Results 1,681-1,700 of 32,547 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: Therefore the total compensation is 3.9% for someone in receipt of the 35-year allowance.

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: It would really help us get a grip on the big picture if Mr. Ó Foghlú could update those two tables in the way we discussed. From the big picture, I want to go to micro issues and go back to a theme explored by Deputy Harris. He lightly touched on the table entitled Department of Education, details of allowances paid in the university sector, which Mr. Burke also raised. I will...

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: I am referring to row 47 of that table - Mr. Ó Foghlú might be on the wrong document. This is the Excel spreadsheet he sent to us. It is the submission to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. It relates to the university sector. Row 47 relates to tutor payments to people working in universities. A tutor role is pretty frequent within our third-level establishments....

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: Let me see if I can get another example. Out of all the rows on the sheet, I had to pick that particular one. I will tread more carefully.

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: Let me try again. Is the head of department allowance going?

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: It is on row 30 in the same document.

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: I assume that analysis would apply to many of the allowances shown. Why do we not just put them on to the professorial scale?

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: If they went on to the salary scale for professor, would the Department be precluded from doing that?

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: The Department could not put somebody on a salary scale when he or she was a professor and take him or her off when he or she stopped being one? I want to tease this out.

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: I was going to ask that question. Before I do, let us look at row 65 of that document where we have the kango money allowance. This goes to the heart of the difficulty we face, which is that one has an approach that covers a head of department allowance and then under the same "allowance" heading, one finds the kango money allowance. Three people within the education sector are in receipt...

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: If we were to draw a curve of the number of people in receipt of an allowance and the cash value of the allowance - perhaps we should do this as part of our report - we would find the high value allowances which lots of people are drawing and then it would tail off and leave a very long tail of lots of allowances that only a few people claim, like many of those here. That long tail is where...

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: That is why I spent the majority of my time trying to tease out matters. If we were to assume that a principal's allowance is not really an allowance, which is the point made by Mr. Burke and which I accept, and we stripped that out from our analysis, we would see a situation where the vast majority of the allowances, given that the degree allowance will change, will be received by people...

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: Does Mr. Pykett have additional information on this point?

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank Mr. Pykett for making this point. A point on which we should deliberate is whether the existence of some of these allowances runs opposite to the spirit the Croke Park agreement is trying to develop, as Mr. Pykett said. I am on the board of management of my local school. My children are in a primary school and I am also involved with secondary schools in my constituency. We have...

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances (24 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: It goes back to the point about the long tail, which is that allowances are specific, low in cash value and claimed by a small number of people. This is the point on which we must move the debate forward. We must recognise different forces drive the bulk of allowances but these forces are different again to the forces driving the long tail.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Grangegorman Development Agency: Discussion with Chairman Designate (24 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Chair and welcome Mr. John Monahan and Mr. Michael Hand to today’s meeting. It is important the agency gets the opportunity to put on the record of the House where things stand with this project and the progress made. I could not be more supportive of this project as it is magnificent for the area. I am delighted the Government was able to play a role in getting this...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Grangegorman Development Agency: Discussion with Chairman Designate (24 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: Has he ever regretted it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Grangegorman Development Agency: Discussion with Chairman Designate (24 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: In regard to openness and transparency, all of the current vacancies on the board of the Grangegorman Development Agency are advertised on www.publicjobs.ie. It is important we are able to demonstrate to anybody who is interested in vacancies of this nature that he or she can find out about them and apply for a position. I was delighted last week when a resident from an adjoining area...

Prospects for Irish Economy: Statements (Resumed) (25 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: I will begin on a positive note on our economy before I acknowledge all of the great difficulties we face. Listening to some of the Opposition speakers one would think there was nothing of any merit and nothing positive happening in any part of our economy or business life. We live in a country where every day there are between 80 and 100 business start-ups. We live in a country which...

Topical Issue Debate: Negative Equity Mortgages (25 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: I refer to an e-mail I received from a constituent which is representative of a common situation. The constituent bought a two-bedroomed apartment for €420,000 in 2006. A first child was born in 2009 and a second child was born in 2011. This apartment is now valued at €169,000. This is a stark illustration of the burden that negative equity places on many people. Despite the...