Results 801-820 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Tribunals of Inquiry. (30 Jan 2008)

Bertie Ahern: An awful lot.

Tribunals of Inquiry. (30 Jan 2008)

Bertie Ahern: It is 40% of the costs.

Tribunals of Inquiry. (30 Jan 2008)

Bertie Ahern: No, it will be 40% of the fees element.

Tribunals of Inquiry. (30 Jan 2008)

Bertie Ahern: Two Bills on corruption are with the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. One is nearly ready for publication but I am not sure of the status of the other. The Deputy will need to table a parliamentary question to the Department on that. It will be a matter, when the Bill is implemented, of what action will be taken on these matters. It was decided in 2006 to leave the present...

Public Service Pay. (30 Jan 2008)

Bertie Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 to 8, inclusive, together. The Government decided the increases for political officeholders will be implemented on an extended basis, with 4% in September 2008 and half the balance in both September 2009 and September 2010. The officeholders concerned are myself, the Government Chief Whip, Deputy Tom Kitt, the Minister of State at the Department of the...

Public Service Pay. (30 Jan 2008)

Bertie Ahern: The Deputy made a number of points. I think I answered a lot of this in a Question Time back in November. I think Deputy Kenny knows most of the answers to the questions he has asked. There has been a review body for higher public servants, the Judiciary, the Garda Síochána and other senior positions, covering approximately 1,600 people, for the past 40 years. It used to report every...

Public Service Pay. (30 Jan 2008)

Bertie Ahern: I would. It did not do that, thank God — and I would not have taken it. It related increases to private sector posts. In its only reference to my post, it stated that the Chief Justice should not be paid more so it put my salary at exactly the same as the Chief Justice. That was the comparable point — that the Chief Justice should not earn more or less that the Taoiseach. Whether it...

Public Service Pay. (30 Jan 2008)

Bertie Ahern: I am not here to argue about the two systems. The review body dealing with pay for higher public servants and politicians, members of the Judiciary, those in local authorities and semi-state companies was established in 1969. No Government since then nor any of the affiliated groups has seen the need to change that. At the time people such as politicians, members of the Judiciary and...

Public Service Pay. (30 Jan 2008)

Bertie Ahern: I admire the Deputy's position and I could also make that argument but they were the rules——

Public Service Pay. (30 Jan 2008)

Bertie Ahern: ——and the rules have not worked out as good this time as they did the last time. That is the position and if affects politicians and others. As TDs we decided to link ourselves to the principal officer grade and that does not show a 1.9% increase this time for most of the Members of the Oireachtas. That is the system that is in operation and it is considered to be a far fairer and...

Leaders' Questions (30 Jan 2008)

Bertie Ahern: In the first week of December when we presented the budget we mentioned the downside risks. The Minister for Finance made it clear that we were examining a number of concerns about 2008. That was one of the reasons we put a fiscal stimulus of 1.5% into the budget, again reformed the stamp duty regime and revised the size of our capital programme to ensure we continue to inject investment...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (19 Dec 2007)

Bertie Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 125 and 126 together. The information sought is being compiled and will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (19 Dec 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The information sought is being compiled and will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Official Regulations: Official Regulations (19 Dec 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The Cabinet Handbook provides that before Government approval for the drafting of legislation can be sought, Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) must be carried out. RIA is an assessment of the likely effects of a proposed new regulatory change. It involves a detailed analysis to ascertain whether or not the new regulation would have the desired impact. In cases where significant impacts or...

Written Answers — Consultancy Contracts: Consultancy Contracts (19 Dec 2007)

Bertie Ahern: My Department has engaged PA Consulting Group to provide expert support to assist the work of the Organisational Review Programme Team. The company is engaged from 1 October, 2007 for a minimum of 20 days over 6 months. To date, payments amounting to €23,958 have been made. The advice provided to date will be used by the Review Team in its work over the period ahead. Boyd Freeman Design...

Written Answers — Statute Law Revision: Statute Law Revision (19 Dec 2007)

Bertie Ahern: Significant progress has been made in the area of statute law revision and reform in recent years. The ultimate goal is to create a modern and streamlined Irish Statute Book which is more accessible to the citizen and to business. The Statute Law Revision Act, 2007 provided for the repeal of 3,225 obsolete Acts which predated Irish independence. The Act builds on the Statute Law Revision...

Written Answers — Decentralisation Programme: Decentralisation Programme (19 Dec 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The Deputy will be aware that the Department of Finance is responsible for the overall decentralisation programme. There are no proposals to decentralise my Department or any of the bodies under its aegis.

Order of Business (19 Dec 2007)

Bertie Ahern: Legislation is not required. I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Brendan Smith, who travelled throughout the country and listened to all the groups who had views on this.

Order of Business (19 Dec 2007)

Bertie Ahern: He has implemented changes to the community care scheme that are highly helpful.

Order of Business (19 Dec 2007)

Bertie Ahern: The community child care subvention scheme is part of a €575 million national child care investment programme. It was announced last July to replace the staffing levels under the equal opportunities programme and it is targeted at community child care providers. The Minister of State, Deputy Brendan Smith, has repeated the impact of the scheme and has given out all the details. Anything...