Results 15,541-15,560 of 32,961 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Brexit Issues (22 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The Government priority now is to work towards the finalisation of the draft Withdrawal Agreement and the political declaration on the EU-UK future relationship. Any Brexit scenario will mean change and impact for Ireland. My Department is working within the whole-of-Government framework overseen by the Department of Foreign Affairs to mitigate the economic impact of Brexit and to...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Economic Policy (22 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: As Minister for Finance, I attend the Economic and Financial Affairs Council of the European Union (ECOFIN) which is responsible for EU policy in areas including economic policy. I also attend meetings of the Eurogroup, where the Ministers of the euro area Member States discuss matters concerning their shared responsibilities related to the euro. The Eurogroup’s main task is to ensure...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Economic Growth (22 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Ireland’s economy is expected to continue to grow at a robust pace in the coming years. As I outlined in Budget 2019, my Department has forecast GDP growth of 7.5 per cent this year and 4.2 per cent in 2019. This growth is expected to be broad based, with both domestic demand and net exports making positive contributions. Indeed, modified domestic demand, which strips out some of...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Economic Policy (22 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The Department of Finance continues to monitor developments in the construction and housing sectors with a view to identifying potential macroeconomic risks. The biggest such risk is a continuation of the present situation, in which supply falls significantly short of demand. If left unchecked, this shortage could increase affordability pressures, damage our competitiveness and harm our...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Economic Competitiveness (22 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The economic recovery in Ireland was driven by a significant improvement in competitiveness, through productivity increases and wage and price moderation. The economy maintains this competitiveness today. Ireland’s real harmonised competitiveness indicator, a widely-used measure of competitiveness published by the Central Bank, has improved by approximately 21 per cent since its peak...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Insurance Costs (22 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: As you are aware, the Cost of Insurance Working Group published its Report on the Cost of Motor Insurance on 10 January 2017.  The Report makes 33 recommendations with 71 associated actions to be carried out in agreed timeframes, set out in an Action Plan within the Report.  Work is ongoing on the implementation of the recommendations by the relevant Government...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Economic Competitiveness (22 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: As published in Budget 2019, my Department has forecast GDP growth of 7.5 per cent this year and 4.2 per cent in 2019. This growth is expected to be broad based, with both domestic demand and net exports making positive contributions. Indeed, modified domestic demand is forecast to grow by 5.2 per cent this year and by 4.1 per cent in 2019. As a barometer of how well our...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Reliefs Data (22 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 65 and 66 together. I propose to take these two questions together as they relate to the flat rate expense regime operated by Revenue. I am aware that there have been some recent updates to Revenue’s concessionary flat rate expenses regime. In the first instance, it is important to note that there has been no change to the general rule set out in...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: NAMA Loans Sale (22 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The Comptroller and Auditor General is independent in the exercise of his functions and therefore my Department does not have access to the information requested.  The C&AG does report publicly on material findings emerging from his work. Chapter 6 of the C&AG's second progress report on NAMA, published in June 2018, examined the processes applied by NAMA in eleven loan...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Economic Policy (22 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: As I outlined in Budget 2019, our economy is in good shape. Following GDP growth of 7.2 per cent in 2017, GDP is forecast to grow by 7.5 per cent this year. While the GDP figures can be misleading in an Irish context, a broader range of measures including labour market and tax revenue developments confirm the economy is performing strongly. Despite the rapid rate of growth, the main...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Employment Investment Incentive Scheme (22 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Finance Bill 2018 provides for a number of changes to the operation of the Employment Investment Incentive (“EII”). One of these is putting the claims on a self-assessment basis, with the company responsible for judging whether or not it meets the company conditions, and the individual investors responsible for judging whether or not they meet the investor conditions. ...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Protected Disclosures (22 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The Protected Disclosures Act 2014 provides robust statutory protections for workers against the real or potential penalisation by their employers where they have brought concerns about wrongdoing in the workplace to light.  The Act provides for a "stepped" dislcosure regime in which a number of distinct disclosure channels are available - internal, "regulatory" and external - which the...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff Retirements (22 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I refer the Deputy to my answer to PQ 46505/18 of 13 November 2018.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Broadband Plan Funding (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Under the public spending code, value for money reviews are conducted on existing programmes of expenditure and are targeted at areas of significant expenditure where there is the greatest potential for them to add value and influence policy developments. These are ex post evaluations. The Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment is the sponsoring agency for the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Broadband Plan Funding (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy is correct regarding how much money is currently profiled for this in the NDP. Under it, I acknowledge that depending on the decision the Government makes, the amount that might be needed for the national broadband plan could increase. We have to make a decision in that respect in the coming period. If additional funding is put in to fund the NBP, it can come from two...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Broadband Plan Funding (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: On the first question I do not have the exact amount of money the European Investment Bank has committed to the national broadband plan, but I will get the information and send it on to the Deputy. On the second question, as I said if the national broadband plan needs additional funding within the national development plan, that funding could only be provided in one of two ways: either...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The status of pay negotiations is that we are in the first year of a three year collective agreement to progressively dismantle emergency legislation, giving individual public servants benefits of between 7.4% and 6.2%, or up to 10% for new entrants hired after 2012. Unwinding the emergency legislation has been a priority for the Government and we have ring-fenced substantial resources to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: On recruitment, between October 2013 and October 2018, the number of nurses and midwives has increased by 10%, or 3,300 full-time equivalents. Since 2011 alone, 10,000 new entrants have joined as nurses and midwives. Significant recruitment has taken place in both those areas in recent years. At this point having negotiated an agreement in good faith with all our public and civil servants,...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: We have a mode and a format for engagement with the nursing unions, which is the oversight committee of the Public Service Stability Agreement. Officials from my Department are key participants within the committee. Through that we have the opportunity to engage directly, for example, with the nursing unions, on any issue that pertains to the Public Service Stability Agreement. I again...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Expenditure (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Managing the delivery of public services within allocations forms a key part of the responsibilities of every Minister and Department. My Department is in regular contact with all other Departments and offices to ensure that expenditure is being managed within the overall budgetary parameters. The drawdown of funds from the Exchequer is reported on each month against expenditure...