Results 18,821-18,840 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Exchequer Savings (4 Jun 2014)

Brendan Howlin: The Haddington Road Agreement contains provisions which, when fully implemented, will enable the delivery of savings totalling €1 billion by the end of the Agreement.  The total amount of allocated savings arising from the implementation of provisions under the Agreement was almost €300m in 2013.  A further €465m in savings was incorporated into the budgetary...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (4 Jun 2014)

Brendan Howlin: In order to achieve the general government deficit target of below 3 per cent of GDP by 2015, all components of the public finances must make an appropriate contribution. Public Servants have made a significant contribution to the fiscal recovery of the State, through a number of measures which have helped to reduce the Public Service gross pay bill from its peak of €17.5 billion in...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff Retirements (4 Jun 2014)

Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 69 to 71, inclusive, together. The provisions relating to ill-health retirement are set out in statute in the Civil Service Regulation Act 1956, as amended, and the associated Circular 22/07: Ill-Health Retirement from the Civil Service.  The provisions relating to ill-health retirement pensions are set out in the Superannuation Acts and related...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff Sick Leave (4 Jun 2014)

Brendan Howlin: The Public Service Management (Sick Leave) Regulations SI 124 of 2014 were signed by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform on 6th March 2014 and were laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas. The Regulations came into effect in the majority of Public Service organisations on 31 March 2014 and will come into effect in the Education Sector on 1 September 2014. The new Public...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Heritage Sites (4 Jun 2014)

Brendan Howlin: The Commissioners of Public Works retain no documents relating to the transfer of Skyrne Tower from private family ownership to the State. The site actually came into public ownership following the Irish Church Act of 1869. The 1869 Irish Church Act held as a premise belief that Churches covered by the Act were to be preserved as National Monuments and not used as places of public...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Exchequer Savings (4 Jun 2014)

Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 74, 75, 77, 79, 80 and 82 together. Managing the delivery of public services within the Departmental Budgetary allocation is a key responsibility of each Minister and Department, and several measures are in place to help ensure that these budgetary targets continue to be met.  My Department is in regular communication with all Departments and Offices to...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Exchequer Savings (4 Jun 2014)

Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 76 and 81 together. It is important to note that public servants have made a significant contribution to our overall fiscal recovery to date. In this context, the Public Service Exchequer Pay Bill has been reduced by 22%, from €17.5 billion gross in 2009 to an estimated €13.6 billion net by the end of 2014. In relation to the Croke...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Exchequer Savings (4 Jun 2014)

Brendan Howlin: The Government is continuing to make good progress on achieving its overall deficit targets and priorities.  Since its peak in 2009, Gross Voted Expenditure has been reduced from €63.1 billion in 2009 to a targeted €53 billion in 2014.  Staff numbers have been reduced by over 30,000 since 2008, at the same time as demand for public services significantly increased. ...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Haddington Road Agreement Implementation (4 Jun 2014)

Brendan Howlin: The provisions set out in the Haddington Road Agreement will help to deliver an unprecedented increase in productivity across the Public Service, through the provision of almost 15 million additional working hours annually and a range of other efficiency and reform measures. While the application of these additional hours varies by sector, depending on local patterns in the demand for...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff Sick Leave (4 Jun 2014)

Brendan Howlin: The new Public Service Sick Leave Scheme came into effect from 31 March 2014 for the generality of the Public Service. The Scheme is set out in the Public Service Management (Sick Leave) Regulations S.I. 124 of 2014 and, generally, applies to all public servants. The new Sick Leave Scheme was introduced, following the enactment of the Public Service Management (Recruitment and...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Contracts (4 Jun 2014)

Brendan Howlin: The pre-qualification of contractors stage of the tender process is nearing completion. It is expected to issue tender documents in the next few weeks to a shortlist of suitably qualified contractors and to appoint a main contractor by the end of July 2014. This is a complex project that will be carried out in phases to facilitate the continued operation of the school. Subject to a...

Leaders' Questions (5 Jun 2014)

Brendan Howlin: The opening premise of the Deputy's question is wrong. There has been no cull or no intention of having a cull of medical cards.

Leaders' Questions (5 Jun 2014)

Brendan Howlin: The number of medical cards is at an all time high.

Leaders' Questions (5 Jun 2014)

Brendan Howlin: This is an extremely serious matter. At the end of last year, there was 1.849 million medical cards; 42% of the population have medical cards. There are more medical cards in circulation now than at any time in our history.

Leaders' Questions (5 Jun 2014)

Brendan Howlin: I am a former Minister for Health. Every Administration has issued medical cards on the basis of the 1970 Act. It was done on a local basis determined by ability to meet medical costs. There was always a local discretion. Medical cards have been centralised in recent times. That was a decision made by the previous Administration that has been carried out. One of the things that has come...

Leaders' Questions (5 Jun 2014)

Brendan Howlin: -----not on the basis of where one lives in the State, which has been the condition for the past number of decades, but on objective criteria. The criteria, however, must also be linked to some financial grounding because that is the basis of the 1970 Act, or we can have a broader debate about looking at how we can afford to ensure that everybody who is sick gets comprehensive medical care...

Leaders' Questions (5 Jun 2014)

Brendan Howlin: First, I have full confidence in the Minister, Deputy James Reilly, and every member of this Government and I have full confidence in every Minister of State to do the job, the most difficult, challenging job that faces us all. Every Department has been faced with very difficult economic decisions to make. This Government has worked as a collective-----

Leaders' Questions (5 Jun 2014)

Brendan Howlin: -----to solve the issues to bring us from a very difficult position to a position of solvency, which we have now arrived at. We have tried to do that and have done that in as compassionate and open a way as we can. Have we made mistakes? Yes, and I agree with Deputy Calleary that the handling in terms of the administration and some of the letters people got is unacceptable. It is...

Leaders' Questions (5 Jun 2014)

Brendan Howlin: That is what is being developed now by the Department of Health and by the Minister for Health and he is going to come back to Government within the next fortnight with those criteria so that we can put in a rational, compassionate, national scheme that is not determined by where one lives in this country, but on the real medical demands upon every household.

Leaders' Questions (5 Jun 2014)

Brendan Howlin: Like every Member of this House and every citizen in the county, I thought we had become inured to the things that fall out of our dark past in this county. However, the discovery of a mass grave of infants and children is something so shocking that it jars all of us to our core. The Government is determined to get to the bottom of what exactly is the situation in Tuam. All the questions...