Results 20,861-20,880 of 32,864 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: State Claims Agency Data (23 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: In response to the Deputy's question, I am advised by the State Claims Agency that the report, available at the following link, has been extracted from the National Incident Management System. .

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: State Claims Agency Data (23 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: In response to the Deputy's question, I am advised by the State Claims Agency that the report, available at the following link, has been extracted from the National Incident Management System. .

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Bodies Data (23 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: In response to the Deputy’s question the first table details the agencies, boards or other bodies under the aegis of my Department that have been disbanded or amalgamated or whose functions were subsumed back into this Department since 2011. The second table details the bodies set up by this department since that date.   Agencies, Boards or other Bodies disbanded, amalgamated or...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Personal Injury Claims (23 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The material requested by the Deputy is currently being collated by the State Claims Agency, on behalf of my Department. Given the large volume of Parliamentary Questions currently with the State Claims Agency, I am advised that the material is not yet available.  It will be completed shortly and my Department will then provide the response directly to the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Legal Cases Data (23 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I am informed that Departments receive queries/complaints from time to time during the procurement process but these are usually resolved either during the procurement process itself or at pre-litigation stage. However, the following are a list of procurement proceedings (includes ongoing and concluded cases) which have been brought against Government Departments in the last...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Legal Cases (23 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I am informed that, aside from the Student Transport v. Department of Education case (2011/1043/JR) (see the response to Question No. 198 for a list of ongoing and concluded procurement cases against Departments over the past five years), the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) is not aware of any other cases against Departments where an order for security for costs was made. As a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Pension Provisions (18 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The high level forum met before Christmas. My officials who were participating in it shared the scoping exercise which was undertaken with the union representatives. It outlines how many people work in the sector, the different costs involved and some of the difficulties. I understand that the unions are considering the matter and that the high level forum will meet again.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Pension Provisions (18 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The forum will meet again to engage with unions on the matter. 12 o’clock The Deputy is right to say that this matter has been around for quite a while. One of the reasons for that is that it cuts to the heart of a principle regarding who the State does and does not employ. This is a matter that Fianna Fáil grappled with when it was in government many years ago when the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Retirements (18 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for the support he has offered to this policy. To answer his questions, if I did not have interim arrangements in place I would be accused of having announced a policy that is not going to happen. We have to legislate to make it happen. The legislation is being drafted at the moment, and my officials are working as hard as possible to get the work done. Its appearance...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Retirements (18 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I am not sitting on any legislation on this issue. The policy on the minimum retirement age across the entire economy is a matter for either the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Humphreys, or the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputy Regina Doherty. We are not seeking to incentivise people to make a choice. We are simply recognising the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Expenditure (18 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The effective management of the delivery of public services within budgetary allocations is a key responsibility for each Minister and their Department on an ongoing basis. My Department is in regular contact during the year with all other Departments and offices to ensure that expenditure is being managed within the overall budgetary parameters. Information in regard to gross and net voted...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Expenditure (18 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: As regards the Deputy's first question, as we are currently in mid-January I am not yet in a position to tell the Deputy the net amount that will be left once the underspends in individual Departments are offset against the additional costs to which I referred. However, I expect that the net underspend will be a very small amount of the total €46.27 billion the State spent last year....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Retirements (18 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 15 and 40 together. The Government agreed on 5 December 2017 that the compulsory retirement age of public servants recruited before 1 April 2004 should be increased to age 70. This group of public servants currently has a compulsory retirement age of 65. Primary legislation will be required for the changes to be implemented. In approving the proposals,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Service Pay Commission (18 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: In regard to the Deputy's first question, I do not agree there is a crisis in recruitment or retention within schools. We are hiring more teachers and we are lucky with the quality of both the graduates who have come through and those who are qualifying from the teaching colleges who are coming into the schools. The Minister for Education and Skills has acknowledged that in a number of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Service Pay Commission (18 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I was responding to the Deputy's question, particularly in regard to education. I never said there were not any difficulties. There are difficulties. Where I differ is that we will respond to the difficulties. The Minister for Education and Skills has stated we already do that. We must view the difficulties that we are referring to against the background of two developments. The first...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (18 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I will not be engaging directly with the unions on the matter. It is the work of my Department and the industrial relations sections of other Departments to deal with them and they will continue to do so. The work of the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service will be, as the Deputy said, to respond and provide the information on the cost and consequences of the measure and to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (18 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for his question. I recognise his ongoing commitment to dealing with this issue, the work he has done in the Oireachtas and the parliamentary party to draw attention to the issue of housing supply and point to the terrible social costs experienced by people who are under pressure in their accommodation or in not being able to find accommodation. I am aware that he wants...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (18 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: You can never recover a childhood. Families with young children are living in hotel accommodation. They include children who are attending primary and secondary school. Our commitment to give them the housing and accommodation they need is genuine. That is the reason we made additional funds available towards the end of 2017 to tackle this and other matters. The Deputy made reference...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Service Pay Commission (18 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: In devising a strategy to address recruitment and retention issues in the public service the Deputy will be aware that the Government approved the terms of reference for the second phase of work of the Public Service Pay Commission to address identified recruitment and retention issues in the public service. Provision for this process was included in the public service stability agreement...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Brexit Issues (18 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy will be aware, the Government is adopting a whole of Government approach to the challenges posed by Brexit. Our objectives are to minimise the impact of Brexit on trade and the economy, to protect the Northern Ireland peace process, to maintain the common travel area and to influence the future direction of the European Union. Brexit issues in my Department are co-ordinated...