Results 1,981-2,000 of 32,429 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pay (3 Oct 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: In relation to the civil service, for which my Department holds detailed data, the suggested minimum wage at €17 per hour based on the civil service 35 hour standard net working week equates to an annual salary of approximately €31,047. Detailed data on civil service staff indicates that approximately 15% of staff (FTE) in the civil service are on salary points less than this. ...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Policies (3 Oct 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: Officials from my Department do not currently use the application in question to conduct official business. The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), as with all enabling technologies, will be considered on a solution by solution basis. Any such considerations will be discussed and a risk assessment conducted as appropriate. My Department has issued guidance to all staff reminding them of...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Budget 2024 (3 Oct 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: The Government established the Shared Island Fund in Budget 2021, providing ring-fenced resourcing for delivery of the all-island investment commitments and objectives set out in the Programme for Government and the National Development Plan 2021-2030 (NDP). The Shared Island Fund aims to create a more prosperous, connected and sustainable island. Under the NDP it has a funding...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Office of Public Works (28 Sep 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I am advised by the National Shared Services Office that pension increases on foot of pay awards on 1 February, 2022 and that of 1 October, 2022 backdated to 2 February, 2022, and the 1 March, 2023 pay increase have been paid in cases where retirees were on pay scale points. OPW pensioners are often on off scale points and not linked to Civil Service pay scales which means they have to be...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes. I thank the Deputy. This is a key area of engagement between me and the Ministers responsible for those sectors. Currently, we are engaging with their three Departments, which are among the largest spending Departments and, consequently, have a significant impact on our overall spending and budgetary plans. We are examining the funding we need to maintain the current level of...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I wish everybody a good afternoon. I thank the Cathaoirleach and members of the committee for the opportunity to be here today as part of the pre-budget scrutiny process. When I appeared before the committee in July, the Government had just published the summer economic statement and the committee discussed the agreed budget parameters. Today I can address developments that impact on our...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I will in the time ahead prioritise three steps that will be really important to making faster progress on the NDP. The first is the legislation the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, will bring before the Oireachtas. That will be huge legislation that, if passed by the Oireachtas, will bring more stability to how planning decisions are made within our country and greater clarity as to how...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: The answer to the Deputy's first question is "Yes". That has to come out of the €2 billion. We are engaging with public sector unions, and will continue to engage with them over the coming weeks, on when we will engage on the future of public pay. We are open to engagements before the budget. I will make a decision closer to the point regarding how we present or indicate what...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I have not decided yet because engagement is under way with the unions on this matter. The core point the Deputy has put to me, that it will come from the €2 billion, is correct.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I cannot give the Deputy that indication this afternoon because that is a very important process which is under way with the Department of Health. I do not want to prejudge what the outcome of that will be, given the importance of this matter to our health services and budgetary plans. We are looking to identify better what share of the overspend will recur and therefore what impact that...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I do not want to be disrespectful to the Deputy or the work of the committee but it is a big question he is asking me to give a clear answer to given that work is under way in relation to it. It would be fair to say that at other points in dealing with them, health overspends have already been many hundreds of millions of euro. Even at this point, I prefer not to give an indication of what...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I will deal with the point on what is or is not unacceptable with regard to me answering a question from the Deputy. My preference and duty is to give the Deputy an exact figure, rather than a range. I stand by what I said earlier and reiterate that point. When that work is complete, I will be back in the Oireachtas and will give the Deputy a figure and explain it. On the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I am pleased to be able to correct the Deputy on that.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: Our plans for next year are focused on, for example, maintaining and building our housing output and ensuring the Minister, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, has the resources he needs to meet the targets laid out in Housing for All because we are conscious of the social need. It is fine to quote that part of the Central Bank analysis but that body also warned about the Government making...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I concur with what the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, has just said. We published our expenditure report for the year in the aftermath of budget 2023. What it indicated is that for the lowest income decile within society, the combination of the energy credits, social welfare, tax changes, and changes in regard to public transport, the change in income for them across this year due to the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: All I can do in response to the points the Deputy makes is to reiterate the reality of what happened this year. For those within our society who are on the lowest income, through a combination of the €12 increase in core payment rates and the one-off measures, the additional double payments that were made last autumn, the additional measures that were repeated before the summer, plus...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I am well aware of the concerns of those in the mental health sector in regard to funding for their services for next year in the context of the overspend that has now fully developed in other parts of the health service. I am doing all I can to try to protect the other health services. I assure Deputy Boyd Barrett that I am well aware of the risk. That issue is very important in the...