Results 24,061-24,080 of 32,892 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Other Questions: Brexit Issues (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: It is a recognition of that fact and the points the Deputy has raised that drove my Department to move to deal with the maintenance of PEACE and INTERREG funding on the day following the Brexit referendum. I have discussed that with the Deputy previously. We know that funding plays a vital role in supporting projects in his community, and on both sides of the Border, that have contributed...

Other Questions: Brexit Issues (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I take the Deputy’s point. I am aware that the level of support that is needed is multifaceted. Deputy Smith referred to the impact of currency change. We know that is already having an impact on the competitiveness of Irish exports, in particular in the food sector. My view is that the bigger impact to be faced will be the nature of the negotiations that will take place on the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The fiscal and policy context section of the capital plan, Building on Recovery, sets out the objectives of State investment in infrastructure. It emphasises the Government's commitment, through the capital plan, of supporting strong and sustainable economic growth and raising welfare and living standards for all. Promoting environmental sustainability is, of course, integral to achieving...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I am making clear in all the engagement I have with other Government Departments that a vital consideration in any decisions we make is the contribution that public investment can make towards delivering our climate objectives. I have referred to this in the criteria that have been published to other Departments that indicate the way in which we will evaluate their proposals, and I continue...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I hope the considerations the Deputy has outlined, which I agree with, will be maintained across the coming period when many demands will be placed upon the Government for expenditure in different areas. As I referred to earlier when answering questions from Deputy Calleary, if one considers where we will be next year, while we do have resources available to make new investment choices,...

Other Questions: Brexit Issues (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank Deputy Smith for raising this matter. I remember very clearly the way in which he raised it at the Good Friday Agreement implementation committee where we had a discussion on it. Regarding our present position, in the capital plan, which Deputy Martin raised with me just a moment ago, we have laid out very clearly that a factor in decisions we will make is the effect that Brexit...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Service Pay Commission (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: That is exactly my understanding of the timing in relation to it, that the Minister, Deputy Noonan, and the Department of Finance may make a revision on the figures that I have just shared with Deputy Calleary in June. That will be purely a determination for Deputy Noonan's Department. In terms of any likely change, Deputy Calleary is correct to state that the growth figures for this...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Brexit Issues (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Brexit issues in my Department are co-ordinated centrally by the Department's Brexit/EU/North-South unit. The unit oversees Brexit work across the Department and acts as the contact point with the Department of the Taoiseach and other Departments. It is represented on the interdepartmental group on Brexit and related groups, and supports me in my work as a member of the Cabinet Committee on...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Brexit Issues (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: We have the right personnel and the right vision in relation to this. To back up that assertion, I point to the fact that our national interest in the Border in relation to the movement of people has now been recognised in the draft negotiation mandate that has been provided by the European Council and has also been recognised in a mandate that was drafted by the European Parliament. Not...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Brexit Issues (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: It is good to hear Deputy Mattie McGrath make reference to the positive role of the European Union and the positive role that it has played, through the Single Market, in providing export markets-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Brexit Issues (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: -----to the companies to which he referred. That Single Market and the support that those companies have received from Irish agencies has been crucial in allowing companies to grow and to the significant development that has taken place in the country over the past 40 to 50 years. The Deputy makes the point in relation to the Border. I repeat the point I made to him a moment ago. That...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Freedom of Information (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I appreciate from where the Deputy is coming. I was a member of the Committee of Public Accounts for a number of years. The issue in regard to the qualification of public private partnerships and the difficulty in getting information on them is one with which I am familiar. The reason, as I have alluded to, has two elements. The first is that where a semi-State commercial body which is...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Freedom of Information (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I accept the principles the Deputy is raising. When I was commenting on the initial formulation of metro north many years ago, I raised similar points, stating it was very difficult to understand some aspects of the then project because every time one tried to gain access to some information, one was told it was commercially sensitive, to the extent that, at one point, it was actually...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Service Pay Commission (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy is aware, A Programme for a Partnership Government committed the Government to establish a public service pay commission to examine pay levels across the public service. In line with this commitment, the Government agreed in principle in July last year to establish an independent advisory body to examine public service remuneration. This is always a complex matter involving,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Service Pay Commission (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: On the timing, I expect the commission to report in or before May. Therefore, I do not expect the report to be issued towards the end of quarter 2. The discussions will be very difficult, as will all of the proceedings for the next year. The Deputy has made reference to where we stand from a resource point of view for next year. The answer is that, once the commitments the Government has...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Sale of State Assets (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: In the context of planning for the use of the proceeds arising from the State assets disposal programme, which included the sale of Bord Gáis Energy, my Department consulted with the Central Statistics Office, via the Department of Finance, in regard to the statistical treatment of the proceeds and their impact on the general Government balance. My Department did not have direct...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Sale of State Assets (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The broad answer to that question is that, over the last number of years, €1.5 billion has been received by the State that is the proceeds of State assets and the disposal of State assets. It has been used at different points. For example, in June 2013, €150 million was made available for investment in schools and roads projects. An amount of those disposal gains has been...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Sale of State Assets (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I will deal first with the Deputy's description of spin in regard to the investment in public housing. There is no spin about the fact €5 billion has been made available for public housing investment.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Sale of State Assets (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The €5 billion is being invested and I have proof of this. I look at the progress being made in Dominick Street where a public housing project, long heralded and much needed, is now going ahead. I look at O'Devaney Gardens, a project that, when it collapsed over ten years ago, was emblematic of the beginning of the collapse of our economy. Later this year we will see the sod turned...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Freedom of Information (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Section 36 of the Freedom of Information Act 2014 sets out an exemption provision under which an FOI request can be refused where the requested information includes commercially sensitive information of a third party. This provision requires that decision makers should consider, before reaching a final determination, whether "the public interest would, on balance, be better served by...