Results 9,841-9,860 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Departmental Bodies Data (6 Nov 2014)

Brendan Howlin: Again, I am proud that there are 169 fewer State bodies than when the Government took office. A total of 141 bodies have been abolished or moved into existing public structures, while 51 old bodies have been streamlined into 23 new bodies. The Government has tackled duplication, streamlined accessibility and accountability and carried out a root and branch analysis. The Deputy will be...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Departmental Bodies Data (6 Nov 2014)

Brendan Howlin: That is true.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Departmental Bodies Data (6 Nov 2014)

Brendan Howlin: I strongly agree with the Deputy. Some of the most effective instruments of State policy are State bodies such as IDA Ireland which is envied around the world and Enterprise Ireland. Moreover, the work done by the National Roads Authority and all the other parties involved in maintaining the environment such as the Environmental Protection Agency and so on is really valuable. The Deputy...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Departmental Bodies Data (6 Nov 2014)

Brendan Howlin: Yes.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Appointments to State Boards (6 Nov 2014)

Brendan Howlin: As the Deputy will be aware, the Government recently announced a revised model for ministerial appointments to State boards. In future all appointments to State boards will be advertised openly on the State boards portal, www.stateboards.ie, which, as the Deputy is aware, is operated by the Public Appointments Service, PAS. Officials are preparing overarching guidelines for appointments for...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Appointments to State Boards (6 Nov 2014)

Brendan Howlin: On the two appointments mentioned by Deputy, the post of lottery regulator was publicly advertised. I had no hand, act or part in determining it as it was the subject of a public appointments decision in the normal way. The post was advertised, applications were received, applicants were interviewed and so on and the best candidate was nominated. In respect of the chairperson of the PAS, I...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Appointments to State Boards (6 Nov 2014)

Brendan Howlin: Yes.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Appointments to State Boards (6 Nov 2014)

Brendan Howlin: No, only to state the post had been filled. The role is set out in law under the National Lottery Act 2013.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Appointments to State Boards (6 Nov 2014)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy was agin the appointment of the regulator, too.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (6 Nov 2014)

Brendan Howlin: I agree with much of what the Deputy said. I am a strong supporter of free collective bargaining. The problem we faced in recent years was a real threat to the viability of the economy and we were required to make savings across all fronts, all of which were challenging and difficult, not least the very large contribution we required the public service to make, as it consumed one third of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (6 Nov 2014)

Brendan Howlin: A number of questions were raised. First, each union voted on the issue. For the first time every single union voted, with the exception of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association, to accept the framework.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (6 Nov 2014)

Brendan Howlin: That was in stark contrast with the actions of the previous Government. Public servants understood our capacity to maintain public services was under threat unless we all contributed in the way we had set out. In terms of another section 2B being necessary in the future, I hope it will not. I hope we never again face the type of existential threat to the economy that we faced in steering...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Departmental Bodies Data (6 Nov 2014)

Brendan Howlin: I thank the Deputy for the question. I am pleased to set out the remarkable achievements we have made in three years. There have been two phases to the rationalisation programme for State bodies, involving two separate tranches of rationalisation measures. As I explained to the House in February when the Deputy last inquired about this matter, the Government made two commitments in 2011...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (6 Nov 2014)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy will be aware that there are two measures that currently underpin public service pay and pensions policy: the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest, FEMPI, Acts and the Haddington Road agreement. The nature of the financial emergency measures is that the powers granted by the Oireachtas under the legislation are temporary in nature and predicated on the continuing...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (6 Nov 2014)

Brendan Howlin: There is merit in what the Deputy is saying. It is necessary to maintain the income stream from the reduction of pay that underpins the 2015 budget, and without the FEMPI legislation that budget would not be robust. I am conscious, and I have said this to the House, that the FEMPI legislation is by its nature an emergency, and that is why I have to make a report to the House. The day will...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (6 Nov 2014)

Brendan Howlin: I thank the Deputy for his warm congratulations on our having solved the existential threat to the Irish people and the economy through the hard work of the Government, supported by the Irish people, in all the hardships they have endured for the past number of years, and for fixing the dreadful mess that had been created. It is a matter to be celebrated that we have made such progress, but...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (6 Nov 2014)

Brendan Howlin: I thank the Deputy for the question. The Government has accepted my proposal to amend the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Act 2009 by the deletion of section 2B, which was inserted into the Act by section 2 of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2013. Section 2B provided that existing powers under any other enactment could be exercised to...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Capital Programme (6 Nov 2014)

Brendan Howlin: My Department commenced a review of the public capital programme in April of this 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 to ensure that they are in line with emerging Government priorities and that our...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Reports (6 Nov 2014)

Brendan Howlin: As I outlined previously in relation to a similar question on the Comptroller and Auditor General's Report, the focus of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is on well-managed and well-targeted public spending, through modernised, effective and accountable public services. The recently published report on the 'Accounts of the Public Service 2013' is part of the wider...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts Social Clauses (6 Nov 2014)

Brendan Howlin: The main purpose of the EU public procurement regime is to open up the market and to ensure the free movement of supplies, services and works within the EU having regard to Treaty of Rome principles including transparency, proportionality and equal treatment. This is the rationale that shapes the detailed rules (Directives) governing the regime. The new EU rules comprise a suite of three...