Results 16,241-16,260 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The net question the Chairman is asking is where we are at now. One does not want it to be a secret until the end of the year only to have it come as a surprise. I think that was the genesis of his proposal. Up to the end of May, on the expenditure side, every line Department except one is under profile. One Department - the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht - is over...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Everyone else is below profile. I will not take great exception for a €1 million overspend profile at this juncture for the Department in question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Fianna Fáil's target was €5 billion.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy has raised a number of questions. There is a tad of normal cynicism from the Deputy. He is neither for nor against things. He is half for and half against them, but I suppose that is a good way to be. On the target, I do not have a piece of paper to prove what I have said on the record. In the original documentation, the paragraph that has been quoted so often is predicated...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The only promise I made and I will make it again, is that there will be no fire sale. There will be due diligence. We will sell nothing that does not get value. If we do not get a fair price we will sell nothing. I have said that from the beginning. If the Deputies think that we should sell Aer Lingus at any price in any circumstances, under any conditions, they will be on their own....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy is wrong when he talks about a large chunk of the €3 billion not proceeding. The only thing that I said is not proceeding is the Coillte sale. The ESB sale is still possible but it is not appropriate now because there is due diligence happening. We are awaiting the report of the Competition Authority in the UK and we want to make sure it is strategically right.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: What did I say?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I meant Aer Lingus, of course.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: A Freudian slip indeed. The sum originally, if one looks at the share value of Aer Lingus when we announced the sale, was of the order of €90 million so in the context of €3 billion it could hardly be described as any significant "chunk". It is more like a sliver or splinter, in the terms of Coillte I suppose, than a sizeable chunk. That is realistic. The vast bulk of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I am very confident that the moneys we have set out will be fully available to carry out the stimulus package that I have outlined.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I have not taken Aer Lingus off the for sale list. It is not for sale now because it is not appropriate until we see what the impact of-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Aer Lingus is not for sale now because it does not make sense strategically for Ireland. Until we see the shape of the airline industry, access and so on-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Can I answer the question? That is the view of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport. I repeat the point I made to Deputy Fleming. It is a tiny part in terms of the overall value. On the Deputy's other question on whether I regard the sale of the harvesting rights of Coillte as strategic, I do not.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: If the Deputy asked the question, I will answer it. We grow trees for the purpose. Coillte is a commercial State company.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: It is not growing trees for ornamentation, although it sells Christmas trees for ornamentation. It is a producer of timber for the timber industry. Just as a farmer grows crops for sale, it would be perverse to think one could not sell the crops. We will sell the trees but the proposal to do an advanced sale on the basis we had proposed is completely different.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy has put a nonsensical twist on what I said.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Not as long as I have any say in the matter.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: We are engaged in ongoing discussions with the troika which evolve. Obviously, not everything is on the agenda right now. We do not know the value which will accrue from our holdings. We have delivered on every commitment we have made to the troika.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: It is not.