Results 17,841-17,860 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Government Pay Policy (22 Jan 2014)

Brendan Howlin: This is the first Government to establish a clear pay policy which is undoing the ad hoc policies of previous Administrations over decades, Administrations which did not know or certainly did not care who was paying what to whom. That is now being rectified, but it cannot be done overnight. My Department which is new is responsible for setting the pay norms. However, there are 30,000...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Government Pay Policy (22 Jan 2014)

Brendan Howlin: We have an array of legislation dealing with these matters. What we need is full transparency and that is what we are trying to achieve. A particular issue has arisen in regard to the section 38 and 39 agencies under the Health Act. There was an opaqueness in the degree of oversight and transparency with which these agencies which were independent but contracted to the HSE to provide...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Semi-State Bodies Remuneration (22 Jan 2014)

Brendan Howlin: I thank the Deputy for the question. In 2012 the Government reviewed the position on the payment of performance-related awards or bonuses for chief executive officers in commercial semi-State companies and agreed, on my recommendation, to continue with the policy we had introduced in 2011 of requesting the State companies concerned not to award such bonus payments in the light of the serious...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Semi-State Bodies Remuneration (22 Jan 2014)

Brendan Howlin: There are two questions. The first question was on chief executives. The policy we introduced in 2011 not to give performance-related pay to chief executives stays in place. I promised the Cabinet that I would review it annually. We reviewed it in 2013 and there was a determination that we continue with it because of economic circumstances. We will continue to review it periodically. I...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Semi-State Bodies Remuneration (22 Jan 2014)

Brendan Howlin: There are several questions. The questions the Deputy asked about Bord Gáis Éireann are more appropriate to the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. He is the line Minister with responsibility in that area and he has the detailed knowledge. I set Government policy on a cross-sectoral basis. As I have indicated to the House, I do not have responsibility for...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Semi-State Bodies Remuneration (22 Jan 2014)

Brendan Howlin: As I said, the detailed information would be properly provided by the line Minister responsible, in this case the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Semi-State Bodies Remuneration (22 Jan 2014)

Brendan Howlin: I do not know about the other question. That was the agreement reached in Bord Gáis Éireann on the pay freeze. In fact, I am told the pay freeze will last until December 2015 in BGE. I presume that was simply a three-year horizon, similar to the negotiations on the Haddington Road agreement. One must take a horizon of a reasonable period. I hope our economy will have improved...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Reform Implementation (22 Jan 2014)

Brendan Howlin: I thank the Deputy for the question. There have been major efficiency and productivity gains in the public service in recent years. New working arrangements have been introduced, including longer working hours, new rosters - some of which have not been changed in 30 years - and standardised arrangements for annual leave and sick leave. The numbers working in the public service have been...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Reform Implementation (22 Jan 2014)

Brendan Howlin: I understand the Deputy's concern, but Irish Water will be the biggest utility and the biggest State company to be established in my political lifetime. Nothing like it has happened since the establishment of the ESB. A similar process in Northern Ireland on a much smaller scale took the bones of 20 years to fully implement. We want to ensure that the services are not discommoded. That is...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Reform Implementation (22 Jan 2014)

Brendan Howlin: We need to have a debate about performance-related pay. It is easy to talk about the notion of bonus payments as being unacceptable. Performance-related pay is the norm in the commercial sector. All commercial companies set targets and reward people who over-achieve and there are consequences for those who under-achieve. A fortnight ago I published a new performance analysis document for...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Reform Implementation (22 Jan 2014)

Brendan Howlin: I answered Questions Nos. 2 and 4 together. I will not give the Deputy the same answer that I gave to Question No. 2. I suggest that I will not read the reply again but I will be happy to answer supplementary questions. The position I set out is that chief executive officers are not given performance-related pay. This was our decision in 2011 when we came into government. As I have...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Reform Implementation (22 Jan 2014)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy has asked a number of relevant questions. The FEMPI legislation applies to public servants on the public payroll, Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas, the Judiciary, teachers, nurses and civil servants alike. Under the most recent FEMPI legislation, those earning over €65,000 took a pay cut. That was necessary in order to reduce the public pay bill. The Deputy asked...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Reform Implementation (22 Jan 2014)

Brendan Howlin: We expect all State companies to operate in a commercial manner. These are technical deliverers of services. We have a very ambitious programme. It is not for me to give the Deputy the case for the creation of Irish Water but I am very strongly in favour of it. We have a situation where 18,000 individuals are on a "boil water" notice. There are a million households whose water is...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Issues (22 Jan 2014)

Brendan Howlin: Budget 2014 sets out a revised target for public service numbers of 287,000 by the end of this year. With serving numbers already below 289,000, this is a lower net reduction than in previous years, reflecting the fact we have already downsized a huge amount and the public service is now almost 10% smaller than it was in 2008. The appropriate path beyond 2014 will be considered as part of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Issues (22 Jan 2014)

Brendan Howlin: When I spoke to the committee last week, I indicated that I was not fixated on numbers. Numbers were an instrument we had to employ to bring down costs. It is happening across every sector of the economy. People are not providing services in the same way. If one checks in with an airline, one does not normally do so in a queue with an array of people checking you in. One does so online...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Issues (22 Jan 2014)

Brendan Howlin: Again, the Deputy has asked a number of questions. She disputes the contention that the majority of services are analogous to checking in with an airline. There are front-line services that are not analogous but there are many process services that are such as renewing a driving licence and all the other things one does automatically that can be done much more effectively and efficiently....

Other Questions: Departmental Staff Redeployment (22 Jan 2014)

Brendan Howlin: I thank the Deputy. One principal officer, two assistant principal officers and two administrative officers are assigned to the health Vote section within the labour and enterprise division in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. The Vote section is managed by an assistant secretary as part of his overall brief.

Other Questions: Departmental Staff Redeployment (22 Jan 2014)

Brendan Howlin: No, this is not unique to the Department of Health. An assigned individual or group of civil servants from the expenditure division of the old Department of Finance used to monitor the Vote of each line Department. That has always been the way it has been done. Every year Departments and offices set out their expected profile of expenditure on a month by month basis. During the course of...

Other Questions: Departmental Staff Redeployment (22 Jan 2014)

Brendan Howlin: The specific work referred to by the Deputy is not carried out by the Vote section of my Department. It is carried out by the reform section. As the Deputy will be aware, we have reviewed how we procure across the public service. We decided last year to establish a centralised Office of Government Procurement. We have set a strict and specific target of €127 million across all...

Other Questions: Freedom of Information Remit (22 Jan 2014)

Brendan Howlin: As the Deputy knows, I have responsibility for the area of freedom of information. He is also aware that I indicated last December during the Committee Stage debate on the Freedom of Information Bill 2013 that it was my intention that Irish Water should be made subject to freedom of information legislation at an early stage following the enactment of that legislation. On the basis of recent...