Results 33,501-33,520 of 34,779 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)

Seán Fleming: By just increasing the capital expenditure on health areas, it could bring all those nursing homes up to HIQA standard and it would not be necessary to close the ones proposed to be closed. One of the Minister's roles is to deal with public sector reform. Last week we discussed his document on the subject at a committee meeting. I said it was the weakest document he had produced - he has...

Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)

Seán Fleming: The essence of it is that the Taoiseach announced last night that there will be 37,000 fewer people working in the public service by 2015 - 23,000 extra from today. That is higher than the figure the Minister announced during the general election campaign, but clearly he lost that battle in Government. I accept that is the way compromise goes. The Minister also mentioned a list of quangos...

Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)

Seán Fleming: He wants to establish a public service chief information officer, a shared-services transformation manager in the reform and delivery office, appoint a payroll shared services manager, an officer responsible for business plans, a pensions shared services project manager-----

Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)

Seán Fleming: ----- a project manager in the Civil Service human resources shared services centre, a senior responsible officer to provide leadership to overall procurement in the public sector reform and a head of commercial delivery within the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. He wants to set up an implementation steering group-----

Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)

Seán Fleming: ----- to plan, monitor and evaluate the basic payments account plan. That is why I criticised the Minister's document. On that issue, I accept what he is saying about the expenditure cuts. However, on that issue, I have never seen a Minister captured so quickly by his senior civil servants that he could put his name to a document with all that Civil Service gobbledegook.

Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)

Seán Fleming: That is the Minister's solution to public sector reform. Nobody else would regard all these internal quangos as public sector reform. Jobs have been identified as a target area by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance. Since the Government came into office unemployment has increased by 10,000.

Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)

Seán Fleming: Those are the job cuts under this Government. I have already mentioned the 9,000 jobs to be lost following its capital expenditure plan and the 23,000 public service jobs it will shed between now and 2015. They are anti-jobs.

Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)

Seán Fleming: The only announcement about jobs the Government is making is the announcement of job cuts. In fairness, the Taoiseach said last night that if everybody waits until 2015 we might have a few more jobs in four or five years' time. That was the essence of the jobs proposal. The Government's policy seems to be to cut jobs now and maybe in five years' time it might get some of them back.

Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)

Seán Fleming: We published our alternative budget last week and it is on the public record for everyone to see. One item the Minister lightly skipped over - it affects the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Rabbitte in particular - is the privatisation or part-privatisation of the ESB and all essential State services - EirGrid, Bord Gáis Éireann, Coillte and Bord na Móna....

Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)

Seán Fleming: It is exactly like the Irish Sugar Company that no longer exists.

Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)

Seán Fleming: The Deputy has proved the point, which is that some mistakes were made in the past but it is important to learn from them.

Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)

Seán Fleming: A major issue highlighted in the Minister's speech is that of fairness. This is where this budget has failed. The Government has failed on jobs. There are no new jobs in the budget. The Government will recycle the micro-financing it has been discussing for 12 months and people will be waiting. I will give an example of the fairness shown by the Labour and Fine Gael Government. Last week...

Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)

Seán Fleming: ----- and the chief executive of the Dublin Airport Authority who is currently on €297,000-----

Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)

Seán Fleming: ----- to reduce their salaries.

Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)

Seán Fleming: The Government voted down the motion to reduce their salaries. The Minister, Deputy Quinn, when he gave an answer in the Dáil earlier this month----

Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)

Seán Fleming: The Minister for Education and Skills stated in a reply in the House early last month that 99 people in our third level institutions earn more than €200,000 per annum.

Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)

Seán Fleming: The Government's response is to increase student fees by 50% to pay for those salaries. Last week, the Government voted against-----

Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)

Seán Fleming: The Government said it would not do that. The parties in Government won the general election by deceiving the students of Ireland and their parents. It has now told them to return in 2015 and there might be a job for them. That is this Government's solution. The Government voted against a proposal to cut those salaries.

Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)

Seán Fleming: In the health area, a number of medical consultants are also earning more than €200,000 per annum. I do not know what influence the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, has over the Government but he has been able to have the salaries of medical consultants exempted from examination in terms of the overall pay strategy for public servants. They have been excluded from the process. As I...

Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)

Seán Fleming: Another area on which I want to comment is that of legal fees. I am aware those in this sector also have friends in Cabinet. The States Claims Agency, to which the Minister did not refer today, has outstanding liabilities of €900 million. It has stated that it will pay €450 million, 50%, extra in legal fees dealing with those claims. Yet there is no proposal to cut legal fees. The...