Results 4,361-4,380 of 19,445 for speaker:Brian Cowen

European Council Meeting: Statements (20 Jan 2010)

Brian Cowen: I attended the meeting of the European Council in Brussels on Thursday, 10 December and Friday, 11 December last. While some weeks have passed since the meeting took place, it is worthwhile for me to report to the House on the business of the meeting. It is important that we have this opportunity for statements on the matter. It was the first meeting of the European Council since the...

Leaders' Questions (20 Jan 2010)

Brian Cowen: If we are interested in the findings and getting to the facts, causes and background of the situation we are in, let us deal with the process, which has been tried and tested and has proved its credibility to the public as a means of dealing with the matter. We should do the job that is necessary and provide the expertise that is required, given the complexity of the issues with which we are...

Leaders' Questions (20 Jan 2010)

Brian Cowen: I know that will not satisfy people here like Deputies Kenny and Gilmore because they have predetermined the issue. They know the answer.

Leaders' Questions (20 Jan 2010)

Brian Cowen: We do not need an inquiry at all according to them because they know exactly what went on but I am prepared, following the completion of these two scoping reports, to let an independent statutory inquiry decide on those matters and I am in a position to assist in any way possible to achieve that.

Departmental Expenditure. (20 Jan 2010)

Brian Cowen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 8, inclusive, together. The total allocation for my Department in the Estimates set out in the budget book for 2010 is €28.818 million. This is an overall decrease of 11.8%, or €3.868 million, on the 2009 revised estimate allocation. The estimate for 2010 contains a number of significant changes to the Vote of the Department of the Taoiseach. Of the...

Departmental Expenditure. (20 Jan 2010)

Brian Cowen: What was the Deputy's second question?

Departmental Expenditure. (20 Jan 2010)

Brian Cowen: People must understand that if we are borrowing €400 million a week, that is an unsustainable position and we will put at risk jobs in all sectors of the economy, including the public service, unless we take remedial action. On the question of pay rates, savings of €1 billion have to be applied for 2010 arising from decisions we had to make in the budget on the pay issue. I emphasise...

Departmental Expenditure. (20 Jan 2010)

Brian Cowen: Paper?

Departmental Expenditure. (20 Jan 2010)

Brian Cowen: I suppose Question Time gives the Deputy a chance to do what he is doing now. However, the fact is that the health service costs €15 billion. If the Deputy thinks the Minister should carry out her functions without independent advice, that is his opinion, but it is of no relevance to the pay cuts of more than €1 billion in the public service. Those employees are subject to the same...

Departmental Expenditure. (20 Jan 2010)

Brian Cowen: The Deputy is suggesting that if we did not have advisers we would not have to implement measures such as pay cuts. That is nonsense. We have a serious budgetary crisis that must be dealt with on both the pay side and the non-pay side. It is unfortunate. I would rather we did not have to consider such proposals, but we did. Such measures had to be taken. I am simply telling the Deputy...

Departmental Expenditure. (20 Jan 2010)

Brian Cowen: The Deputy has had his day on that one. The Government had to take decisions to implement cuts of between 5% and 8% across the board in the public service. I have outlined the progressive nature of those decisions. If the Deputy considers the decisions we have taken since the crisis began he will see the percentages confirm that the cuts are progressive. They must be progressive in the...

Departmental Expenditure. (20 Jan 2010)

Brian Cowen: The Deputy is aware that the public services committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has been holding meetings. ICTU will meet again this week and it has indicated its position publicly. Some unions have corresponded with management in these matters. As Taoiseach, I do not believe industrial action will provide a solution to any of these problems. In fact, it would affect...

Departmental Expenditure. (20 Jan 2010)

Brian Cowen: I do not have to hand the detail regarding the matter raised by the Deputy on the charity workers and the public service pension. While it is a matter that will be dealt with by the Department of Finance, I will convey the detail to the Deputy. I am not personally aware of the circular in question. As the Deputy is aware, the legislation was enacted for the purpose of being introduced...

Departmental Expenditure. (20 Jan 2010)

Brian Cowen: I cannot give the Deputy the exact information as I do not have it to hand. While this is an issue for the Department responsible for the public service, I will find out the precise date on which it began. However, it is in process and so undoubtedly is proceeding. I will check for the Deputy whether there was a specific date on which an order was signed to enable this to happen but...

Departmental Expenditure. (20 Jan 2010)

Brian Cowen: I do not have such information to hand. It really is a question to be put to the Minister for Finance, who is responsible for the line Department. I do not have responsibility in respect of the technical details. However, the Deputy may take it that it is proceeding. To be of assistance to the Deputy, I will procure for him any further details he requires in addition to what he already...

Departmental Expenditure. (20 Jan 2010)

Brian Cowen: Yes, I will come to that. My recollection is that this issue was mentioned by the Minister for Finance at Cabinet. Approximately one third of those covered by the review body have been affected by the termination of an applicable performance-related awards scheme. The pay to one group, assistant secretaries, was found by the review body not to be out of line, having regard to its...

Departmental Expenditure. (20 Jan 2010)

Brian Cowen: I would argue that the term limit has seen a high turnover at senior management level within the Civil Service. While I understand the thinking behind the reason it was introduced, people must consider whether it brings too great a turnover rate wherein people have been lost who one would have wished to stay on, if possible. There are pluses and minuses in respect of some of these matters....

Departmental Expenditure. (20 Jan 2010)

Brian Cowen: It is for us in public office to dispel that notion where it is not well grounded. Pay is not determined by those who hold the grade. Pay levels are recommended by an outside body. If someone says to a Deputy it is done another way, it is our job to say that is not the case even though that person might not like the outcome and he or she might have views on this issue. This is not an...

Departmental Expenditure. (20 Jan 2010)

Brian Cowen: I do not agree with that argument because the introduction of the performance-related bonus system for these grades was taken into account in determining salary levels by review bodies in the past. In other words, the existence of the system was taken into account when the review body was deciding the salary levels because the system was based on a discretionary decision by senior...

Departmental Expenditure. (20 Jan 2010)

Brian Cowen: The imposition of pay cuts, as distinct from them being agreed, makes the industrial relations situation more fraught in the immediate term but people also have to accept and understand that we had to discharge our responsibility as a Government in terms of a budgetary policy that would take into account pay cuts given the adjustment we had to contemplate in the budget.