Results 3,021-3,040 of 35,549 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: It is €3 billion when you include core expenditure but if we take that out of it we have €2.3 billion. Then on budget day, it drops by how much?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: €500 million. That is way off the mark. Mr. Kinnane may not think that getting these figures wrong by half a billion euro or about 20% of a reduction is insignificant. It it is significant but the problem is that this trend continues. The same happened in 2023 and in 2024. The Department is presenting fictional figures to the Oireachtas in the summer economic statement, or the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I appreciate that but I want to take Mr. Kinnane to the health side because that is the one I really want to focus in on, if that is okay. €708 million is the allocation that the Minister determined was required for standstill in health. The Department of Health, the HSE, says that is not credible and that it is a work of fiction. It is arguing that it is approximately €2...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: What is the number for next year? I want the component parts of the €708 million which the Department has provided for health.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: We understand the two increases this year.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: What is that in millions? Mr. Kinnane is able to give me the figure to the number - €384 million - for 2023, which the Department negotiated last year. How much of the carryover is assigned to pay and comes out of the €708 million for next year?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Is it not strange that Mr. Kinnane has the figure negotiated last year but he does not have the figure the Department agreed just four weeks ago?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I am making the point again. This is just fiction. It is complete and utter fiction. Does Mr. Kinnane not have the figure? What are the component parts that make up this figure? I am challenging him to put to bed this idea that what the Department has presented as the standstill costs for health next year, is a work of fiction. The Department of Health and the HSE say it needs to be...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I do not care who it is agreed by. I want to know what it is made up of. A portion of that money is made up of wage increases so that is gone. Then I need to know what the other components are because we need to get to the bottom of this. People in my constituency and elsewhere are suffering as a result of this here.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: The head of the HSE wrote to the Minister for Health saying there would be dire consequences for public safety if this went ahead and the Minister for Health went ahead with it.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I want to make this point. I am asking Mr. Kinnane this question because the general secretary of the Department told the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform and Taoiseach, that he had no sight of the letter that the Minister for Health furnished to the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. I am asking Mr. Kinnane if he had any...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Was Mr. Kinnane aware of the letter?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Is it Mr. Kinnane's understanding that letter was furnished to the Department?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: That is fair enough.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: That is a straight answer and I respect and appreciate it. Was Mr. Kinnane party to or aware of any discussions in the Department regarding the warning letter the HSE's chief executive officer issued to his line Minister, the Minister for Health, which was furnished to Mr. Kinnane's Department with commentary from the Minister?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: It was sent before the budget.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Whether Mr. Kinnane was involved in it or not, he was not aware of any discussions of the letter before budget day. Is that correct?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I know it is not Mr. Kinnane's area of responsibility but-----

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: That is fine. That is all I wanted to know. Mr. Kinnane made the point the Government agreed this, and absolutely, the whole of Government agrees this and has made this final decision. I assume he agreed with the allocation of the ELS for health, or did he? He is an acting assistant secretary general in the Department. Is that something he agreed? If that is the case, I genuinely...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: To clarify, I asked whether Mr. Kinnane agrees with the ELS of €708 million for health next year and whether there has been any dissent within his Department in respect of that figure.