Results 24,601-24,620 of 32,961 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Other Questions: State Banking Sector (2 Mar 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Minister for Finance is making a case with regard to how we can maximise capital expenditure. Under the capital plan, which we discussed earlier, the Government plans to increase capital investment in the years ahead. Capital investment increased this year by more than €300 million or 14% compared to 2016. It is planned to increase it further every year until 2021-2022 when it...

Other Questions: State Banking Sector (2 Mar 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The building of Rome has started. The national capital framework is being reviewed and public consultation on the framework will commence next week. I aim to conclude the review by the end of the year and we will use it to clarify the position regarding any projects whose planning status is uncertain.

Other Questions: Public Sector Pay (2 Mar 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: It is important to be clear about one of the reasons for the difference in costs and wages. Under the agreement that we now have, the norm for many of the more recent entrants is that, until they get to a much later part of their career, they will be two salary points behind those who joined pre-2011. This means that the entire cost of equalising pay scales will be significant. At the...

Other Questions: Public Sector Pay (2 Mar 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The timeframe that has been set and agreed by Mr. Duffy and the Public Pay Commission is that their work will report across the second quarter, which refers to April, May and June. I hope that they meet that timeline. When they publish their report, the Government and representatives of public service employees will then need a period of time to digest the report and comment on it because I...

Other Questions: Departmental Budgets (2 Mar 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I indicated my answer to this question in reply to an earlier question. To address some of the additional points raised, the expenditure figures for each Department are tracked constantly by my Department. We have now allocated how we expect the expenditure ceilings to be realised per quarter for 2017. We have laid out what the Revised Estimates Volume profile for each Department will be...

Other Questions: Departmental Budgets (2 Mar 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: All my colleagues are well aware of the need to stay within the figures I have outlined to the Deputy. It is fair to say that certain Departments are under more policy pressure than others. I spend a considerable amount of time working the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, who has to manage an array of different matters relating to his Department. All of my colleagues are aware of...

Other Questions: Departmental Budgets (2 Mar 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: We always do our best to be fair to all the different interests that are raised with us. If we consider the question Deputy Calleary put to me a moment ago, the amount of funding for wages that was removed during the period of crisis from our civil and public servants, at €1.4 billion, is exceptionally large. At €1.4 billion, the income removed from civil and public servants...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Budget Consultation Process (2 Mar 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I am sure buried somewhere in Deputy Ryan's statement is an acknowledgement of the fact that I have agreed to this post being at the level that was requested. It was appropriate that the matter went through scrutiny and debate. The reason for that was that when the organisation is established, I will then be asked by the House why it is costing a certain amount and has a particular grade of...

Other Questions: Budget Measures (2 Mar 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: We are well aware of the importance of a well-functioning public service and how crucial it is to the smooth operation of the economy. Public service reform was a central element of the response to the challenges of recent years and remains an essential part of building for the future. Since the first public service reform plan was published in 2011, a comprehensive programme of reform has...

Other Questions: Public Sector Pay (2 Mar 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The answer to the Deputy's question is "Yes", in terms of the public sector pay commission and its terms of reference. The Deputy referred to new entrants, an issue which was also recognised in the supply and confidence agreement between the Government and Fianna Fáil. It is considering the matter and will issue its observations in the coming months. On the broader issue and the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: National Planning Framework (2 Mar 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: In respect of the first of the Deputy's two questions, out of the €5 billion of additional resources, approximately €2.2 billion to €2.3 billion was allocated to the Minister, Deputy Coveney, for the public housing programme he announced before Christmas. Approximately €2.4 billion to €2.5 billion is currently unallocated and that will be dealt with in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: National Planning Framework (2 Mar 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Let us be clear about the scale of the investment of the EIB in Ireland. My understanding is that it has now made funding available to every university in our country and it has made funding available to develop projects like Luas cross-city and the Grangegorman campus of the Dublin Institute of Technology. It has put investment in place to support needed projects in our county.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: National Planning Framework (2 Mar 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: On the Deputy's question on the role of public private partnerships, I am very willing to engage in a discussion on the role of PPPs but let us be clear that a public private partnership builds up a liability that is then contingent on the State balance sheet. It is funding and a loan that at some point will need to be repaid. If the Deputy needs evidence of the challenge that can pose, he...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Budget Consultation Process (2 Mar 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Of course it is not true to say that nothing has happened. That is actually wrong.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Budget Consultation Process (2 Mar 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Government is very supportive of the Oireachtas having an enhanced input into discussions on budgetary priorities. It is for this reason that the programme for Government contains a commitment to establish a parliamentary budget office following on from the recommendations of very report to which Deputy Ryan referred. The Houses of the Oireachtas Commission met with officials...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Budget Consultation Process (2 Mar 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: My Department generally has differences with every Government Department it deals with; that is what it is there for. It is there to make sure that there is consistency in respect of staffing and spending decisions. The view of my Department was that the appropriate level for this role was principal officer. The very reason for that was that the equivalent position within the Irish Fiscal...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: National Planning Framework (2 Mar 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: There is a very close alignment between the new national planning framework and the current review of the capital plan which will be strongly reflected in the Government's capital investment plans arising from the review and decision-making on spatial planning.  Indeed, the Taoiseach, in his recent address to the Institute of European Affairs...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions (2 Mar 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: In the past, the ocupational pensions received by public service pensioners were generally adjusted in line with changes in the wages or salary of the pensioner's grade at retirement.  Sometimes referred to as "pay parity", this non-statutory linkage lapsed in 2010 when pensions were left unchanged notwithstanding salary cuts at the beginning of that year affecting all public...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pay (2 Mar 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 18 and 21 together. The 10% reductions in starting pay for certain new entrants were introduced in January 2011 as part of the National Recovery Plan in order to reduce the Public Service Pay Bill by the then Government and as a response to the serious fiscal position presenting at that time. The issue of addressing the difference...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Expenditure Reviews (2 Mar 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Work on the Spending Review announced in my speech accompanying the publication of the Estimates last October is now underway. This review will systematically examine existing spending programmes to assess their effectiveness in meeting policy objectives and also to identify scope for re-allocating funding to meet expenditure priorities. ...