Results 15,001-15,020 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Finance Act 2004 (Section 91) (Deferred Surrender to the Central Fund) Order 2013: Motion (28 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The water is still local.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Finance Act 2004 (Section 91) (Deferred Surrender to the Central Fund) Order 2013: Motion (28 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I will leave it for the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to explain Leader and the new integrated community and enterprise structures in detail. It is, however, a good idea. I was involved in the initial modelling under the better local government programme of extending the umbrella between local authorities and community development groups. That was an...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Finance Act 2004 (Section 91) (Deferred Surrender to the Central Fund) Order 2013: Motion (28 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I have a very close liaison with the NDFA. It is part of the NTMA family so it comes under the Department of Finance, but the Secretary General of my Department is a board member of the NDFA. The NDFA is very proactive and my staff and I meet with the NDFA all the time. When I go to meetings with the European Investment Bank or others, a representative from the NDFA normally attends also....

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Finance Act 2004 (Section 91) (Deferred Surrender to the Central Fund) Order 2013: Motion (28 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Excellent.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Finance Act 2004 (Section 91) (Deferred Surrender to the Central Fund) Order 2013: Motion (28 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: That is a point Deputy Fleming raised. I had a concern. The only area in which I saw a porousness between current and capital spending was in the HSE. The staff in the HSE felt that money was money. We need to have very clear segregation not only between current and capital spending, which is very basic. Money voted for mental health services should be spent on that, or moneys voted for...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Finance Act 2004 (Section 91) (Deferred Surrender to the Central Fund) Order 2013: Motion (28 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: That is a very pointed question and I am also going to be very pointed as I asked a similar question recently. The filling of potholes is funded by an Exchequer grant to supplement the matching funding by the local authority to some degree. The degree of matching funding varies significantly. I am afraid Cork County Council is not great at providing significant matching funds.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Finance Act 2004 (Section 91) (Deferred Surrender to the Central Fund) Order 2013: Motion (28 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I do not know, I have looked at the situation in County Cork.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Finance Act 2004 (Section 91) (Deferred Surrender to the Central Fund) Order 2013: Motion (28 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The local authority in County Kerry puts a significant level of its own resources into matching funds and it sees the filling of potholes as a priority. One of the points I have been making is that we cannot reward bad practice. If one does not spend one's own money, it is bad practice that the Exchequer will give the body more resources. Whereas a county that gives priority to the...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Finance Act 2004 (Section 91) (Deferred Surrender to the Central Fund) Order 2013: Motion (28 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The figures are accurate.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Finance Act 2004 (Section 91) (Deferred Surrender to the Central Fund) Order 2013: Motion (28 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I will check that fact for the Chairman. Normally this is what the Department requests. I will ask my officials and come back to the Deputy.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Finance Act 2004 (Section 91) (Deferred Surrender to the Central Fund) Order 2013: Motion (28 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Chairman has been in touch with me on having quarterly oversight of it. I think the capital side of it should be part of that process. Obviously capital is not spent in the same way as current expenditure. There are no neat quarterly outgoings and one could have a significant spend at the end of the year, the way things happen. It would be no harm if the committee kept an eye on that too.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Finance Act 2004 (Section 91) (Deferred Surrender to the Central Fund) Order 2013: Motion (28 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I will ensure that happens as well.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Finance Act 2004 (Section 91) (Deferred Surrender to the Central Fund) Order 2013: Motion (28 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Unspent money - rather than savings

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Finance Act 2004 (Section 91) (Deferred Surrender to the Central Fund) Order 2013: Motion (28 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: There could be a variety of reasons. In a major project, the actual timing of the payment schedule, it could result from a delay in planning and a variety of other reasons. It does not mean the project is not going ahead.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Finance Act 2004 (Section 91) (Deferred Surrender to the Central Fund) Order 2013: Motion (28 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: It is probably a misnomer.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Finance Act 2004 (Section 91) (Deferred Surrender to the Central Fund) Order 2013: Motion (28 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Yes, unspent.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Finance Act 2004 (Section 91) (Deferred Surrender to the Central Fund) Order 2013: Motion (28 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I am discovering some of the things-----

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Finance Act 2004 (Section 91) (Deferred Surrender to the Central Fund) Order 2013: Motion (28 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I discovered, for example, that the new naval vessel under construction is categorised as current expenditure. One would expect it to be considered capital expenditure but for some reason it is-----

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Finance Act 2004 (Section 91) (Deferred Surrender to the Central Fund) Order 2013: Motion (28 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: When I ask these questions the definition provided is that something is a consumable and deemed to be consumed once it is provided, for example, in the case of Garda vehicles. Perhaps the sub-committee will examine this issue.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Finance Act 2004 (Section 91) (Deferred Surrender to the Central Fund) Order 2013: Motion (28 Feb 2013)

Brendan Howlin: These things are not written in stone. I have moved Garda vehicles to the capital side. As the Deputies will be aware, I provided a capital grant of €5 million this year to acquire more Garda vehicles. It is easier to find capital moneys than it is to find current expenditure, although perhaps I should not say that loudly.