Results 2,081-2,100 of 11,861 for speaker:Brian Hayes

Other Questions: Public Service Reform (23 Jan 2013)

Brian Hayes: On a programme on the national broadcaster on Saturday, I set out clearly that it was not helpful of me or any other Minister or Minister of State to make sidebar comments in this way when the person mandated to do the job was the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin. I feel strongly about this. The Government has mandated the Minister and his Department to run the...

Other Questions: Public Service Reform (23 Jan 2013)

Brian Hayes: I apologise, as I did not answer this question when the Deputy asked it previously. The €1 billion is €1 billion.

Other Questions: Public Service Reform (23 Jan 2013)

Brian Hayes: That is what we are seeking to resolve. Some figures have been bandied about elsewhere, for example, €800 million, but let me be clear - the figure is €1 billion. Everyone is represented at the talks.

Other Questions: Public Service Reform (23 Jan 2013)

Brian Hayes: The taxpayer is represented by the Government, but also by the public sector unions. Some €2.5 billion has been removed from public sector pay and pensions in circumstances of industrial peace. I am not implying that the Deputy opposite is involved, but those Deputies who suggest something other than this approach should state what their approach is. Days and weeks have been lost in...

Other Questions: Public Service Reform (23 Jan 2013)

Brian Hayes: The Deputy did not miss much.

Other Questions: Public Service Reform (23 Jan 2013)

Brian Hayes: It is no one's right, be it the Government or public sector unions, to lay down such preconditions in the context of discussions around a table. I am taking the Deputy's word, as I did not attend the discussion today that she mentioned. I am not sure whether it was a public or private engagement or whether just the Deputy was briefed. We will wait to see what others have to say. In the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Reform (23 Jan 2013)

Brian Hayes: Given the financial and human resource constraints under which the public service has operated for some years and will continue to operate in future, all opportunities for the identification of improved service quality and increased efficiency measures in the provision of public services are welcome. My officials are happy to engage with staff with or without the benefit of union...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Reform (23 Jan 2013)

Brian Hayes: The Deputy should appear on "The Frontline" programme more often. I ask him to send me the proposals he has received. Alternatively, we could meet him and go through the proposals one by one and line by line to ascertain how useful they are. That would be a worthwhile engagement. We are already doing as the Deputy asks, for example, in the area of shared services for human resource...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Reform (23 Jan 2013)

Brian Hayes: I do not disagree. One of the questions that is central to the current talks is how we will change the workforce and do things in a radically different way. This requires redeployment and a whole-of-government approach. We need to examine the performance management and development system, PMDS, to determine who is marking it and whether there is real engagement with the process and to...

Other Questions: Public Service Reform (23 Jan 2013)

Brian Hayes: I propose to take Questions Nos. 6, 18, 25, 30, 32 and 103 together. The Government has indicated that an additional saving of €1 billion in the pay and pensions bill will be necessary in the period until the end of 2015 and €300 million of this saving will be needed this year to meet our spending targets. This is to support our determination to restore order to the public...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: National Procurement Service (23 Jan 2013)

Brian Hayes: We had very substantial dialogue with representatives of the small and medium enterprise, SME, sector before introducing this because we want that sector to win more of these contracts. If there is a criticism I can make of the procurement, it is that we do not have multiple suppliers on those frameworks. I accept the criticism from some that a framework should not be created with one...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Sale of State Assets (23 Jan 2013)

Brian Hayes: On 17 July 2012, the Government announced its plans for an additional €2.25 billion investment in public infrastructure projects in Ireland. The stimulus package included €850 million in Exchequer investment to be funded from the proceeds of the sale of State assets and from the new licensing arrangements for the national lottery. This investment will be used as a project...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Sale of State Assets (23 Jan 2013)

Brian Hayes: I apologise. I can do so now.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Sale of State Assets (23 Jan 2013)

Brian Hayes: The Deputy is correct in that there is no such reference in the Bill, but that is not the intention of the legislation. The Minister published the Bill last December and the House will have the opportunity to discuss it in further detail shortly. We never said that all the proceeds-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Sale of State Assets (23 Jan 2013)

Brian Hayes: -----from the national lottery licensing process would go to the new national paediatric tertiary hospital. That was never the intention, which is that a contribution will be made from the sale for the purpose of making a contribution to the new hospital. That is still the proposition of the Government. I do not wish to cut across the terrain of the Minister for Health but I suspect the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Sale of State Assets (23 Jan 2013)

Brian Hayes: I suppose we are playing with words. The Minister, Deputy Howlin, has stated that a contribution will be made, whether it is termed ring-fencing or a policy. It depends on whether one man has a dinner and another does not. The bottom line is that this important national facility will be built in the lifetime of this Government. This shows that even in really difficult times, we can get...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Croke Park Agreement (23 Jan 2013)

Brian Hayes: While the question of the graduate scheme in the health service is of course a matter for the Minister for Health, the reality is that ten years ago, Ireland had a public sector of approximately 290,000 people. Today, even on foot of the reductions in the total number over the past four years of 30,000, it still has approximately 290,000 people, despite the collapse by one third in the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Croke Park Agreement (23 Jan 2013)

Brian Hayes: What is sick is to pretend to people that one can solve this problem by taking out everyone on a salary of €100,000, putting them up against a wall and doing what the Deputy's former comrades used to do to them. That is sick, in a circumstance in which the great majority of people who work in the public service are not on that kind of money. If one is serious about dealing with this...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Croke Park Agreement (23 Jan 2013)

Brian Hayes: On the question that Deputy Sean Fleming quite rightly asked about teachers, one point on which I wish to agree with him is that even with the reductions in public servant numbers the Government and its predecessor were obliged to introduce, there still will be more teachers in the system. The reason is the number of children coming into the schools has not been at the current rate since the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: National Procurement Service (23 Jan 2013)

Brian Hayes: The public service reform plan published by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in November 2011 identified procurement reform as a key instrument that can assist in maintaining the delivery of public services in an efficient manner. The National Procurement Service, NPS, has put in place a number of national arrangements designed to secure better value for money from leveraging...