Results 13,861-13,880 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Creation Issues (10 Oct 2012)

Brendan Howlin: Is the Deputy going to walk out again?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Creation Issues (10 Oct 2012)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy must not be reading his speeches.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Creation Issues (10 Oct 2012)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy is not reading his speeches.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Creation Issues (10 Oct 2012)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy wishes that were the case.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Creation Issues (10 Oct 2012)

Brendan Howlin: They have not forgotten the damage done by the Deputy's party.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Creation Issues (10 Oct 2012)

Brendan Howlin: The people changed the Government last year. Unfortunately, they could not change the economy. We are fixing the broken economy that was left to us by the previous Government. We will fix it in our five-year term. I know the Deputy and his colleagues will not be of any help. Last year, we received their pre-budget submission the day before the budget, which was a most helpful input into...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Creation Issues (10 Oct 2012)

Brendan Howlin: Walk out again. Go on.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Creation Issues (10 Oct 2012)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy shouts people down and walks out because he cannot take it.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Creation Issues (10 Oct 2012)

Brendan Howlin: The problem with the Deputy is that he wants to declare year zero, as Pol Pot did, so that everything that happened before his party left office, having wrecked the economy, will be forgotten. That is not going to happen. We are setting out the record as it is. We are working incrementally to fix things. I have set out the three strands of the economic policy we will deliver. The first...

Other Questions: Public Sector Reform Review (10 Oct 2012)

Brendan Howlin: I am happy to confirm that the public service reform agenda has contributed to the Government's success to date in meeting all the budgetary targets we set under the medium-term fiscal statement of November 2011 and the broader EU-IMF programme. In particular, the move to introduce a medium-term expenditure framework, as set out in last December’s comprehensive 2012-14 expenditure...

Other Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (10 Oct 2012)

Brendan Howlin: Current estimates indicate that those on annual salaries of more than €100,000 represent less than 2% of the 292,000 whole-time equivalent staff who are employed in the public service at present.

Other Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (10 Oct 2012)

Brendan Howlin: This question is being taken individually. The number of staff on salaries of more than €100,000 who are eligible for increments is much smaller than the number of staff on more than €100,000. With regard to the payment of increments to this cohort of staff, my Department has access to detailed data on increments only in the Civil Service, for which I have direct responsibility....

Other Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (10 Oct 2012)

Brendan Howlin: I am taken by what the Deputy says. Needless to say, it is something I have considered. I have argued in general terms it is an increase and I know people sometimes categorise it as a wage increase. By and large, the great bulk of people who are on increments are at the lowest level, the starting grade, as I have argued. I have looked to whether I could just disaggregate that sector at...

Other Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (10 Oct 2012)

Brendan Howlin: Some come in and some come out. They have reached the top.

Other Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (10 Oct 2012)

Brendan Howlin: It is an important issue. I have an open mind in addressing all of these issues but I want to do it on the basis of what is fair and reasonable. I want to make sure I am not making decisions where the optics look good but which would actually put at risk a far bigger prize in terms of the importance of the FEMPI legislation and the contribution it is making to the national coffers. The...

Other Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (10 Oct 2012)

Brendan Howlin: I am sure we will have wider space for discussions on these matters at committee. I have discussed this issue with Deputy McDonald in general terms in regard to high pay. She and I differ in that she has an absolutist view that nobody should be paid more than €100,000 in the public service - that is her general principle.

Other Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (10 Oct 2012)

Brendan Howlin: My problem with that is that we would not get people to work in certain categories. We would not get doctors and consultants so we would have a private health system, and either the public purse would have to pay to get access to it or there would be an American system-----

Other Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (10 Oct 2012)

Brendan Howlin: It pays more than €100,000. We will debate this. I assure the Deputy we are facing real challenges. We have a way to go to get to the 2.9% deficit target. I will certainly keep under advisement all of the issues that contribute towards the very difficult objectives we have. Deputy Wallace asked about paying tax. What can I say?

Other Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (10 Oct 2012)

Brendan Howlin: I am trying to formulate a response. I am not the Minister for Finance and taxation matters are a matter for him. However, I would encourage everybody to pay the taxes that are properly levied by this Oireachtas. Again, taxation matters are a matter for the Minister for Finance. Deputy Griffin referred to increments generally. All of the information is available in line Departments...

Other Questions: Office of the Ombudsman Status (10 Oct 2012)

Brendan Howlin: These issues were, in fact, debated in some detail in the course of the Committee Stage debate on the Ombudsman (Amendment) Bill 2010 in the Seanad last week. Since the debate is ongoing in the other House I am not sure how far we can stray into it. I intend to debate as widely as you will allow, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. In relation to the prisons, the Minister for Justice and Equality...