Results 9,021-9,040 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Commercial Rates Valuation Process (11 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: It has taken 150 years to get here.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Commercial Rates Valuation Process (11 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: As the Deputy will be aware, the Bill will formally come before the House tomorrow, and the Minister of State, Deputy Harris, will take it. He took the Bill in the Seanad and there was a very constructive debate there on some of the issues Deputy Fleming is talking about. The Minister of State is approaching the Bill, as am I, with a very open mind to make it as effective as we possibly...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Commercial Rates Valuation Process (11 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: We have an open mind in terms of hearing practical solutions to these issues. From the very start in 2011, we set out a fairly dramatic programme of agency rationalisation which was broadly supported across the House. We have implemented all of that and there are one or two final bits to be done. This is one of them, and we need to have the courage of our convictions and bring it to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (11 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: As I have already indicated to the House, I want to enter into discussions with the public sector unions to discuss an approach to underpin the gradual wind-down of the FEMPI Acts.   The public service unions have indicated that they intend to make a pay claim if the economic circumstances permit, to which inevitably the Government would have to respond.  Any prudent...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Recruitment (11 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy will recall that as part of a package of measures presented in the budget in October, I announced an end to the staffing moratorium in the public service. This was made possible by the much welcomed improvement in the public finances last year, which, thankfully, is continuing this year. I considered it appropriate to have a more normalised approach to the management of public...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Recruitment (11 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I thank the Deputy for her questions. I do not want to give the illusion there is now a free hand to recruit, because there is not. We made very difficult gains by reducing public sector numbers very considerably - by 10% overall. We do not have the capacity to restore all of that. We have looked at delivering systems more efficiently over the past four years. In terms of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Recruitment (11 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: One of the things that concerned me about the issue of homelessness was the number of houses and flats, in particular in Dublin, which were void and awaiting essential repairs. That is why I allocated specific funding from the stimulus moneys available to me from the sale of State assets and formally in the budget last year to bring all those voids back into play. More regular maintenance...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Commercial Rates Valuation Process (11 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The national revaluation programme, which amazingly is the first general valuation of all commercial property in the State since the middle of the 19th century, is making progress. It is a very significant undertaking and involves the valuation of some 146,000 properties. Completing the first revaluation and getting every local authority onto what would be a more normal five to ten year...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Expenditure Reviews (11 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The comprehensive review of expenditure process was designed to provide the Government with a complete set of options ahead of the budget to allow decisions to be made to realign spending with the priorities set out in the programme for Government, meet overall fiscal objectives, and explore new and innovative ways of delivering Government policy in a reformed public sector. Under the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Expenditure Reviews (11 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The HSE published its service plan subsequent to the budget. Its service plan for this year sets out expenditure of more than €12 billion, which it estimates will meet the needs of the health service for this year. It is interesting, and I referred to this previously, that the conclusions of the European Council published last year indicated that even though Ireland has a relatively...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Expenditure Reviews (11 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy raised the fundamental question of how much we should spend on health. I went to the OECD to ask experts who had examined health expenditure across every OECD country what model we might consider using. There is no optimum model, however, and the pressures on accident and emergency departments in this State are replicated in Northern Ireland and the UK. The question of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (11 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Haddington Road agreement 2013-2016, which is the second public service pay agreement since 2010, forms the cornerstone of pay policy in the public service until July 2016, when it is due to expire. The focus remains on maximising the provisions of that agreement in relation not only to pay but also to the long-term impact of reform and productivity measures, such as extra working hours...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (11 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy posed a number of very pertinent questions. I propose that the discussions I will have with the public service will be focused on the public service alone. We have had general discussions about a broader social dialogue, which we must construct, but we are not going back to a national pay agreement. What we are talking about is working out a settlement with public sector unions,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (11 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy made three very important points. We have published expenditure ceilings for the next three years. We might have a broader discussion at committee on the fiscal space we will have for next year, which will be a real issue, rather than trying to do it here. That is part of ongoing negotiations with the Commission in terms of how that fiscal space is to be measured accurately, to...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Decentralisation Programme Data (11 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy will be aware that the Government agreed in November 2011 that the Decentralisation Programme, announced in the December 2003 Budget Statement by the then Minister for Finance,  should be cancelled in the light of the budgetary and staffing outlook. It was also agreed that a review of 22 decentralisation projects should be carried out. Following completion of that review in...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff Recruitment (11 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Recruitment to the civil service is governed by the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act, 2004 and by the Civil Service Regulation Acts, 1956-2005.  The 2004 Act provides for the establishment of the Commission for Public Service Appointments (CPSA) and of the Public Appointments Service (PAS).  PAS - an independent statutory body - provides a centralised...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Bodies (11 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Pending the introduction of enabling legislation for the establishment of the OGP, on an independent and statutory basis, I have appointed an interim Board of the Office for Government Procurement. The interim Board is chaired by my colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Mr Simon Harris, TD. The other members of the Board are: Martin Fraser,...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (11 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: There are two measures which currently underpin public service pay and pensions policy: the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Acts (or FEMPI) and the Haddington Road Agreement (HRA).  The HRA, in the Government's view, sets the parameters for pay policy in the public service for until July 2016.  The pay and conditions of members of An Garda...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Infrastructure and Capital Investment Programme (11 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: My Department commenced a review of the public capital programme in April of last year in parallel with the Comprehensive Review of Expenditure. The purpose of the review is to assess all areas of public capital investment and to refresh the existing investment strategy and multi-annual envelopes.  This is to help ensure that they are in line with emerging Government priorities and...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of Assets (11 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The original programme of asset disposals agreed by Government included - The sale of Bord Gais Eireann's Energy business; - The sale of some of ESB's non-strategic power generation capacity; - Consideration of the sale of some assets of Coillte, but excluding its land; and - The sale of the State's remaining shareholding in Aer Lingus, at the right time, for the right price and under...