Results 20,521-20,540 of 32,864 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Gender Recognition (14 Feb 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: DPER provides a welcoming and supportive environment to all employees and is committed to valuing all aspects of diversity and supporting an inclusive workforce as identified in our People@PER Strategy 2017 – 2020. Furthermore, the Department is committed to protecting dignity and respect across the organisation and our Dignity at Work Policy aims to promote respect, dignity, safety,...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Data Protection (14 Feb 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: In common with other Government Departments, work is ongoing in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in preparation for the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which will take effect from 25 May, 2018.  My Department is aware of its obligations under the GDPR and is taking appropriate measures to ensure compliance with the regulation.  A...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Our Public Service 2020: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (13 Feb 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I am pleased to have the opportunity to address the committee today. Last December, I launched the new framework for development and innovation in the public service, Our Public Service 2020. There has been much progress since the first reform programme was started in 2011, in areas including procurement, shared services and Civil Service renewal, and public service reform continues to play...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Our Public Service 2020: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (13 Feb 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank Deputy Calleary. I acknowledge the significant amount of work that happened on public service reform in the pre-2011 period. I am aware that Deputy Calleary, in his previous ministerial position, played a big role in that. I acknowledge the quality and quantity of work that went on across that period. I will now turn to the five questions put to me by Deputy Calleary. The first...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Our Public Service 2020: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (13 Feb 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: It is not our intention to rush the Bill through. The Senator is right that it is a lengthy item of legislation. As to why it has taken until now to bring it to the Oireachtas, it went through pre-legislative scrutiny in the committee at some length. There were many hearings on it. When I took over as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform just under two years ago, the Bill was about...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Our Public Service 2020: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (13 Feb 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: We have to bear in mind that in a post-Brexit environment there will be Irish companies in new international markets working very hard to win business as a result of the negative effects Brexit will have. I am just curious to see why the Senator feels we need to distinguish her concerns purely in terms of foreign companies when one bears in mind that there will be other jurisdictions...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Our Public Service 2020: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (13 Feb 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I did not say at any point that it is not of concern to me. I am challenging the Senator's language. She should bear in mind that Irish companies will be going abroad looking for new business in the context of what is unfolding in the UK. I would have thought she could appreciate the need to be sensitive to the fact that we have Irish companies tendering for international business at the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Our Public Service 2020: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (13 Feb 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I agree with the Senator. Given that our party and the Independents who form Government are not in a position to control a majority in either the Dáil or Seanad, we must make agreements with the Business Committees of each House regarding the time that is available. From my point of view and that of the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, we are certainly not looking to push anything...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Our Public Service 2020: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (13 Feb 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: We have not yet set a date as to when the LCDC structure will be reviewed. I imagine such a review would be instigated by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government but I can talk to the Minister, Deputy Murphy, and find out the Department's timeline for reviewing it. I have considerable experience of the operation of the LCDC structure within parts of my constituency. There...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Our Public Service 2020: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (13 Feb 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I agree with what the Deputy said. It was good of him to acknowledge the fact that we have managed in recent years to make better use of digital technology in the number of different ways we provide public services. I take his point that it is not working as well as would want in a number of other areas. From my experience of representing a constituency that relies a great deal on the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Our Public Service 2020: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (13 Feb 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I appreciate that. I know from talking to the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, that in dealing with legislation as important and as sensitive as this Bill, we appreciate the support of any party for it. We are eager to see if we can get to a place where we have the support of the majority of parties and politicians in the House. It is a Bill that is all about our profession, how it is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Our Public Service 2020: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (13 Feb 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I will put the Senator's points into different groups. With regard to his concerns about the obligations the legislation will impose on local authority members, I know the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, met a number of Senators about the matter and has also met the local authority representative bodies. He is listening to what they have said and we are going to see whether there is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Our Public Service 2020: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (13 Feb 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: We will formally report at least once a year. We will publish a paper to state how we are doing versus the indicators in the paper. Within the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, there will be a small team whose job will be to pull this together each year and publish it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Our Public Service 2020: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (13 Feb 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: We do not have a formal policy on that currently. In the context of the work we are doing, it is a matter at which we could have a look. The one watch-out we need to have is that if one moves beyond a certain level in the public services, one could well acquire knowledge and a skill set that would be of greater value to an employer on the other side of the table. That private value could...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Our Public Service 2020: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (13 Feb 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes, there is a balance. That said, what I have seen happen at assistant principal, principal officer and Secretary General level is that a number of individuals leave the public service, go through whatever cooling-off period they need to - if they need to but most do not- then go to work in the private sector and come back again. I have seen that happen most in the areas of international...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Our Public Service 2020: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (13 Feb 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The flow going in the direction of the public service is a significant help to us. I am eager to look at how we can deepen that. Getting private sector people, who are at a point in their careers where they want to work in a different environment, is helpful to us in the context of certain specialised roles.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Our Public Service 2020: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (13 Feb 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: No, not in the terms of the provision of public services. Where it has come up is in the duplication of providing information. While it is not the key issue, it is up there near the top in terms of citizens asking why they have to provide all their information, for example, for a SUSI application when the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection has it already. That is a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Our Public Service 2020: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (13 Feb 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I do not bring my phone in with me anymore.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Our Public Service 2020: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (13 Feb 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: On procurement, first, I believe anybody who wins a contract through the public procurement process should do so according to terms and conditions that enable people who work for them, either directly or indirectly, to be paid, and to be paid in accordance with the law in terms of the minimum wage and protecting people in the workplace. For any contract that is awarded on that basis I would...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Our Public Service 2020: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (13 Feb 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Okay.