Results 13,081-13,100 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Sale of State Assets (24 Apr 2012)

Brendan Howlin: The Government remains committed under the EU-ECB-IMF funding programme to outlining in detail for the troika, by the end of the second quarter, end of June 2012, the specific regulatory, legislative, corporate governance and financial reforms which need to be taken in 2012, ensuring consistency with relevant EU legislation where necessary, to allow for the asset sale programme to proceed in...

Sale of State Assets (24 Apr 2012)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy raises two points. I would welcome his support for not including the national lottery licence in the asset sales being discussed. The troika has not discussed this with me. I announced this in the context of the capital programme last year because I want to use the bulk of the up-front payment to pay for the national children's hospital. I do not want that dislodged and would...

Sale of State Assets (24 Apr 2012)

Brendan Howlin: There will be no question of selling off the family silver. From the beginning, we have said that we negotiated a programme for Government with Fine Gael. I am responding to questions here as a Member of the Government, not as a Labour Party member. The Labour Party makes up one third of the Government and we negotiated a programme for Government which includes a sale of State assets and...

EU-IMF Programme (24 Apr 2012)

Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 118 and 130 together. I met with the troika delegation on 17 April together with my colleague, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, and a number of senior officials from our Departments. The purpose of the meeting was to exchange views on how the programme is progressing in terms of meeting our targets since the previous quarterly review. This is...

EU-IMF Programme (24 Apr 2012)

Brendan Howlin: Of course the macroeconomic situation was discussed with the troika. We discussed the specific details of our own economy and also the position of this economy within the European context and in the global context, which is very important. The objective of this programme is to get us back to normal funding. The Government's yardstick is always the question of whether it is working. Deputy...

EU-IMF Programme (24 Apr 2012)

Brendan Howlin: No. The troika did not raise that issue with us and we did not raise it during the current round.

Leaders' Questions (24 Apr 2012)

Brendan Howlin: Does Deputy Tóibín not want them?

Leaders' Questions (24 Apr 2012)

Brendan Howlin: We would not like to living in Deputy Boyd Barrett's planet.

Leaders' Questions (24 Apr 2012)

Brendan Howlin: He has done nothing else.

Written Answers — National Lottery: National Lottery (24 Apr 2012)

Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 119, 121, 132 and 140 together. As the Deputies are aware, I announced on 4 April 2012 that the Government has decided to hold a competition for the next National Lottery licence and that the licence will be for a 20 year period. The new licence will involve an upfront payment to the State, with some of the payment being used to help fund the building of the...

Written Answers — Public Service Remuneration: Public Service Remuneration (24 Apr 2012)

Brendan Howlin: While comparisons of public servants' pay rates across different countries are difficult to achieve on a "like for like" basis, the best available figures are those published by the OECD as part of its "Government at a Glance 2010" report. I understand it is this data which the Public Sector Trends 2011 research paper draws upon for its conclusions in relation to international pay...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (24 Apr 2012)

Brendan Howlin: The table below sets out the difference between the net current and capital expenditure positions extracted from the Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2012 – 2014, published on 5 December 2011 and the Revised Estimates for Public Services 2012, published on 23 February 2012. The overall change is a reduction of €1.38 million or 0.003%. The individual changes to Departmental...

Written Answers — Public Service Reform: Public Service Reform (24 Apr 2012)

Brendan Howlin: Shared services is a core element of the Public Service Reform agenda which is being driven by my Department. Given the scale of the reform challenge facing us and the increasing demand for Public Services, it is vital that we begin to deliver back-office business processes at a higher service quality. The Public Service Reform Plan published in November 2011 sets out aggressive timelines...

Written Answers — Public Service Remuneration: Public Service Remuneration (24 Apr 2012)

Brendan Howlin: I refer to my reply to Question No. 2856/12 of 18 January 2012.

Written Answers — Public Service Staff: Public Service Staff (24 Apr 2012)

Brendan Howlin: The Employment Control Framework (ECF) for 2012 set a ceiling of 294,400 on public service staffing numbers by the end of this year. This will allow scope for some targeted recruitment of up to 3,000 in 2012 so as to address needs in key areas of front-line services, particularly in the Health and Education Sectors and other strategic requirements including the EU presidency in 2013. The...

Written Answers — Sale of State Assets: Sale of State Assets (24 Apr 2012)

Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 127 and 131 together. I am happy to report to the House that significant progress has been made on advancing the asset disposal programme that I announced last February. A number of inter-departmental working groups have been established to examine each of the assets referred to in my announcement and NewERA has prepared two very thorough financial reports...

Written Answers — Public Service Staff: Public Service Staff (24 Apr 2012)

Brendan Howlin: A three month notice period was introduced as a temporary measure to assist management across the public service in dealing with the large number of retirements of staff in the run up to the end of the "grace period" - i.e. the period during which the calculation of pension was unaffected by the pay reductions applied under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No 2) Act...

Written Answers — Public Service Reform: Public Service Reform (24 Apr 2012)

Brendan Howlin: As the Deputy will be aware there is a commitment in the Public Service Reform Plan that every Purchase Order by a Government Department or Agency for €20,000 or over should be published online by the end of 2012. My Secretary General wrote to all Secretaries General on March 27th, asking that they put appropriate processes in place to ensure that this ambitious target is met. The Reform...

Written Answers — Tribunals of Inquiry: Tribunals of Inquiry (24 Apr 2012)

Brendan Howlin: Recommendation 62.15 of the Moriarty Tribunal Report (March 2011) is that the Standards Commission could appoint an inspector to audit the financial affairs of an office holder, within meaning of the Ethics Acts, by the voluntary and positive election of the office holder, at any time during his/her period in office and for a defined period thereafter. I am examining another possible...

Written Answers — Tribunals of Inquiry: Tribunals of Inquiry (24 Apr 2012)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy will be aware that the Government has referred the report to the Garda Commissioner, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Revenue Commissioners and to the Standards in Public Office Commission. The Dáil has fully debated the Report and the Government is considering its response to the findings and recommendations.