Results 14,901-14,920 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Oireachtas Members' Salaries (26 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Significant reductions have been effected to the pay, allowances and expenses of Ministers and TDs through a number of measures since 2009. The Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Acts of 2009 introduced a progressive pension related deduction, to apply from March 2009, and a reduction in remuneration, effective from January 2010, respectively, for all public servants,...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Agencies (26 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: In response to the Deputy’s query the following is a list of payment of bonuses or other performance related payments and or allowances that were made to the staff of agencies under the aegis of my Department: Office of the Ombudsman Year Bonuses (scheme of performance related awards for posts at Assistant Secretary level) Performance Related Payments (Merit Awards)...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Agencies (26 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: In response to the Deputy’s question the following table outlines the details of payments made to the CEO or equivalent of all agencies under the aegis of my Department in 2012: Agency Title Salary Employer Pension Contribution Institute of Public Administration Director General €188,952.00 €65,377.00 Office of the Ombudsman Director General €146,649.71...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Pension Provisions (26 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I am aware that you wrote to me last year on behalf of the person in question. While I understand that it had been anticipated that the issue would have been finalised by now, I am informed by my officials that the case in fact gave rise to complex legal and policy issues and had implications beyond a single individual. Officials within my Department are currently however finalizing a...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts (26 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The scope for including social considerations in public contracts is something that I have been examining closely recently. In this regard, I would refer the Deputy to my reply on this issue (PQ 3066/13 - answered 23/01/13). The inclusion of a social clause in all public procurement contracts requiring that a quota young unemployed people or long-term unemployed be employed in the delivery...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministerial Meetings (26 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I met representatives of the Public Services Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in December last regarding the commencement of discussions with public service management on a new agenda for reductions in the cost of delivering public services and substantial longer term productivity improvements and workplace reforms. Furthermore, I attended a plenary meeting of the parties...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Outsourcing of Public Services (26 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Evaluating opportunities for the external delivery of some non-core public services is an action in the Public Service Reform Plan agreed by Government in November 2011. In July 2012, the Government agreed a range of actions aimed at achieving a focused and integrated approach to external service delivery of non-core processes with the objective of reducing costs and focusing staff resources...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Proposed Legislation (26 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: As the Deputy will be aware, I strongly support the objective of undertaking an effective and legally robust parliamentary banking inquiry. I wish to advise the Deputy that the Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2012 is currently at an advanced stage in the drafting process and is expected to be published in the spring session. As set out in the General...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Reform Implementation (26 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The need for careful evaluation and appraisal of all significant areas of expenditure, including those contained in the Government’s Public Service Reform Plan, is essential, especially in the context of on-going resource constraints. The Government's approach to addressing the management of expenditure over the medium-term has been clearly set out in the Comprehensive Expenditure...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: EU Programmes (26 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: At the meeting of the European Council in Brussels on 7/8 February 2013, EU Heads of State and Government agreed to the inclusion of a special allocation of €150 million for a new PEACE Programme in the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2014-2020. This special allocation, which was not provided for in the European Commission’s original MFF proposal, was included...

Leaders' Questions (27 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: We have not withdrawn it. It is still there.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Croke Park Agreement (27 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 5 together. Last December on behalf of Government I extended an invitation to the members of the public services committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to enter discussions with public service management on a new agenda for reductions in the cost of delivery of public services and substantial longer-term productivity improvements and workplace...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Croke Park Agreement (27 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Absolute rubbish.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Croke Park Agreement (27 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Any day now.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Croke Park Agreement (27 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I am surprised and somewhat disappointed by the attitude of the Deputy opposite. The premise on which he asked his questions is false. The annual amount of savings required is €1 billion. It starts this year, although clearly this will be a half year, and it will ratchet up to €1 billion in annualised savings by 2015. The Deputy's percentages are wrong, therefore. In...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Croke Park Agreement (27 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy is not asking questions because she does not want to hear answers.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Croke Park Agreement (27 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: She came to her conclusion before the document was even published. Within an hour of the conclusion of the talks she was on the national airwaves denouncing the agreement and those who had negotiated it, in a shocking and shabby abuse of people who had worked hard to represent their members. She did not even have the courtesy to read the document before she came to her venomous conclusion....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Croke Park Agreement (27 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Chair might well say this is Question Time, but Deputy Mary Lou McDonald has never been interested in answers, just in back of the lorry speeches denying the realities and the facts. This is a fair deal and it is now a matter for individual workers to come to their own conclusions on it. We need to make these savings. This is a negotiated deal that the workers' representatives...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pensions (27 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The position on the pensions of senior public service retirees, including the groups referred to in the Deputy’s question, is kept under review constantly by my Department. In this context, it is important to point out that, over the course of recent years, several measures have been taken by the Government which serve to substantially reduce pension awards and pensions in payment to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pensions (27 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I have acknowledged from the outset of this Government's term in office that I regard the pensions of former officeholders and some retired senior public servants as excessive. I sought to deal with the matter virtually immediately when I took up my current position. That is why I introduced the additional pension reduction in the 2011 FEMPI legislation. It is true that I sought the advice...