Results 8,621-8,640 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Budget Targets (12 May 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Deputy Fleming cannot have it both ways. Fianna Fáil demands more spending all the time, on Topical Issues debates and on Private Notice Questions, yet it says it is wrong to spend more. The people know what Fianna Fáil did to the economy. In terms of housing, social housing was commenced in every county in the country last week by the Minister, Deputy Kelly, with a budget of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (12 May 2015)

Brendan Howlin: As I have indicated, the negotiation process is underway and I do not propose to compromise it by engaging in speculative comment or debate on the detailed negotiating mandate of the people I have sent to talk on the Government's behalf. I want to make it clear, however, that all public servants from the lowest paid to the highest paid have contributed to our economic recovery. We designed...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (12 May 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy asks first about my actions. The only clear action I have taken was in regard to the Haddington Road agreement whereby anyone earning less than €65,000 received no cut in actual pay. Those who earned more than €65,000 received pay cuts ranging from 5.5% to 10%. That is the reality and that is my record. It is not the previous Government's record but my record. ...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Budget Targets (12 May 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The economic crisis had a profound impact on the public finances. The fiscal adjustment implemented in order to exit the EU-IMF programme of support and return sustainability to the public finances required significant tax increases and expenditure reductions. We all know the figures in the House but they are very stark. Gross voted expenditure was reduced from its peak of €63...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Budget Targets (12 May 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy is wrong about the pupil-teacher ratio, as we did not adjust it and we did maintain it. We have provided the additional teachers to do that. We have also had to deal with the demographic pressure in the education area. The Deputy asked about the health sector. Deputy Fleming assaulted me for approximately ten days at the end of last year about providing a Supplementary...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (12 May 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I am conscious that there are real bottlenecks because we have not had the capacity and have been downsizing. That is why, last year, I moved to recruit more gardaí and in the budget I announced 1,700 more teachers. We are recruiting more SNAs and are recruiting nurses again. They are front-line staff. That is part of what I have described as the dividend from the reforms we brought...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (12 May 2015)

Brendan Howlin: First, €2.2 billion is the actual value to the budget of the series of cuts provided for in the FEMPI legislation.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (12 May 2015)

Brendan Howlin: That is why I am saying we cannot undo that in one fell swoop because it would undo all the progress we have made. Obviously, however, that is not the totality of the pay bill reductions because we have also reduced numbers by 10% over the same period. Pay restoration or pay recovery will be part of the expenditure side of the equation, which is understood. I have not put a figure on...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Expenditure (12 May 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The economy, thankfully, has improved since we published the figures included in the budgetary documentation last October and we have progressed further. Last October the deficit we expected in 2015 was 2.7%. The spring economic statement indicated that it would be 2.3%. We have made more progress, with more people back at work and the unemployment rate falling quicker than we envisaged....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (12 May 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Reform, innovation, doing things more smartly and more efficiently, as well as having regard for new technologies, are now a constant part of the norm for public servants, as they are for the private sector. As I said last week, they are now hard-wired into public services. When I took office four and a half years ago, I was given two jobs, namely, to balance the books as Minister with...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Expenditure (12 May 2015)

Brendan Howlin: As outlined in the spring economic statement, SES, Ireland is on track to reduce the general Government deficit to 2.3% of GDP this year. This will enable us to exit the excessive deficit procedure, EDP, at the end of the year. After we exit the EDP, we will enter the preventive arm of the Stability and Growth Pact, SGP, which will require that we make sustained progress towards achieving...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Expenditure (12 May 2015)

Brendan Howlin: In Sinn Féin's response to the spring statement, it accused us both of trying to buy the election and of being parsimonious in our expenditure. Sinn Féin cannot have it both ways, although it tries. We have been under pressure to provide a balanced budget. We have reduced the deficit in actual terms from 30% of GDP in 2010, an underlying deficit of 11%, to 2.3% projected for this...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (12 May 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I strongly agree with many of the points made by the Deputy. The FEMPI legislation underpins the cuts and that legislation is anchored in the emergency but, mercifully, we are now exiting from that emergency. The prudent and right approach is to prepare for the exit in an orderly way but in a way that does not risk the recovery that the Irish people have worked so hard to achieve. I...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (12 May 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I do not recall giving great credit to those who set fire to the State for calling the fire brigade and I will not do that. It was necessary because of the collapse of our economy due to a variety of factors, above all poor administration, politically, in the last part of the previous Administration. We have had to do a number of difficult things including bringing in the FEMPI legislation,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (12 May 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Following consultation with my Government colleagues, I issued an invitation to the representative organisations for public servants to enter discussions with public service management. The discussions commenced today and I am sure the Deputy will understand my reluctance to engage in negotiations in public. Further formal discussions will take place in the coming weeks and although I am...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Nursing Home Services (12 May 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Currently, the Ombudsman's remit extends to patients in public nursing homes only.  In accordance with the Ombudsman (Amendment) Act 2012, it is my intention to extend, by Ministerial Order, the Ombudsman's remit to private nursing homes whose residents are in receipt of state support or subvention.  By extending the Ombudsman's...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Pensions Levy (12 May 2015)

Brendan Howlin: It is understood that the Deputy's question refers to the public service Pension-Related Deduction (PRD), which applies to the pay of pensionable public servants.  PRD was introduced in March 2009 under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest  (FEMPI) Act 2009. It continues to provide very important revenue to the State, and as such remains a key constituent of...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pay (12 May 2015)

Brendan Howlin: As indicated in previous responses, following consultation with my Government colleagues I issued an invitation to the representative organisations for public servants to enter discussions with public service management. Those discussions have commenced today, and I am sure that the Deputy will understand, in the circumstances, my reluctance to seem to be engaging in any negotiations in...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Semi-State Bodies Dividends (12 May 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Historically, there has not been comprehensive central guidelines for State companies regarding dividend policy although, over recent years, dividends of approximately 30% of profits after tax have been expected from most commercial State companies. However, with the establishment of NewERA in 2011, the current Government began the process of reforming how...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Pensions Levy (12 May 2015)

Brendan Howlin: It is understood that the Deputy's question refers to the public service Pension-Related Deduction (PRD), which applies to the pay of pensionable public servants.  PRD was introduced in March 2009 under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest  (FEMPI) Act 2009. It continues to provide very important revenue to the State, and as such remains a key constituent of...