Results 31,321-31,340 of 33,049 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Public Accounts Committee: Garda Síochána - Review of Allowances (1 Nov 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: I had written down some great questions. After losing them, I have found them again. I refer back to a comment by Mr. Stone that there are 34 allowances in operation. I contrast that with appendix A which we received as preparation for this session that lists 108 of them, starting with overtime. How do we reconcile a list of 108 allowances with Mr. Stone's observation that there are 34...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (1 Nov 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: I have a point regarding the report itself and how we will draft it. We are having many very good meetings about this issue and are well into the trees, but we must also be mindful of the forest. I would like first to have a discussion about how we are going to engage in drafting the report in order that when a draft appears in front of us, neither the structure nor the content will come as...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (1 Nov 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: There is a notice here that states we want to launch the report on 14 November, while we have our final hearing on 8 November which is the end of the previous week. When does the clerk think we will have a draft report?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (1 Nov 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: Could I make a suggestion? If we are going to have the launch on 14 November, and will have a draft report ready on 12 or 13 November, perhaps we should push back the suggested launch date to the following week.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (1 Nov 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: In that way, we will not get into a discussion regarding why we are changing the launch date. We will name a date that gives us a week to do it. We should be able to do that.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (1 Nov 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: Before we get the content of the report, would it be possible for someone to share with us what the suggested structure of the report is going to be? If we get agreement on what the structure looks like, including headings, we will not end up with a big discussion at the very start with people saying they wished we had done it another way, and someone else disagreeing.

Public Accounts Committee: Irish Congress of Trade Unions - Review of Allowances (31 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: A consequence of that has been the proliferation of allowances. For example, in the Irish Prison Service alone there are 64 allowances. Within our Defence Forces, there are 63 allowances which are separate and bespoke to those two units of our public service. While I understand and accept Mr. Cody's point that in many cases an allowance was the most cost-effective and straightforward way...

Public Accounts Committee: Irish Congress of Trade Unions - Review of Allowances (31 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: One of the examples that was given to us was that of the prison service. This is the most recent allowance to be introduced. There was a difficulty regarding overtime payments within the prison service. A dispute took place and a system of 13 different allowances was introduced. On paper that looked extremely complicated, as was acknowledged by the people who were operating it. None the...

Public Accounts Committee: Irish Congress of Trade Unions - Review of Allowances (31 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: I ask Ms King for her view on the matter. She touched on the question of how feasible it is to continue with all 1,100 allowances in terms of the structure. I learned much from the detail about professions that are rostered and the role that allowances can play there. I cannot remember the section from which this came, but it was interesting to hear how allowances can play a role. What is...

Public Accounts Committee: Irish Congress of Trade Unions - Review of Allowances (31 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank Ms King.

Public Accounts Committee: Irish Congress of Trade Unions - Review of Allowances (31 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: I am not sure it would be. Having looked at hundreds of allowances at this stage, we have seen that while most of them are pensionable, many of them, for good reasons, are not. I know everybody would want all the pay they receive to be pensionable, but many of them are not pensionable and are very specific and quite flexible. Integrating that into core pay-----

Public Accounts Committee: Irish Congress of Trade Unions - Review of Allowances (31 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: I welcome the delegates and thank them for coming. I have a question for each of them on the basis of the answers they have given to my colleagues. Mr. Geraghty stated during an exchange with Deputy McCarthy that his views had not been sought initially on how the matter of allowances should be handled. If his views had been sought, what would they have been?

Public Accounts Committee: Irish Congress of Trade Unions - Review of Allowances (31 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: I accept that.

Public Accounts Committee: Irish Congress of Trade Unions - Review of Allowances (31 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: If they had been sought, they are the bones of the views with which Mr. Geraghty would responded?

Public Accounts Committee: Irish Congress of Trade Unions - Review of Allowances (31 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: I accept that. On the origins of the system, I am struck most by its extraordinary complexity having heard details of the origins of the allowances and how they are paid in different sectors. Mr. Cody spoke about where they came from and said many of them had been in place for some time. Considering the origin and development of allowances, does he believe an alternative way could have...

Topical Issue Debate: Negative Equity Mortgages (25 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: What are we to do? We have young people, married and unmarried, with young children who want to have more children but are living in one or two bedroom apartments they purchased at the height of the property boom. The tax code makes it difficult for them to rent accommodation appropriate to the size of their family. While I understand the pressure on the public finances, this is none the...

Topical Issue Debate: Negative Equity Mortgages (25 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: I refer to an e-mail I received from a constituent which is representative of a common situation. The constituent bought a two-bedroomed apartment for €420,000 in 2006. A first child was born in 2009 and a second child was born in 2011. This apartment is now valued at €169,000. This is a stark illustration of the burden that negative equity places on many people. Despite the...

Prospects for Irish Economy: Statements (Resumed) (25 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: I will begin on a positive note on our economy before I acknowledge all of the great difficulties we face. Listening to some of the Opposition speakers one would think there was nothing of any merit and nothing positive happening in any part of our economy or business life. We live in a country where every day there are between 80 and 100 business start-ups. We live in a country which...

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Justice and Equality - Review of Allowances (25 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: This goes back to something we have been examining, which is when is an allowance not an allowance? The way Mr. Purcell has helped us to understand this allowance is that it was brought in to deal with the overtime issue. It saved €30 million and it is not pensionable. It is a payment that ties into additional work that is being done. It would be helpful to understand when...

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Justice and Equality - Review of Allowances (25 Oct 2012)

Paschal Donohoe: I refer to the points of difference between this and other graphs. We have covered off the first issue, which is more people are in receipt of more allowances and Mr. Purcell has given an explanation for that. The further one goes up the income ladder, the lower the percentage of allowances is as a percentage of the total compensation. As I go further up the income tier, staff are claiming...