Results 9,901-9,920 of 35,575 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Salary Increase for Position of Secretary General at the Department of Health: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (2 Feb 2021)

Pearse Doherty: The Minister talks about the challenges, which are outlined in the minutes, but we have a Secretary General from a senior Department who has moved over, although on an interim basis. The second option was, therefore, potentially available. Why did the Government not execute it in full? Why did the Taoiseach ask him to move on an interim basis when one option was to move on a full-time...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Salary Increase for Position of Secretary General at the Department of Health: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (2 Feb 2021)

Pearse Doherty: The minutes reflected five issues relating to the second option, which was to ask an existing Secretary General to move. Four of those issues at least have been resolved in the interim. The question is why did the Minister not put the other one, namely, whether Mr. Watt was willing to move over on a permanent basis. This would have avoided increasing the salary. Why was that not teased out...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Salary Increase for Position of Secretary General at the Department of Health: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (2 Feb 2021)

Pearse Doherty: It was about the payment for the equivalent role in Britain.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Salary Increase for Position of Secretary General at the Department of Health: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (2 Feb 2021)

Pearse Doherty: I am.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Salary Increase for Position of Secretary General at the Department of Health: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (2 Feb 2021)

Pearse Doherty: The Minister decided to increase the pay of the Secretary General of the Department of Health by €81,000. That is three times what a qualified public health nurse would get in the first year. The Minister said it was because of recruitment issues. Did the Minister benchmark it against anything, such as equivalents in Britain or France? He would have found that this is probably one...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Salary Increase for Position of Secretary General at the Department of Health: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (2 Feb 2021)

Pearse Doherty: At the same time, in the same month the Government voted against student nurses, who are on the front line of the pandemic, being paid at all. I put it to the Minister that he is tone deaf to what is happening in society if he has no regrets over this decision and thinks it was appropriate or indeed fair that he signed off on this the very day level 5 restrictions-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Salary Increase for Position of Secretary General at the Department of Health: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (2 Feb 2021)

Pearse Doherty: -----were introduced and people were losing their jobs again because of public health restrictions. The Minister felt there would be no issue with an €81,000 increase for one of the most highly-paid positions in the public service already. How can the Minister justify that? Did he even think about how this would look and feel to people on the front line?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Salary Increase for Position of Secretary General at the Department of Health: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (2 Feb 2021)

Pearse Doherty: It is not just student nurses. I could give the Minister example after example. He mentioned that he received the independent report and he is engaging with the unions, and there is a process. There is always a process and it takes a period of time, and we will see what comes out of it. The problem is that, when it came to senior civil servants, just like the “super junior”...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Salary Increase for Position of Secretary General at the Department of Health: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (2 Feb 2021)

Pearse Doherty: There is no independent report regarding what is suitable remuneration. There is no consultation with headhunters on the difficulty or the appropriate measure in this regard. There is nothing whatsoever. The Government plucked this number out of the air and decided to apply it. Can I ask this question?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Salary Increase for Position of Secretary General at the Department of Health: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (2 Feb 2021)

Pearse Doherty: I will finish on this. The Minister gave an outline to the committee in regard to what happened at Cabinet and said that the Taoiseach verbally gave a report. Again it shows thelaissez-faire attitudein that there is not even a memorandum for a 40% increase in public sector pay for a senior civil servant. The Minister made the point that the issue was brought to Cabinet and it was noted....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Salary Increase for Position of Secretary General at the Department of Health: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (2 Feb 2021)

Pearse Doherty: But not the salary level, as is disputed by Cabinet colleagues.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Salary Increase for Position of Secretary General at the Department of Health: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (2 Feb 2021)

Pearse Doherty: An enhanced salary could have meant anything. It could mean a €2,000 increase, not an €81,000 increase. It is unheard of and it is really bad form. I hope the Minister regrets the decision. It is done now but I hope he regrets it.

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Pearse Doherty: The question I asked was------

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Pearse Doherty: I asked the Minister five questions. I even numbered them for his benefit.

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Pearse Doherty: On a point of order, I ask the Ceann Comhairle to clarify a matter. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle did it. The Minister has again made an accusation. The public health advice is for Members to leave the building or the room when they have finished speaking. The Minister should not use that to attack me. I asked five specific questions. The Minister refused to answer any of those questions...

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Pearse Doherty: Maybe he could have answered one question in the 50 seconds. He did not do so.

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Pearse Doherty: I wish to ask the Minister about the shared equity scheme. He frequently cites the British shared equity loan scheme, and I assume that his proposed scheme is similar to that introduced by the Tories. First, I am surprised that the Minister for Finance has given the green light to the scheme because it is a demand-side response to what is a supply-side problem, and that is patently obvious...

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Pearse Doherty: On a point of order, the public health advice is to leave the Chamber as soon as a Deputy is finished. It is the health advice.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (28 Jan 2021)

Pearse Doherty: The failure to introduce a mandatory post-arrival hotel quarantine for international travellers arriving in the State has been well flagged. It is a glaring omission in the Government's plan to contain the importation of cases of Covid-19 and is a decision which must be reversed. There is, however, another glaring omission, namely, the failure of the Government to act on the advice of NPHET...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 Jan 2021)

Pearse Doherty: That is not true.