Results 17,801-17,820 of 32,983 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Funding (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: While my Department sets the capital allocations for Departments and the delegated sanction arrangements under which Departments make their spending decisions, the actual roll-out of particular capital projects and programmes is, of course, managed by the individual line Departments and their agencies who are responsible for project and programme delivery. In regard to the Cork Event...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Pension Provisions (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Under the current pension increase policy agreed as part of the Public Service Stability Agreement 2018-2020 (PSSA), pay increases applied to serving staff over the course of the Agreement, including the 1% increase applied to all salaries on 1st October 2018 and the 1% increase applied to salaries up to €30,000 on 1 January 2019, are passed on to those pensions awarded under...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Pension Levy (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The National Shared Services Office has informed me that the implementation of the PSPR restorations to some pensioners has been delayed primarily due to impaired or missing data that has prevented automatic processing. A dedicated project team is working full time to review each file for every pensioner potentially impacted to correct any data inaccuracies in their records and ensure...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Appointments Service (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy will be aware, the Public Appointment Service (PAS) is the independent recruiter for the civil service. I understand from PAS that an open Third Secretary competition was held in 2018 and 30 people were assigned from the panel to the end of February 2019. As part of ongoing workforce planning the question of holding a further open Third Secretary competition in 2019 will be...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Pension Provisions (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I am taking it that the question refers to the impact of the Government’s pension increase policy, and not to the amelioration and eventual abolition of the Public Service Pension Reduction. As the Deputy will be aware, pay cuts were imposed on serving public servants under the FEMPI legislation in 2010 and 2013. The pension recipient in this case was protected from the effect of...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The Irish Government Economic and Evaluation service (IGEES), established in 2012, is an integrated, cross Government service that aims to support better policy formulation and implementation in the civil service through policy analysis and evaluation. IGEES is not a standalone service. IGEES staff are an integral part of each Department, adding their skill set to the varied expertise working...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Intestate Estates (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Section 73 of the Succession Act 1965 provides that where a person dies intestate and without known next-of-kin the estate of that person shall be taken by the State as ultimate intestate successor. The functions under the Succession Act 1965 were transferred from the Minister for Finance to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform under Statutory Instrument 318 (Transfer of...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Government Expenditure (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: As set out in the most recent fiscal monitor, total gross voted expenditure to end-April 2019 amounted to €20,247 million. This is 5.4% or €1,031 million higher than the same period in 2018 and €146 million, or 0.7%, behind profile.Gross voted current expenditure is up 4.1% or €740 million in year-on-year terms and is 0.8%, or €143 million, below profile....

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Civil Service Staff Data (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 243 and 244 together. The information requested regarding the number of Principal Officer positions in County Kildare is not available in my Department. As the Deputy will be aware, Government departments have been working under delegated sanction arrangements for their recruitment and staffing issues since 2015. Under these arrangements, there are...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Pension Provisions (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy will appreciate that it is necessary to distinguish between pension restoration, which refers to the amelioration and eventual abolition of the Public Service Pension Reduction (PSPR), and the pension increase policy agreed as part of the Public Service Stability Agreement 2018 – 2020 (PSSA). Regarding the first of these, the Deputy will be aware that the FEMPI cuts...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Protected Disclosures (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I can confirm that the attention of my office has been drawn to the particular circumstances of this case, and that my office has responded to correspondence received from the individual concerned. While the matter of making an award under the provisions of the Civil Service Injury Warrants is one that would fall ultimately to my Department, the initial application would be raised in the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Help-To-Buy Scheme (9 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The Help to Buy incentive (HTB) is scheduled to expire on 31 December 2019. This is provided for in Section 477C of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997. As is normal, the role and operation of the incentive will be examined in the context of the forthcoming Budget and Finance Bill process. It would be premature at this point to anticipate the outcome of that examination.

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Reliefs Availability (9 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I am advised by Revenue that where consanguinity relief is not available, the full amount of stamp duty relieved under the ‘young trained farmer’ relief counts towards the amount of State aid that may be granted in the context of the application of Article 18 of the EU Agricultural Block Exemption Regulations. That article imposes a €70,000 ceiling on the amount of State...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (9 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: This issue relates to a claim by community employment supervisors and assistant supervisors who have been seeking, through their union representatives, the allocation of Exchequer funding to implement a 2008 Labour Court recommendation relating to the provision of a pension scheme. The matter was the subject of extensive discussion at the Community Sector High Level Forum which was...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff Retirements (9 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: On 5 December 2017, the Government made the decision to increase the compulsory retirement age to 70, for public servants recruited prior to 1 April 2004. Primary legislation was necessary in order to bring that change into effect. It was made clear at the time that until such legislation was enacted, the compulsory retirement age of 65, which applied to the vast majority of this cohort,...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (9 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 50 and 53 together. This issue relates to a claim by community employment supervisors and assistant supervisors who have been seeking, through their union representatives, the allocation of Exchequer funding to implement a 2008 Labour Court recommendation relating to the provision of a pension scheme. The matter was the subject of extensive discussion...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (9 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017 sets out a specific schedule of measures and dates in respect of deductions made under the FEMPI Acts including provisions in respect of the implementation of the Public Service Stability Agreement 2018-2020 (PSSA). This scheduled further lessening of the PSPR impact on pensions means that from 1 January 2019 all pensions up to €39,000 per...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions (9 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: In order to address the question, I would first advise the Deputy of the existing pension increase policies in place for public service pensions. The current pension increase policy applying to pensions awarded under pre-existing public service pension schemes (i.e. excluding the Single Pension Scheme) was agreed as part of the Public Service Stability Agreement 2018-2020 (PSSA). This...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Budget Measures (9 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Set out below are the gross voted current, capital and total expenditure ceilings for the period 2014 to 2018 published in the Expenditure Reports for Budgets 2014 to 2018. Also included in the Table is the actual outturn for each year. These ceilings are agreed by Government and set on a nominal gross expenditure basis and are restated to reflect any technical or policy adjustments. Over the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Stamp Duty (14 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I am advised by Revenue that the Stamp Duty exemption for transfers of land to young trained farmers is available where certain conditions are satisfied on the date the land is transferred.  One condition is that the young trained farmer must be the holder of a relevant agricultural qualification.  A ‘Level 6 Specific Purpose Certificate in Farm Administration’ (often...