Results 7,541-7,560 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Infrastructure and Capital Investment Programme (20 Jan 2016)

Brendan Howlin: The levels of investment provided for in the Capital Plan must be put into context and set against a backdrop of long term public investment policy.  Exchequer capital investment peaked in 2008 at over €9 billion. This was at the end of a period of unprecedented levels of public capital funding that were directed towards addressing long-standing infrastructural deficits....

Other Questions: Public Procurement Contracts (19 Jan 2016)

Brendan Howlin: I do not believe we build trains in Ireland. There is a European definition for SMEs and for comparative reasons, we subscribe to that. Micro-businesses have up to ten employees, small businesses have up to 50 employees, medium-sized businesses have up to 250 employees and larger companies have more than 250 people. Under the SME definition, two thirds of the goods and services tendered...

Other Questions: Public Procurement Contracts (19 Jan 2016)

Brendan Howlin: That is meaningless gobbledygook.

Other Questions: Public Procurement Contracts (19 Jan 2016)

Brendan Howlin: Like that small company called Siemens.

Other Questions: Public Procurement Contracts (19 Jan 2016)

Brendan Howlin: I notice that the SME the Deputy instances in Germany is Siemens, a tiny little company with hundreds of thousands of employees. It is hardly the typical SME-----

Other Questions: Public Procurement Contracts (19 Jan 2016)

Brendan Howlin: -----that we want to win contracts. As I have stated, we have facilitated all SMEs in the State in fully involving themselves in the tendering process. We have "meet the buyers" processes and there are seminars with potential employers. There is a website and we give training on tendering. That is absolutely new and it never before happened with State procurement until the Office of...

Other Questions: Public Procurement Contracts (19 Jan 2016)

Brendan Howlin: I agree with much of what the Deputy has said. When talking about any issue, we need to ensure we are inclusive. My good friend and colleague, now Uachtarán na hÉireann, always talked about vindicating citizenship to ensure everybody can exercise full citizenship, regardless of disability, gender, sexual orientation or anything else. This is important. I agree entirely with the...

Other Questions: Public Procurement Contracts (19 Jan 2016)

Brendan Howlin: Again, I do not disagree with the Deputy. We need to ensure the regulations are policed and that people comply with them. However, I go further than that. It is not a matter for "us" to ensure "they" are looked after. We need to be inclusive. That is why, for example, the Office of Government Procurement councils dealing with purchases - the Deputy mentioned fleet and transport - include...

Other Questions: Public Procurement Contracts (19 Jan 2016)

Brendan Howlin: I reject that there is any bias towards big business. If there were, it would be unlawful under both domestic and European law. I advise the Deputy, if she has any information relating to manifest bias in that regard, to notify the Garda as a matter of urgency. As the Deputy knows, public procurement is governed by European and national rules. The aim of the system is to procure open,...

Other Questions: Tender Advisory Service (19 Jan 2016)

Brendan Howlin: I will not disagree and I thank the Deputy for supporting the OGP. It is a very good organisation which is exposing all these issues for the first time. In terms of transparency, it is the first time we have had a transparent system of public procurement. For decades, nobody knew who was buying what from whom across the public service. There is a journey to be travelled to ensure we...

Other Questions: Public Procurement Contracts (19 Jan 2016)

Brendan Howlin: The area of accessibility for people with disabilities comes under the remit of the Minister for Justice and Equality and, as Deputy McDonald said, is addressed in the Disability Act. Public bodies are required under section 25 of the Act to make their public buildings, other than heritage sites, accessible to people with disabilities in compliance with the relevant building...

Other Questions: Tender Advisory Service (19 Jan 2016)

Brendan Howlin: The Tender Advisory Service, TAS, was launched last year to provide an informal outlet for potential suppliers to raise concerns in respect of a particular live tender process. The service is aimed at improving communications with suppliers and increasing professionalism and consistency in the way procurement processes are carried out across the public service. The service will be reviewed...

Other Questions: Tender Advisory Service (19 Jan 2016)

Brendan Howlin: I am mindful of the points the Deputy makes. TAS was set up as an advisory group 12 months ago and will be subject to review next month. I will be very interested to see the outcome of that review. No doubt we will be making improvements to the service on the basis of practical experience over the last 12 months. It all underscores the fact that the establishment of the Office of...

Other Questions: Public Sector Pensions (19 Jan 2016)

Brendan Howlin: They get the chunk up to the figure of €50,000.

Other Questions: Public Sector Pensions (19 Jan 2016)

Brendan Howlin: One cannot exempt it either.

Other Questions: Public Sector Pensions (19 Jan 2016)

Brendan Howlin: One cannot spend money and not have the wherewithal to do so. As a general principle, I would like to be able to deploy more resources to improve public services. I agree with the Deputy. I have had a number of meetings with the representatives of public sector pensioners and I am conscious, as I said to the Deputy during the debate on the FEMPI 2015 legislation, that, unlike pay...

Other Questions: Public Sector Pensions (19 Jan 2016)

Brendan Howlin: All of our focus on pay and pensions restoration has been on the lowest paid first. As I said it would be, that is and was the hallmark of the FEMPI legislation. We are providing for full pensions restoration for people who would have been on a salary of roughly €68,000 when they were working, which is the case for 80% of public servants. They will see full restoration of their...

Other Questions: Economic Policy (19 Jan 2016)

Brendan Howlin: That is a good and prescient question, to which there are two components. First, it is incumbent on any Government to live within the Stability and Growth Pact, the legal binding agreement to which the State has signed up and for which the people of Ireland have voted. There are choices within this to examine the fiscal space available in the next few years and to decide on how it should be...

Other Questions: Economic Policy (19 Jan 2016)

Brendan Howlin: Again, there are two answers to that question. The first concerns the fiscal allocation one gives to each Department and what one wishes to do with it. There will be a political debate about that matter because every party will have its own policy platform to put to the people and the make-up of the next Government in a few months time will determine how much money will be deployed in each...

Other Questions: Public Sector Pensions (19 Jan 2016)

Brendan Howlin: As the Deputy is aware, the Financial Emergency in the Public Interest Act 2015 provides for incremental increases in the threshold before the public service pension reduction, PSPR, applies this year from 1 January, next year and in 2018, ensuring that from 1 January 2018, all public sector pensions with values less than €34,132 will be exempt from the pension...