Results 8,181-8,200 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Other Questions: Rural Development Policy (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I totally agree with the Deputy that we need to have regional balance. That has been the focus of the Government from the outset. If we consider job creation across the country, the national figure is a 3% increase in the past 12 months. The regional figures are much better than that. In my own area, for example, the south east, it is better. The focus of the Government has been on...

Other Questions: Rural Development Policy (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Department of Education and Skills has direct Exchequer funding over the horizon of this programme of €3.8 billion and another €200 million in public private partnerships, PPPs, aimed at the IT sector, which again can assist the regions. In terms of prefabs, the first objective of this Government was to eliminate hired-in prefabs in all schools. That has been achieved....

Other Questions: Departmental Expenditure (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Office of Government Procurement, OGP, is the office responsible for public procurement. The OGP Vote for 2014 was €12.4 million, of which €6.7 million was transferred from the Office of Public Works, OPW, for the national procurement service and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform's, DPER's, national public procurement policy unit. Actual...

Other Questions: Departmental Expenditure (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I am disappointed in the attitude of the Deputy to the modernisation of procurement. The Deputy is quite content to have a dysfunctional procurement operation that was the hallmark of his own time in Government when nobody knew the price of goods and services and every State agency was buying the same products from the same suppliers at different prices. We professionalised that system but...

Other Questions: Rural Development Policy (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I thank the Deputy for his question. I published the plan, Building on Recovery: Infrastructure and Capital Investment 2016-2021, this week.  It sets out the Government's €27 billion Exchequer capital plan for the next six years.  It includes a new third phase in the Government's public private partnership, PPP, programme and is in addition to other State-led...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Recruitment (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The remit of the Public Appointments Service, PAS, includes conducting a wide range of campaigns for key roles across the Civil Service and broader public service. Its recruitment mandate encompasses a large volume of entry level competitions, including clerical officer and Garda Síochána trainee recruitment as well as administrative, professional and specialist posts at all...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Recruitment (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: PAS is one of the success stories of Irish public administration. It is very well regarded not only by the Irish public but by international comparisons. It has robust online procedures which meet the best international practices. If the Deputy has any individual concerns about them, I would be happy to hear from him. PAS itself would also be delighted, I am sure, to meet with the Deputy...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Recruitment (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I will. I will also ask the chief executive of PAS to contact the Deputy directly to go through that, see what concerns he has and how they may be addressed.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Capital Investment Plan (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Fianna Fáil Party may not agree.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Capital Investment Plan (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Since all the projects will be in Ireland, the workers must be physically in this country to do the work. On the figure of 45,000 jobs, there is a rule of thumb for determining the number of jobs to be created per €1 million investment. The 45,000 figure refers only to the direct investment of €27 billion by the State rather than total investment which will be a much larger...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Government Expenditure (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Under the reformed budgetary timetable, the Estimates for expenditure by Departments are outlined every October in the budget and set out in detail in the Revised Estimates Volume published before the end of the year. Under the new budgetary cycle, the Estimates are voted on by the Dáil in the first few months of the year and Departments are expected to live within the voted...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Government Expenditure (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: That is correct.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Government Expenditure (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy asked two questions and I will answer them separately. I will provide the figure we have already allocated to indicate the shape of the additional expenditure I have sanctioned to date. As he will be aware, an additional provision has been made for health in respect of delayed discharges, the fair deal scheme and the winter and waiting lists initiatives. These were set out in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Government Expenditure (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: No, that is not the case. The Deputy is fully aware of the new rules under the Stability and Growth Pact. We are exiting the corrective arm of the pact. Our legal objective this year was to have a deficit below 3% of gross domestic product. As long as we maintain a deficit below 3% of GDP under the corrective arm, we could adjust expenditure within that context. However, that will change...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Budget Targets (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I think I need to explain this because the new rules are quite complex. The two measures that will underpin whether we meet the rules - the judgment criteria - next year are the expenditure benchmark and the annual structured adjustment. Under the expenditure benchmark, public expenditure can only grow at rates determined by the potential growth of the economy, less a convergence margin if...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Budget Targets (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: That is the point.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Budget Targets (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: We sought a three-year horizon in our negotiations because an annualised horizon would not have been very helpful to us. A three-year horizon was negotiated by my colleague, the Minister for Finance, at ECOFIN and agreed there. I will have to check the exact date for the Deputy. We set out the space we will have for next year in the spring economic statement and we are sticking to that....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Capital Investment Plan (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I suppose the Deputy could claim that the question tabled by his colleague was the catalyst for making sure all of this was done. If he makes such a claim, I will not deny it publicly. As he is aware, I launched the public capital investment programme, Building on Recovery, earlier this week. It sets out the Government's commitment to a €27 billion six-year capital plan. This...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Capital Investment Plan (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The total sum involved in the plan is €42 billion, of which €27 billion will be directly allocated by the State from Exchequer funding. Semi-States such as the ESB will spend money on energy development. Ervia and Irish Water will spend €4 billion. Just €500 million of the €42 billion in question will involve additional public private partnerships. I am...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Budget Targets (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Wide-ranging reforms to the budgetary architecture have been implemented by this Government with a view to supporting the efficient use of public funds to deliver effective services for our people. The medium-term expenditure framework and periodic comprehensive reviews of expenditure have provided the opportunity to move discussions about expenditure decisions away from consideration of...