Results 1,861-1,880 of 32,547 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Financial Resolution No. 14: Capital Acquisitions Tax (5 Dec 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: They are trying to create the idea that someone else can pay the price for the terrible mess Fianna Fáil created and the other party on the Opposition is complicit in maintaining.

Financial Resolution No. 14: Capital Acquisitions Tax (5 Dec 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: It is very relevant to the motion. If I am allowed to finish, what we have in front of us are a number of measures relating to capital gains tax, capital acquisition tax and other measures-----

Financial Resolution No. 14: Capital Acquisitions Tax (5 Dec 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: ----which make a contribution to ensuring people who have wealth, which they have earned, will be taxed fairly and at a higher rate than was the case in the past. The parties on the Opposition side of the House talk repeatedly about the need to tax more. A measure is being put in place that will allow us to do that. It will ensure people who have a degree of wealth will be taxed fairly on...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Legal Services (5 Dec 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will outline the measures to date, throughout the past 18 months, by the State to reduce costs in the legal practitioner sector of our economy in response to our economic difficulties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54675/12]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Service Executive Staff Remuneration (5 Dec 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: To ask the Minister for Health if he will outline the measures to date, throughout the past 18 months, by the State to reduce costs by dental practitioners and medical practitioners in our economy in response to out economic difficulties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54676/12]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Waiting Lists (5 Dec 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: To ask the Minister for Health the hospital in which a person (details supplied) in Dublin 9 will receive an operation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54728/12]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (6 Dec 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason a school (details supplied) in Dublin 1 was excluded by the special education needs unit of his Department for special education needs resource support this year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54853/12]

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (6 Dec 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the position regarding an application for carer's allowance in respect of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 9; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55021/12]

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Building Regulations (6 Dec 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he has considered the submission made by the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists regarding the forthcoming Building Control (Amendment) Regulation 2012; if he has been able to address same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54872/12]

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Dec 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: I would like to thank everyone who was involved in the preparation of the report on public sector allowances, particularly those in the secretariat. To go from where we were when we discussed the issue initially to having the finished volume in our hands the next day was a great achievement and happened thanks to the commitment and effort of a number of people. It was a report that was well...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: I welcome the Secretary General and her officials. I wish to discuss Chapter 6 of the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General, which deals with financial commitments under public-private partnerships. I refer to a report by the UK national audit office on that country's use of the equivalent partnerships, which are called private finance initiatives. The report concluded that the use...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: Thank you, Chairman, but do you know what, I'm still going to ask it. After what you said, I have the feeling its relevance is growing by the minute. I will ask exactly the same question next week. Is Ms Tallon aware of the report?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: It is from the National Audit Office, which is the UK equivalent of the Comptroller and Auditor General's office.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: Ms Tallon quoted paragraph 6.13 of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report which states that a capital cost of less than €40 million to €50 million would not be suitable currently for private finance. That is the point she was making. Accepting that with regard to water services, some of the observations of the Comptroller and Auditor General could apply to transport and...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: Do value for money appraisals happen for all PPPs?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: Are they conducted periodically? In the Clonee-Kells or Limerick tunnel projects, for example, is a VFM appraisal conducted after construction and then during the life cyle of the project or does it happen just once?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: Given the concerns some commentators are raising about the cost of public-private partnerships, or their equivalents in other countries, whose job is it to run regular appraisals to make sure any PPP is delivering on its original assumptions?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: It is one thing to have the cost; it is another to know the cost represents good value and whether the money could have been better spent elsewhere. When a project is up and running - given that we are dealing with a third party here, namely, the operator - how regularly is it monitored to ensure the various targets, etc., relating to it are being achieved?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: I understand that. I am, however, asking a different question. Where there is a contract with a third-party operator and when the project with which that operator is involved is up and running, how often does the relevant local authority check that the criteria and objectives relating to a that project have been met? I am not so concerned with regard to whether the contract is still being...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: Ms Tallon is not labouring the point. I am trying to tease out a point of distinction. I have looked at the audit reports produced in the UK. I accept that many more such reports have been compiled in the UK, which is a bigger country and has a far greater need than Ireland for built infrastructure. We carry appraisals at the capital stage. When projects are up and running, however, how...