Results 9,161-9,180 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2015-2017: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 Jan 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Could the Deputy let me finish the point? All I can say is that I hear a presentation from the Minister for Health, as I do from every Department, and engage in bilateral discussions. Ultimately, the document the Deputy sees is signed off by officials from the Department of Health as accurate, proper and appropriate. It is approved by the Cabinet collectively. Therefore, the Minister for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2015-2017: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 Jan 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The HSE, yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2015-2017: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 Jan 2015)

Brendan Howlin: That was not true.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2015-2017: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 Jan 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I do not rebut these remarks publicly because I would be rebutting all the time. I got a letter asking for €25 million for the programme, and €25 million was allocated.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2015-2017: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 Jan 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The sum requested in the letter I got from the Department of Health to deal with the issue of discharges was €25 million. If the sum were €100 million and €25 million were allocated, does the Deputy believe there would be a crisis in the first month? If the HSE were asking for €100 million for a year and €25 million were allocated, does the Deputy not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2015-2017: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 Jan 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Twenty-five million euro is in the budget allocation for it to allocate as it pleases.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2015-2017: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 Jan 2015)

Brendan Howlin: There was a request for €25 million. I am sure there is ongoing dialogue to secure €1 billion for everything. Everybody asks for significant sums of money for everything but, in terms of the formal letter-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2015-2017: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 Jan 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I asked to see what was asked for when I saw the story in the public domain. I was shown a letter in which €25 million was the sum requested.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2015-2017: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 Jan 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I will finish my point on this because it is important. Both Deputies talked about health expenditure. It is funny that every public discussion I have on expenditure normally crystallises in the area of health. That is completely usual in every developed country. The issue will become more acute because we will have to make decisions on health care, particularly because there will be an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2015-2017: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 Jan 2015)

Brendan Howlin: This will increasingly become a point of discussion because it really is one on which we need to come to a conclusion. However, we will not be able to come to a conclusion on it domestically. I refer to the question of what is now being called the fiscal space, namely, the space within the fiscal rules in which we can either increase expenditure or reduce taxation. The first point I should...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2015-2017: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 Jan 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy has covered a broad canvas. I will pick up one or two of the points he made, starting with his last point. I had what was perhaps a naive notion when I entered this position in 2011, when we started the comprehensive review of expenditure process, that we would have much more proactive engagement with the Oireachtas on budgetary analysis. I naively thought that we would not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2015-2017: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 Jan 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I refer to the renewal process and the Civil Service accountability process.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2015-2017: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 Jan 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Establishing the economic evaluation service was important. We investigated particular deficiencies in terms of our skill set. By and large - this is a compliment not a criticism - most public servants are generalists but skill sets are becoming more specific and I think we will see an increasing number being recruited on short-term contracts to carry out specific tasks. For example, we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2015-2017: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 Jan 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Page 124 of the review sets out the indicative topics for value for money and focused policy assessment reviews planned for the years from 2015 to 2017. I note that the President's travel is one of the topics. If anybody has suggestions for indicative topics for evaluation, I would be happy to consider them.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2015-2017: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 Jan 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Obviously it is not enough.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2015-2017: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 Jan 2015)

Brendan Howlin: That is very presumptuous.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2015-2017: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 Jan 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Perish the thought.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2015-2017: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 Jan 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Again, it is a broad tapestry of issues. There is an expectation that we will engage in strategic planning beyond the horizon of our mandate. By definition, the planning of major infrastructural projects, whether it be the national children's hospital or the N17 road project, will require years of work. There has to be an understanding that some projects will continue over time. Of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2015-2017: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (28 Jan 2015)

Brendan Howlin: It is available on the website, but we can send it to the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Parliamentary Party Allowances Expenditure (28 Jan 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The information requested by the Deputy is set out in my reply to question number 262 on 21 October 2014 (ref. 40211/14).  The total amounts paid for the year 2014 are as follows: Total amounts paid for the year 2014 Section 17(1)(a), as amended 2014 Fianna Fáil €126,973.80 Fine Gael €126,973.80 Labour €126,973.80 Sinn Féin...