Results 24,161-24,180 of 32,961 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions Data (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: My Department is not involved in compiling in any kind of systematic fashion the class of information to which the Deputy refers. However, the Department has access to databases containing information on public service pension terms and administration arrangements operated by organisations such as the OECD and the European Institute of Public Administration which may be consulted as the need...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Expenditure Data (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The management of the annual Exchequer funding provision allocated to Departments is governed by the rules detailed in Public Financial Procedures. Managing the delivery of public services within Budgetary allocations is a key responsibility of each Minister and their Department. My Department is in ongoing communication with Departments and Offices to ensure that expenditure is being managed...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Regulations (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Public Procurement is governed by well-established EU and National rules and guidelines. The aim of these rules is to promote an open, competitive and non-discriminatory public procurement regime which delivers best value for money. EU Directives on public procurement require that public contracts above certain financial thresholds must be advertised on the Official Journal of the EU and...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Meetings between the management and union side interests, including SIPTU, to the Community Sector Forum took place on 24 February 2017 and 7 April 2017. The minutes of these meetings await formal approval by the parties to the Forum and will on such approval be publicly available on my Department's website.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions Data (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Based on data collected in respect of the end-2015 position, there are believed to be about 152,000 persons in receipt of a public service pension, including retirees and recipients of dependant pensions. The annual gross cost of paying these pensions is an estimated €3.3 billion. The Public Service Pension Reduction (PSPR) is being significantly reversed in three stages under...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Based on the current data available to my Department, the total number of public service employees currently in receipt of a salary at end of December 2016 was some 307,000 (full-time equivalent)-FTE). The Exchequer Paybill for 2016 at €15.7bn gross provided for the annual cost of the salaries for approx. 279,000 (FTE) public servants. It should be noted that Local Authority staff,...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Information and Communications Technology (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The purpose of capital investment undertaken by my Department, including the National Shared Services Office (NSSO) and the Office of Government Procurement (OGP), is to deliver greater effectiveness and efficiency across the Civil and Public Service. The nature of many of the reform initiatives set out in ambitious plans such as the Public Service Reform Plan and the Public Service ICT...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministerial Travel (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I travelled to Korea and Japan as part of the 2017 Irish Government's St Patrick's Day Promote Ireland programme. The programme included a 3 day programme in Seoul, Korea and a 3 day programme in Tokyo, Japan. I was accompanied on the visit by two officials; my Private Secretary and Special Adviser. The programme aimed to promote trade, investment and tourism in Ireland through a series of...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Capital Expenditure Programme (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Submissions in relation to the mid-term review and the additional funding available, were sought from Departments in January and are currently being received by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. A public consultation process has also commenced, to ascertain the views of the public and key stakeholders on what our national infrastructure priorities should be and to seek...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Expenditure (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 197, 200, 203 and 206 together. Budget 2015 marked a key turning point when overall expenditure reductions were not required to meet our key fiscal targets. The improving fiscal conditions have allowed the Government to allocate additional resources towards emerging expenditure needs with prudent increases in gross voted expenditure of 3% on average in...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Reform Implementation (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Public Service Reform continues to be a key feature of my Department's policy. Considerable progress has been made since the first Public Service Reform Plan was published in 2011. We are now moving from a stage of reform to one of development and continuous improvement which will cover the period 2017-2020. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform are...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Capital Expenditure Programme (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 199 and 204 together. Both current and capital expenditure levels for 2017 were published in the Revised Estimates for Public Services 2017. All Departments have subsequently provided profiles for how this expenditure will be allocated across the year.  As of March the Exchequer Returns indicate that spend is largely on target so far in 2017. ...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 201 and 202 together. As the Deputy is aware, I am obliged under the legislation to undertake an Annual Review of the operation and effectiveness of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Acts (FEMPI) which is laid before the Oireachtas by the end of June each year. In doing so I must have "regard to the overall...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Regulations (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Procurement reform is a key element of the Government's overall reform programme and is aimed at delivering increased value for money, more accurate and timely data and improvements in the capacity and capability of the procurement function across the public service and supporting increased compliance. The fragmented procurement arrangements across the public service which existed prior to...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Freedom of Information Act 2014 at section 11 provides for a right of access to information as follows: "Subject to this Act, every person has a right to and shall, on request therefore, be offered access to any record held by an FOI body and the right so conferred is referred to in this Act as the right of access" The Act provides for the refusal of access to information only in certain...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Legislative Measures (13 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Public Sector Standards Bill 2015  aims to significantly enhance the existing framework for identifying, disclosing and managing conflicts of interest and minimising corruption risks, to achieve a shift towards a more dynamic and risk-based system of compliance and to ensure that the institutional framework for oversight, investigation and enforcement is robust and effective. This...

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (12 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Which I am privileged to represent.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Expenditure Reviews (12 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Work on the 2017 Spending Review began earlier this year, in January. The approach taken to this review differs from the Comprehensive Spending Reviews undertaken in 2011 and 2014 in that it does not cover total Government expenditure in a single year. The 2011 and 2014 reviews were conducted at a time when Ireland was about to enter, or already in an Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP)...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (12 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Freedom of Information Act 2014 provides a very broad definition of public bodies at Section 6(1) and further provides that all new public bodies comprehended by this definition will automatically come under freedom of information (FOI) legislation, unless specifically exempted by order. This reversed the system under previous legislation whereby new bodies would have to be brought into...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions (12 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I believe that the Deputy is referring to those public service pensions which have been awarded in respect of retirements up to end-February 2012, and whose value before the application of the Public Service Pension Reduction (PSPR) is marginally greater than €34,132. Such pensions will remain subject to PSPR when the three-stage part-reversal of PSPR provided...