Results 16,561-16,580 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 201: Report and Final Stages (3 Jul 2013)

Brendan Howlin: A future promise.

Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 201: Report and Final Stages (3 Jul 2013)

Brendan Howlin: As I informed the Deputy on Committee Stage, the Government is defined in the Constitution, which sets out the role and principles under which the Government operates. A decision of Government represents a decision undertaken by the Government acting collectively, inclusive of all members of the Government. The word "Government" in the Bill automatically constitutionally and legally...

Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 201: Report and Final Stages (3 Jul 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I do not think I will breach Cabinet confidentiality if I state every decision on a budget, including the two most recent budgets in which we have been involved, was individually and then collectively agreed by every individual member of the Government.

Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 201: Report and Final Stages (3 Jul 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The policy issues raised in the amendments, as I said on Committee Stage, are different from the subject matter of the Bill. We had a disagreement on the matter. This Bill is ultimately concerned with the technical rules for setting limits on expenditure. The fact that I used the word “technical” on Committee Stage caused some ire with the Deputy opposite but that is the fact...

Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 201: Report and Final Stages (3 Jul 2013)

Brendan Howlin: This is a technical debate about what is practical in the circumstances. I argued on Committee Stage and I still argue that the form of words, "as soon as may be" is more appropriate as there might be circumstances where the Dáil might not be sitting for any period for a decision to be laid immediately before the Dáil. The normal phrase "as soon as may be" is understood to be an...

Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 201: Report and Final Stages (3 Jul 2013)

Brendan Howlin: As soon as may be.

Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 201: Report and Final Stages (3 Jul 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I hope it will survive ten years.

Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 201: Report and Final Stages (3 Jul 2013)

Brendan Howlin: We have discussed this matter. A subset of issues are involved. As the House is aware, from this year on, the budget announcement on the expenditure and the taxation sides will take place on 15 October each year. This forms part of the new European semester to which we have all agreed. We will not have a two-phased budget, that is, where the Estimates will be published in advance. When I...

Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 201: Report and Final Stages (3 Jul 2013)

Brendan Howlin: -----in the final determination and so on. It would be odd to set a ceiling by statutory instrument and then alter it a month later. All the budgetary arithmetic happens on the night of the budget. We lay out the fiscal parameters and both the expenditure and taxation sides are done. With regard to regulation, the multi-annual ceiling expenditure will be set out as part of the...

Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 201: Report and Final Stages (3 Jul 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Yes. PRSI was part of the net figures.

Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 201: Report and Final Stages (3 Jul 2013)

Brendan Howlin: It is part of the budgetary documentation which is given on the day of the budget, as is normal.

Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 201: Report and Final Stages (3 Jul 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Yes.

Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 201: Report and Final Stages (3 Jul 2013)

Brendan Howlin: It is given to every Deputy as the budgetary process is unfolding, so they can have a comprehensive view of it.

Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 201: Report and Final Stages (3 Jul 2013)

Brendan Howlin: It was new.

Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 201: Report and Final Stages (3 Jul 2013)

Brendan Howlin: We discussed this matter on Committee Stage. The Bill is ultimately concerned with the technical rules for setting multi-annual limits on expenditure. It is a short and discrete Bill in that regard. I do not propose that sub-components of expenditure should be set out by way of regulation within these departmental ceilings. I understand why Deputy Fleming would make a point concerning...

Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 201: Report and Final Stages (3 Jul 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I do not have with me the public financial procedures booklet which all good civil servants carry around with them so they can check the rules therein. The Deputy is correct to the extent that there are things intuitively one would think are capital rather than current expenditure and vice versa. On the Deputy's specific question in relation to the €150 million, the €50...

Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 201: Report and Final Stages (3 Jul 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I sought clarification on the matter.

Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 201: Report and Final Stages (3 Jul 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I am almost afraid to read out the legal response I was given in relation to this issue. Apparently, one cannot in law ask people to not do something. The word "endorse" encompasses both. It will allow the fiscal council the binary option of endorsing or choosing not to endorse as it considers appropriate. The binary option is encompassed in the word "endorse". It is understood, legal...

Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 201: Report and Final Stages (3 Jul 2013)

Brendan Howlin: It is the response to my further inquiries of the advisory council from the Office of the Attorney General.

Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 201: Report and Final Stages (3 Jul 2013)

Brendan Howlin: On the amendment, the Deputy's suggestion relates to the possibility that the fiscal council could endorse a set of forecasts in advance of a budget and that last minute budgetary measures, involving contraction-stimulation of the economy or on the price side, would have to be taken into consideration in the final forecast. However, existing procedures under the agreed two pack will allow...