Results 8,221-8,240 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Expenditure Policy (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The management of public expenditure and the formulation of overall  public expenditure policy in recent years have played a crucial role in the economic recovery now underway.  Public expenditure policy has helped stabilise the public finances on a sustainable basis, protect and support key public services, support employment, invest in vital infrastructure (as evidenced by the...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan Update (1 Oct 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Government's first Public Service Reform Plan was published in 2011. This plan provided the basis for the most significant programme of reform since the foundation of the State and was a key component of Ireland's recovery. Building on progress made in the first plan, the second Public Service Reform Plan was published in January 2014, covering the period 2014 to 2016. ...

Seanad: Pre-Budget Outlook: Statements (30 Sep 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I am delighted to be back in the Seanad. I suppose it is extremely timely that we are having this discussion in advance of the budget that will be presented to the Oireachtas two weeks from now. I will begin by setting out the broad fiscal context in which we find ourselves in the run-up to budget 2016. Based on the fiscal forecasts in the spring economic statement, Ireland is set to exit...

Seanad: Pre-Budget Outlook: Statements (30 Sep 2015)

Brendan Howlin: It is in the script. I have just said that.

Seanad: Pre-Budget Outlook: Statements (30 Sep 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Yes.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Commission for Public Service Appointments (30 Sep 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Commission for Public Service Appointments (CPSA) was established under Section 11 of the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments Act 2004. The CPSA establishes the standards of probity, merit, equity and fairness and other principles as they consider appropriate, to be followed, in the selection and recruitment of persons for positions in the Civil Service and...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Data (30 Sep 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy may wish to note that information on the performance of all FOI bodies under the Freedom of Information Act is collated and analysed by the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) and published every year in the OIC Annual Reports which are available at www.oic.gov.ie. An overview of the numbers of FOI requests received by Government Departments for the years referred to in...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Staff Recruitment (30 Sep 2015)

Brendan Howlin: As the Deputy will be aware, the Public Appointments Service (PAS) is the independent centralised provider of professional recruitment, assessment and selection services for the Civil Service. The initiation of an inter-departmental recruitment campaign for any particular civil service grade is determined by such factors as identified workforce planning requirements and the need to...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Staff Recruitment (30 Sep 2015)

Brendan Howlin: As the Deputy will be aware, the Public Appointments Service (PAS) is the independent centralised provider of professional recruitment, assessment and selection services for the Civil Service. I understand from PAS that an open and inter-departmental competition was advertised on 29 May 2015 and both are currently at interview stage.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts (30 Sep 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The tender referred to was administered by the Education Procurement Service who also awarded the contract for a 12 month period. The contract covers schools and ETBs but not the other segments of the original Group 4 lot. The contract was awarded by way of an open tender procedure under the EU Procurement Directives. This tender process was entirely independent from the central...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff Recruitment (29 Sep 2015)

Brendan Howlin: In my Expenditure Statement  for 2015 I announced the cessation of the moratorium on recruitment and the introduction of delegated responsibility for staffing levels consistent with approved pay budgets. Recruitment into the civil service is governed by the Public Service (Management and Recruitment) Act 2004. Under that Act the only way of being appointed...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Expenditure Statistics (29 Sep 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Spring Economic Statement (SES) and the corresponding Stability Programme Update (SPU) outlined that fiscal space of the order of €1.2 to €1.5 billion is expected to be available for Budget 2016 split evenly between expenditure increases and tax reductions. I have indicated previously that this would allow Government to target an increase in government expenditure...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts (29 Sep 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Office of Government Procurement, an office of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform publishes a suite of public works contracts which sets out clear conditions governing the payment terms between public bodies and the contractors they engage to undertake public works.  Disputes, including disputes over payment, which may arise between a public body and the contractor they...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions Data (29 Sep 2015)

Brendan Howlin: My Department does not keep records of the post retirement employment of former Secretaries-General. However, the position has always been that following the completion of their term of appointment, if any Secretary-General is employed elsewhere in the Public Service, the general rules of abatement apply to their pension. This means that pension is abated so that the rate of pension,...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Regulations (29 Sep 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Following points raised at the PAC in 2014 and in 2015 by the Irish School Arts Supplies Federation (ISASF) with the Committee, the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) has met with the sector representative body to discuss their concerns on two separate occasions.  The OGP currently has no framework agreements or contracts in place for school arts supplies, nor does it have...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Staff Remuneration (24 Sep 2015)

Brendan Howlin: In response to the Deputy's question no bonus remuneration has been paid to staff in my Department or the bodies under my aegis during 2015.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Remit (23 Sep 2015)

Brendan Howlin: It has been long-standing Government policy that, in general, commercial state bodies should not be subject to FOI requirements. The rationale for this approach is the risk of the uneven competitive market environment that would be created in circumstances where commercial state bodies operating in a competitive market were subject to FOI but their...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pay (23 Sep 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The proposals for the Lansdowne Road Agreement, which were recently ratified by the Public Services Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, contain a number of measures to reduce the effect of the pay cuts which were imposed on public servants from 2009 to 2013 in response to the financial crisis. These measures include adjustments to the application of the public service...

Confidence in Taoiseach, the Attorney General and the Government: Motion (22 Sep 2015)

Brendan Howlin: It was 2011.

Confidence in Taoiseach, the Attorney General and the Government: Motion (22 Sep 2015)

Brendan Howlin: You voted down the Garda authority Bill twice.