Results 18,101-18,120 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin
- Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff Data (18 Feb 2014)
Brendan Howlin: Information on the number of public servants is collected and collated on a quarterly basis and in accordance with the categorisation outlined in the table. The total number employed by the State in each of the following categories as of 31 December 2013 - and expressed in terms of whole-time equivalents (WTEs) - is set out in the table below. Further data,...
- Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: State Bodies Issues (18 Feb 2014)
Brendan Howlin: In response to the Deputy s question I can confirm that no body under the aegis of my Department subscribes to the daily inflation data for Ireland collected by the company mentioned.
- Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (19 Feb 2014)
Brendan Howlin: Time is up.
- Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff Recruitment (19 Feb 2014)
Brendan Howlin: There is no embargo on recruitment to the public service. There are restrictions under the Moratorium and we have sought to reduce, in overall terms, the numbers employed in the public service, but there has also been and will continue to be recruitment into key positions across the system - in health, in education, in some areas of the Civil Service and...
- Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Security Checks (19 Feb 2014)
Brendan Howlin: In response to the Deputy s question I can confirm that no office in my Department has been swept for electronic or any other type of surveillance or bugging equipment since the formation of this Government.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Feb 2014)
Brendan Howlin: I thank the Chairman and members of the joint committee for their attendance. As there other exciting counter-attractions, it is great to see a full house.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Feb 2014)
Brendan Howlin: I should warn committee members that, having spoken to the media on the way in, short of murder, I do not think there are lines that will appear in the newspapers tomorrow from this committee, but we are conducting important business. The committee has played and will continue to play a valuable role in considering the public service reform agenda which is very much at the heart of what we...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Feb 2014)
Brendan Howlin: Will I deal with your questions first, Chairman?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Feb 2014)
Brendan Howlin: On what is driving reform, both parties, in advance of the election, regarded the landscape we were facing as a broken economy but also as a broken policy and Administration. A reform agenda had to be at the core of recovery and that meant fixing not only the economic woes that had befallen us but also the administrative and oversight structures that had failed, as well as the political...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Feb 2014)
Brendan Howlin: The Chairman again has asked a number of questions. While different service delivery models are being sought, I note we already have a highly complicated matrix of delivery models. Speaking as a former Minister for Health, I can tell the Chairman that many of the services we provide in the health area built up over time on the basis of charitable organisations that provided services that...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Feb 2014)
Brendan Howlin: As I noted in my opening remarks, the issue of accountability is at the heart of the reform. When we pulled back the layers and considered everything that happened in the past, it often came down to a systems failure in which no one actually was accountable or no one was responsible. We use those words and throw them out but what do the words "accountable", "responsible" or "answerable"...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Feb 2014)
Brendan Howlin: I know how many the Government wound up.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Feb 2014)
Brendan Howlin: While the Deputy can ask the question, I get to answer it as I like.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Feb 2014)
Brendan Howlin: That is the system. At the outset, some of my colleagues spoke of the bonfire of the quangos and so on. The point about reform is that people find difficult the minutiae and complexity of reform. Consequently, they decide to pick on something like increments, quangos or some totemic item that overall, is highly marginal. As for quangos, the vast bulk of non-governmental organisations that...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Feb 2014)
Brendan Howlin: -----the education and training boards and the reduction this May in the number of local authorities, and will be big in number terms but involve one specific action. All of those actions will be completed by the middle of this year. Of course, we have created new bodies. One looks at new challenges and issues that require new ways of operating and sometimes there is a justification for...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Feb 2014)
Brendan Howlin: I will be doing that. We had long debates about it.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Feb 2014)
Brendan Howlin: Not this Minister, either before or after the election.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Feb 2014)
Brendan Howlin: Which one would Deputy Sean Fleming not have done?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Feb 2014)
Brendan Howlin: Deputy Fleming said "some". Which one would he not have done?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Feb 2014)
Brendan Howlin: My apologies.