Results 17,581-17,600 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Semi-State Bodies Dividends (26 Nov 2013)

Brendan Howlin: In general, dividends of 30% of profits after tax have been sought of State companies in recent years. My Department, working with other relevant Departments and NewERA, is at present working on a range of shareholder considerations, including developing a new dividend policy for commercial state companies.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Semi-State Bodies Mergers (26 Nov 2013)

Brendan Howlin: As referred to in the Deputy’s question, and in light of the Programme for Government commitment to create a streamlined and refocused commercial state company in the bio-energy and forestry sectors, the Government decided in June of this year that an evaluation would be carried out on how to give effect to a beneficial merger of Coillte and Bord na Móna. NewERA is undertaking a...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Consultancy Contracts Expenditure (26 Nov 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 286 to 298, inclusive, together. In response to the Deputy’s questions I can only answer on behalf of my Department as this information is not collated centrally. Since the formation of my Department in 2011 only four companies mentioned were awarded contracts with details as follows: Name of Consultancy Firm Year Amount Paid Number of Contracts...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Health Services Staff Data (26 Nov 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Following the identification of serious capacity issues in a number of hospitals in Galway and Limerick, the Minister for Health sought urgent approval from my Department on 2 December 2011 to appoint two identified senior managers from within the health system to new roles as the Group CEOs for the Galway/Roscommon and the Mid-West Hospital Groups. On 13 December 2011 my Department...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Peace and Reconciliation Programme (26 Nov 2013)

Brendan Howlin: On 20 November the European Parliament in Strasbourg agreed proposals for a new round of Structural Funds. The agreement reached will see Ireland’s share of Structural Funds increase to just over €1 billion which will be used to support a range of projects to promote jobs and growth. Political agreement on four of the six regulations approved by the European Parliament had...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff Sick Leave (28 Nov 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 69 to 71, inclusive, together. As the Deputies will be aware, in July 2012 sick leave arrangements for all public service employees were the subject of a Labour Court Recommendation relating to the introduction of a reformed Sick Leave Scheme. The rationale for the new scheme was the need to reduce the unsustainable cost of sick leave for the public service...

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (28 Nov 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I am delighted to be back in the Seanad, to which I have become a frequent visitor. I should get mileage points. I have learned from my visits to this House that its debates are eclectic and broad ranging, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The purpose of the Bill is simple. It implements our commitment to reduce the party leaders' allowance, as it was then called, or the...

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (28 Nov 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I never received such a payment. Such payments are anomalous in terms of the pressures we are facing and we need to abolish them. We are doing a lot of things we did not do in the 1990s. Perhaps we should have done them at that stage. A number of policies were wrongly bolted on during what were purported to be the boom times. At one stage, all but two Fianna Fáil Members had an...

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (28 Nov 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I am uncomfortable with shifting the vote in the people's determination of who should be elected and an individual's decision to move from a party position. I am much more comfortable in determining it on the day the people vote, rather than somebody deciding, for whatever good and noble reasons, to walk away from a party, as the people voted for that person in that snapshot in time.

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (28 Nov 2013)

Brendan Howlin: If I may finish on these points-----

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (28 Nov 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The bottom line is that it is a snapshot in time on that day. As Senator Thomas Byrne who asked the rhetorical question knows, Senator David Norris's mandate is as an Independent from his electorate of university voters in the university of Dublin. He would retain the allowance as an Independent. If he were to join the Labour Party, Fine Gael or any other party, he would still retain his...

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (28 Nov 2013)

Brendan Howlin: That is what I am saying now and I do not believe the Senator can quote me as ever having ever anything different. That is my view. This is a simple enough Bill designed to do two things, first, to reduce the supports available under what was the party leader's allowance and, second, to abolish severance payments for Ministers. There is also a third element that I should have mentioned; the...

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (28 Nov 2013)

Brendan Howlin: It is somewhat different from the argument reported on during the referendum debate, namely, that Members were all gong to work for nothing.

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (28 Nov 2013)

Brendan Howlin: That is not my view, as the Senator has heard.

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (28 Nov 2013)

Brendan Howlin: It is determined by the electorate, not by the individual. That is the point.

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (28 Nov 2013)

Brendan Howlin: It is the people who will get to make the determination.

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (28 Nov 2013)

Brendan Howlin: No, it is the people who will make the determination.

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (28 Nov 2013)

Brendan Howlin: They cannot spend public moneys, no more than the Government can, on advocacy one way or the other.

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (28 Nov 2013)

Brendan Howlin: We debated this at some length on Committee Stage. The amendment seeks to remove the restriction whereby the parliamentary activities allowance cannot be spent on electoral expenses. This has always been the position. As I outlined on Committee Stage, the advice is that to allow expenditure of the parliamentary activities allowance on electoral expenses would likely contravene the...

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (28 Nov 2013)

Brendan Howlin: It refers to public moneys.