public Sector Remuneration (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: The Pension-Related Deduction (PRD) was introduced with effect from 1 March 2009 via the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2009. The Act was introduced in the context of the priority to be given to the stabilization of the public finances. The Act provided that savings accruing be remitted to the benefit of the Exchequer. The PRD rates and bands are: - First €...

Written Answers — Exchequer Statements: Exchequer Statements (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: The monthly Exchequer Statement presents the cumulative receipts into and issues from the Exchequer Account for the year to date. The expenditure issues for voted expenditure are based on the estimated requirements of Departments and Offices from the Supply Account of the Paymaster General and are net of appropriations-in-aid and thus funded on a net basis from the Exchequer Account. These...

Written Answers — Public Sector Remuneration: Public Sector Remuneration (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 274, 288 and 289 together. No specific financial provision is made to public service bodies in respect of increments as they are required to meet the cost within their overall pay allocations. Accordingly, as it is a matter for each public service body to manage the cost of increments on an individual basis within their individual pay allocations, details...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 275 to 277, inclusive, together. The provisional outturn data for lump sumps for 2011 is €600 million and the initial estimate of cost for 2012 is just over €600 million. Lump sum payments account for approximately 20% of the total pensions bill for these years. Data for earlier years is not available centrally. The cost of lump sums and the figures for...

Written Answers — Oireachtas Allowances: Oireachtas Allowances (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: Provision is made for the payment of an annual allowance of 9,500 euro to the chairpersons of each of fourteen Oireachtas Committees and an annual allowance of 3,100 euro to a chairperson of one further committee. The Committees are listed in the Oireachtas (Allowances) (Chairpersons of Oireachtas Committees) Order 2011, Statutory Instrument No. 530 of 2011. The Government has made no...

Written Answers — Voluntary Redundancy Schemes: Voluntary Redundancy Schemes (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: There are no plans at this time for a voluntary redundancy scheme at the Office of Public Works.

Written Answers — Local Loans Fund: Local Loans Fund (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: The Local Loans Fund was created as a mechanism to provide loans to local authorities for various purposes including on-lending to individual house purchasers under the Small Dwellings Acts. Funds were made available to the Local Loans Fund from general Exchequer sources, which would include general Exchequer borrowing. There is no direct link between particular Government bonds and long term...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: I am informed by the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission that the direct costs of the Seanad (Senators' pay and allowances, senators' staff pay, and pay of the Seanad Office officials) come to approximately 9.2 million euro in 2012. In addition to these costs, account has to be taken of the shared indirect costs of the Oireachtas which support the Seanad (such as broadcasting, printing,...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 284 and 293 together. TLAC retirement terms do not apply where the Secretary General has been appointed to an appropriate position elsewhere in the Civil Service or in another area of the Public Service, or is nominated to a post in an international institution. Given the Secretary General's appointment to the Court of Auditors, no enhanced superannuation...

Written Answers — Ministerial Staff: Ministerial Staff (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: As legislation was enacted in July 2011 to establish my Department, I am not in a position to provide relevant details for the period prior to then. Since my appointment as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform on 9 March 2011 the following staff members have been appointed as Special Advisers: Name Title Salary (per annum) Duties Anne Byrne Special Adviser €83,337 Any duties which...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: The Government announced a new National Internship Scheme as part of its Jobs Initiative programme, which was published on 10 May 2011. The National Internship Scheme, known as JobBridge, provides at any one time up to 5,000 work experience placements of 6 or 9 months for unemployed individuals in organisations in the private, public and voluntary sectors. It is a time-limited scheme for a...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: Section 51 of the Bill, as is made clear by the title of Chapter 4 of the Bill in which it appears, applies to all public service pension schemes. The section provides for abatement and for a public service-wide 'cap' of forty years pensionable service. These are standard public service pension provisions in individual schemes but may not, at present, always consistently apply on an...

Written Answers — Public Service Recruitment: Public Service Recruitment (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: The criteria for recruitment of staff to the public service are determined in the context of the Government's budgetary and policy framework. While the primary focus of public service numbers policy will remain the reduction in the public service pay bill, there must also be an opportunity for selective recruitment in the coming years to reinforce the upskilling and reforming of the public...

Written Answers — Departmental Offices: Departmental Offices (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: In response to the Deputy's question, The Office of Public Works is the property manager for the civil service. The Office Public Works have informed me that while it would be normal practice to have a management company involved in the maintenance/management of facilities such as apartment blocks, the position in multi occupancy commercial office buildings is different. If the OPW, or any...

Written Answers — Freedom of Information: Freedom of Information (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: My Department is at an advanced stage in the preparation of the General Scheme of a Bill to give effect to the commitments in the Programme for Government in relation to Freedom of Information. Subject to Government approval I expect to be in a position to introduce the necessary legislative measures to give effect to these commitments over the first half of the year.