Results 2,401-2,420 of 33,118 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions (12 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: As Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, I have overarching responsibility for public service pension policy, including in relation to pension increases in the public service. As the Deputy may be aware, the current method of post-retirement pension adjustment for retirees of pre-existing (pre-2013) public service pension schemes is known as ‘pay parity’....

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Priorities (12 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I approved my Department's Statement of Strategy 2023-2025 in June of this year. The Strategy sets out the strategic direction for my Department between now and 2025, with a mission to drive the delivery of better public services, living standards and infrastructure for the people of Ireland. The Strategy sets out an ambitious range of activities to be implemented in that timeframe, under...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: National Development Plan (12 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: A comprehensive review of the National Development Plan (NDP) took place over the course of 2020 and 2021. The Government committed €165 billion funding for capital investment as set out in the NDP 2021-30 published in October 2021. The significant level of expenditure committed under the NDP is pivotal in consolidating the progress already made, supporting balanced regional...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Pension Provisions (12 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy may be aware, I have overall policy responsibility in relation to public service occupational pension schemes payable to retired public servants. One of the criteria to qualify for the payment of an occupational supplementary pension is that the retired public servant must not be paid in employment, however any paid employment would result in the payment of the occupational...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts (12 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: This tender for Infrastructure as a Service isa live competition. To protect the integrity of the process no comment can be made at this stage about any aspect of the competition, including the number and quality of responses received.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Priorities (7 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: Since this Government took office in June 2020, we have introduced significant changes to enhance the delivery of the State's national investment priorities. Following a comprehensive review of the National Development Plan (NDP) over the course of 2020 and 2021, the Government committed €165 billion funding for capital investment, as set out in the NDP 2021-30 published in...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach and the committee for the invitation to attend the meeting today to discuss the Supplementary Estimates for 2023. The Revised Estimates for 2023, published last December, set out planned expenditure of €91.1 billion. This funding was put in place to support the delivery of better public services, living standards and infrastructure for the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy very much. The decision regarding the level of ELS is always a really important part of our budget negotiations. I believe that, by and large, the work we do in this regard is accurate. Where we do, of course, have ongoing challenges is to recognise it in how we fund the Department of Health overall and challenges that are there, which I know is a feature of the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: At a number of different times in the process relating to the health budget, the Minister for Health and his departmental officials made the case for more funding, but that is a regular feature of the budgetary process. Every Minister that I engage with makes the case for more funding for the services for which he or she is responsible. If we look at the level of funding the Department of...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: No, it was roughly the same as in previous years in term of the expectations that were there for the Estimates process. I have now done lots of them. The expectations are always really high. It may even be a bit higher this year because, undoubtedly, there has been a change in expectations regarding what the State can deliver and what it can fund in the aftermath of the pandemic....

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I cannot give that guarantee to the committee. It has been an ongoing feature of health budgets in recent years that it has required a supplementary budget, and a substantive one. The level of that supplementary budget has varied over the years. In some years we have been successful in meeting the needs of patients but also containing the Supplementary Estimate to a lower level while in...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I would definitely prefer to be in a position whereby we did not need to use Supplementary Estimates. The best practice that the IMF wants us to adhere to makes an awful lot of sense. We try to be in a position where we can avoid using them, but they are needed. At times they are needed because things happen during the year that we do not expect. They also happen because we now have a...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes, I refer specifically to the non-core funding that we have made available in recent years for the two most recent shocks that we have had. I highlight where we have been with the cost of living due to the inflationary surge, and while we could have expected that it was going to happen, few expected it was going to happen with the speed it did. I would also particularly highlight where...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: As I look forward to next year, when I consider the amount of funding we have allocated to the Department that is responsible for dealing with the cost of migration, I do feel that we are adequately funded there at the moment. Again, that all does depend on migration flows into our country and further policy decisions that the Government will make in the future on how we support the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes, from my perspective and certainly from the perspective of the Minister of the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman. We have moved heaven and earth to make funding available to deal with the needs of those who come to our country seeking refuge. The scale of the Supplementary Estimate we brought in for the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth for well over €1...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes, that is correct. There were Supplementary Estimates for health in six of the seven years between 2017 and 2023. The one year where it did not happen was during the pandemic. It should be state that during that period, there was a very big variance in the scale of the Supplementary Estimates. Outside of the Covid era and the post-Covid era, when it was above €1 billion, it...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: It is €1.04 billion.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: That is correct. Last year, it was €1.39 billion, and this year, it is €1.04 billion.