Results 25,361-25,380 of 32,961 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: Would the chairman or the chief executive of Bus Éireann be in a position to answer questions on school transport, given that it provides the service in question?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: What does the Chairman mean by "outsiders"?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: Officials in my Department are competent in the area. It is my objective that the commission will comprise a broad mix of individuals.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: Ultimately, I will make the appointments. It is my objective to have a mix of individuals in the commission.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: I do not know if the mix will be that broad. I also do not know whether Mr. O'Leary, if asked to serve on the commission, would agree to do so. Deputy Paul Murphy might have a view on that if we were to do it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: I will have to come back to you with an answer. Off the top of my head, I am aware of a number of Secretaries General with experience in the private sector who have been appointed recently.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: I will come back to you with that figure.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: It is definitely worthwhile. There is a need for further engagement between the Government and An Garda Síochána on this matter. What has occurred is a very serious development. We have great respect for the work of An Garda Síochána and we must have the Lansdowne Road agreement honoured and implemented. The precedent is that the Minister who has responsibility for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: The industrial activity they have indicated they might commence has not begun yet and is a number of weeks away. The Garda Commissioner and her senior staff have made it clear that they believe it is very important that there be a period of discussion about what has happened. As I said to the Chairman, we have great respect for the work of the Garda and are aware of the particular nature of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: We are referring to a statement made yesterday afternoon. My message is that we wish to support the Garda and its work but we must honour the commitments we have made to everybody who works in our country's public services. Along with the Tánaiste, I wish to engage in a process and any action required that deals with the GRA's concerns but respects the fact that there are tens of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: The Garda Commissioner will, and is well able to, comment on that matter. What is more important for me is to acknowledge that this is a serious matter and that we must work to seek to resolve it. However, we must do so in a way that is consistent with the broad commitments we have under the Lansdowne Road agreement.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: If I could understand the Deputy's question better, does he want to know how many we have working in our public service currently?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: I will answer that first. The number working in the public services at the end of the second quarter of this year was 302,439.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: I have the spend. We spent, in gross terms for 2016, €527 million on our pension bill, the net cost of which was €392 million. I do not have the number of people who are currently on pensions but my officials will try to get it for the Deputy while I am answering other questions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: In current expenditure, in 2017 we will be within €200 million of what we spent in 2008.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: It is not significantly reduced but it is down. Much of that reduction would be due to the fact that in 2008 and 2009, we were spending more on assets and services than we should have been. However, it is down.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: I will answer that question shortly. On the Deputy's earlier question, the number of Civil Service pensioners is 18,400. There are also individuals in receipt of public service pensions. We will send the figure the Deputy seeks to the committee secretariat. I support the Government policy of reducing the USC over time. The key issue is that changes must be made in a measured manner. In...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: They are not on a knife edge. How can the Deputy say that? In the next 18 to 24 months, the Government aims to balance the books. That is not a definition of a knife edge. Some of the matters to which the Deputy referred come within the remit of the Minister for Finance and he will provide answers on them. As I stated, we will achieve balance in these areas by making steady and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: We will be on a knife edge very quickly if we start using unexpected increases in receipts to reduce the taxes that pay for day to day spending. The Deputy referred to the increase in corporation tax receipts. The Minister for Finance has stated we will not use large increases in revenue in specific tax brackets to reduce tax levels for everybody or to fund large increases in public...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Paschal Donohoe: I have a particularly heightened appreciation of the current position because I am trying to deal with colleagues as a budget approaches.