Results 21,561-21,580 of 26,228 for speaker:Kieran O'Donnell

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecasting: Discussion with Department of Finance (8 Oct 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: I appreciate your guidance, Chairman. On the figures prepared by Mr. McCarthy, the slide on page 20 is the most important and informative from a general overall viewpoint and shows that GNP will grow by 0.2%. When were these up-to-date figures prepared?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecasting: Discussion with Department of Finance (8 Oct 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Therefore, they are based on the figures for two quarters. Mr. McCarthy said 0.2% would be the revised growth rate for GDP in 2013. However, he said earlier that the market consensus at this time was that it would be 0%. Is that correct? Will he elaborate on this?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecasting: Discussion with Department of Finance (8 Oct 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: The Department is projecting a figure of 1.8% in 2014 and Reuters is coming in at around the same figure at 1.7%. In respect of the Department's forecasting, the only areas in which forecasting came in ahead of target were investments, in respect of which the Department forecast a rate of 3.7% and the figure is 4.9%, and unemployment, in respect of which the Department forecast a rate of 14%...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecasting: Discussion with Department of Finance (8 Oct 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: We are getting conflicting messages from the numbers.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecasting: Discussion with Department of Finance (8 Oct 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: On a final point, why did the Department project the unemployment rate to remain at 14%, but it decreased to 13.5%?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecasting: Discussion with Department of Finance (8 Oct 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Yes. The Department projected the level of employment at 1.6%-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecasting: Discussion with Department of Finance (8 Oct 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Will Mr. McCarthy explain the term "negative productivity"? Why is it manifesting itself in the economy?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecasting: Discussion with Department of Finance (8 Oct 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: The final point concerns the issue of the VAT rate and the hospitality sector, to which Mr. Enright referred. What is Mr. McCarthy's overall view on such measures in terms of job creation and job retention?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecasting: Discussion with Department of Finance (8 Oct 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Thank you.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecasting: Discussion with Department of Finance (8 Oct 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: We are here to extract information. When the witnesses are going through the presentation would they take account of the fact that we have only just received the information?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecasting: Discussion with Department of Finance (8 Oct 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: I agree that in future the Department should give us the information in advance. We need to get the presentation under way.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 42 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 12 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 13 - Procurement without a Competitive Process (3 Oct 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Yes, in the current climate.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 42 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 12 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 13 - Procurement without a Competitive Process (3 Oct 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: I have a final question on a future issue. The average age of staff in the public sector is creeping towards 50 years of age and over the next ten years that trend will continue. A total of 4% of the staff are under the age of 30 years. I am not being ageist but I make the point that as time passes the sector will be losing skills and intellectual property. What is the Department...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 42 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 12 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 13 - Procurement without a Competitive Process (3 Oct 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Half of the staff are over the age of 50 years.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 42 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 12 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 13 - Procurement without a Competitive Process (3 Oct 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: The ladies are definitely bringing the age way down.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 42 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 12 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 13 - Procurement without a Competitive Process (3 Oct 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: What levels of recruitment does Mr. Watt envisage?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 42 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 12 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 13 - Procurement without a Competitive Process (3 Oct 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: What percentage would Mr. Watt seek to recruit every year?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 42 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 12 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 13 - Procurement without a Competitive Process (3 Oct 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: I only have two or three questions. I welcome Mr. Watt and his colleagues. There are a few quick points on which I want to check. Are the savings under the Haddington Road agreement built into the individual budgets of each Department or are they a top-line item for Ireland Inc.?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 42 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 12 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 13 - Procurement without a Competitive Process (3 Oct 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Each Department must find savings in the budget, so how are the percentages arrived at in terms of whole of government thinking or within individual Departments? How does that process evolve?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 42 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 12 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 13 - Procurement without a Competitive Process (3 Oct 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: If there are demand-led schemes in individual Departments, is there a weighting given according to practicalities of budgets? I am thinking of the health budget, for example.