Results 14,541-14,560 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pay (20 Dec 2012)

Brendan Howlin: My Department has access to detailed data on increments only in the Civil Service sector, for which I have direct responsibility. On increments generally, based on updated information submitted to my Department on the total cost of increments in a full year in the various sectors, the full year cost of increments in the public service (excluding the Local Authority sector) is now estimated at...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Social Welfare Code (20 Dec 2012)

Brendan Howlin: I am advised by my colleague, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, that the delivery of means tested payments is constantly under review and that there are two important projects currently underway in the Department of Social Protection which will streamline the delivery of means tested payments. The objective of the first project is to facilitate the capture and...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Allowances (20 Dec 2012)

Brendan Howlin: Departments were notified by my Department on 28th September 2012 of details of the Government decision in relation to the outcome of the Review of Public Sector Allowances and Premium Pay. Copies of these letters, detailing allowances to be abolished for new beneficiaries and allowances to be approved for new beneficiaries but subject to review and/or modification are publicly available on...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pay (20 Dec 2012)

Brendan Howlin: The then Minister for Finance Mr. Brian Lenihan announced in Budget 2011 that a 10% reduction would apply to the pay rates of new entrant public servants with effect from 1 January 2011. It would not be normal practice to consult the Equality Authority on an announcement made as part of the Budget nor on matters of public service pay policy. They have not contacted my Department on the...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Rural Social Scheme (20 Dec 2012)

Brendan Howlin: I understand that my colleague the Minister for Social Protection and her Department are reviewing the range of employment support schemes and will assess the contribution of each programme to that Department’s labour market policy framework. As set out in the recent Expenditure Report 2013, a range of Focused Policy Assessments (FPAs) are currently underway within my Department, and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I thank the committee for facilitating this meeting. The President of the European Commission and all European Commissioners are in town and we spent the morning having very constructive dialogue, not only on our Presidency agenda but on matters which are very important to the country, and I greatly appreciate the Chairman facilitating my late arrival. We will take the speech as read. The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I am at the mercy of the Dáil and Seanad with regard to its enactment, but my ambition is that it will be published during this session.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Does the Chairman wish me to mention the fees issue separately?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: In terms of non-public bodies, we have extended the Ombudsman's remit to bodies that are not de jure public bodies, but are substantially funded by the public. Under that remit, they will make full disclosures of their activities and how those relate to the public in the normal way. The legislation will affect them to the same degree as it affects public bodies. Restrictions and safeguards...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: We have approached the Bill by not being prescriptive or trawling through every body to decide which is in and which is out. Instead, we have set out criteria, namely, the absolute level of funding provided to the body, who gives the money if it comes from the public purse, the percentage that comes from the public purse, the significant funding provided annually as opposed to a one-off...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: They would be subject to the same scrutiny as a public body under the Freedom of Information Act. The normal exemptions in terms of commercial transactions and so on would apply.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: It will be a balance. I have held discussions with my colleague, the Minister for Finance, regarding these issues. The NAMA suite of companies - I will not list them all or their acronyms - operate in a very challenging commercial and economic environment. They handle deals that are commercially sensitive on a real-time basis. Important safeguards that ensure the well being of the State...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: That is a specific question, but I will answer in a general way. As the Chairman can imagine, organisations such as the Garda Síochána are reluctant to enter this territory at all. It regards any trespass into this territory as being almost dangerous. As such, I am pleased that we have an agreement at Government level - I hope that the Dáil also agrees - to the effect that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I thank Deputy Fleming for his questions and for taking the considerable trouble of drafting his own Bill, which was helpful in terms of allowing debate on the issue prior to finalisation by Government of its own Bill and in pushing the hands of Government, which is a useful thing to do on issues of importance. I was glad to be able to accept it. My officials will take note of everything...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I have an open mind on the fees issue. I do not want the systems to be overwhelmed by people submitting reams of freedom of information requests. However, many people have overcome the fee structure by simply submitting multiple requests in a number of subsets under a single freedom of information request. It is a moot point. We are now in a situation where we want administration in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: No. It would actually cost money to do the analysis of the administrative costs of every freedom of information request. We do not automatically do that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: It is a fair point but I do not wish to spend a lot of money asking every agency to track the proportion of the time spent to send out a fee notice or to collect a fee. I will have regard to it, now that the Deputy has made that point. I believe, as a general principle, that what I have set out is logical and reasonable. We are charging for base, non-personal information a fee that covers...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Personal files and the like.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (10 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: On the defence question, defence will be included but a test will be established. It will be a balance between the public interest to know and the potential to cause or do harm. That is the determination that will have to be made. On the question about Shannon, if I was making the determination, I would not see that it could demonstrably cause more harm than the public right to know. That...