Results 10,781-10,800 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin
- Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Leader's Allowance Issues (27 May 2014)
Brendan Howlin: I refer the Deputy to my reply on 15 April 2014 to her previous question on this matter (number 284 - ref. 17940/14).
- Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Medical Aids and Appliances Provision (15 May 2014)
Brendan Howlin: In response to the Deputy's question there are eighteen defibrillators located in Government offices and buildings under the remit of my Department and those under my aegis, nine of which are in shared accommodation with the Department of Finance. The average cost is approximately €1,800 each. For health and safety reasons these defibrillators are only available to staff trained in...
- Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Public Procurement Contracts (15 May 2014)
Brendan Howlin: Under EU Directives on public procurement public works, supplies and service contracts above certain thresholds must be advertised on the Official Journal of the EU and awarded on the basis of objective and non-restrictive criteria. For works contracts the threshold is €5.186 million; for supplies and service contracts awarded by Government Departments the threshold is €134,000...
- Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Parliamentary Party Allowances (15 May 2014)
Brendan Howlin: The Parliamentary Activities Allowance (formerly known as the Party Leader's Allowance) is provided for under the Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Act 1938, amended most recently by the Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices)(Amendment) Act 2014. The legislation provides that each party leader and independent Member of the Dáíl or Seanad in receipt of the...
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Protected Disclosures Bill 2013: Committee Stage (14 May 2014)
Brendan Howlin: I take the opportunity to inform members that I propose to address the following matters on Report Stage: the alignment of employer types with worker types in the definition; a closer alignment of the description of the different types of employer set out in the definition of that term with the definition of the different types of worker set out in the definition of that term in the Bill and...
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Protected Disclosures Bill 2013: Committee Stage (14 May 2014)
Brendan Howlin: My officials have taken note of the matter.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Protected Disclosures Bill 2013: Committee Stage (14 May 2014)
Brendan Howlin: I would like to say two things in response to the Deputy. First, I am alarmed to hear that there was a delay of the magnitude he suggested. Part of the reform agenda involves the introduction of more efficiencies in this area. Obviously, that is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. Second, the case mentioned by the Deputy once more underscores the...
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Protected Disclosures Bill 2013: Committee Stage (14 May 2014)
Brendan Howlin: We will examine the Deputy's second set of proposals on Report Stage. It is not before us now. The amendment before the committee relates to the details of the narrow level of reporting that is provided for. We might be able to capture it on a statistical basis. For example, we might be able to provide information on the number of people who have made a report to the confidential...
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Protected Disclosures Bill 2013: Committee Stage (14 May 2014)
Brendan Howlin: I appreciate that. I just wanted to make my position clear.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Protected Disclosures Bill 2013: Committee Stage (14 May 2014)
Brendan Howlin: I am not accepting it, no.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Protected Disclosures Bill 2013: Committee Stage (14 May 2014)
Brendan Howlin: I move amendment No. 28: In page 31, to delete lines 10 to 27.This technical amendment is necessitated by recent legislative developments. Schedule 4 to the Bill consists of a list of amendments to a number of sectoral Acts containing protected disclosure-type provisions. This amendment merely updates that list.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Protected Disclosures Bill 2013: Committee Stage (14 May 2014)
Brendan Howlin: Can the Deputy explain his difficulty to me?
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Protected Disclosures Bill 2013: Committee Stage (14 May 2014)
Brendan Howlin: Yes.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Protected Disclosures Bill 2013: Committee Stage (14 May 2014)
Brendan Howlin: I am sorry. I have lost the Deputy. What does he have a difficulty with?
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Protected Disclosures Bill 2013: Committee Stage (14 May 2014)
Brendan Howlin: I move amendment No. 29: In page 38, between lines 20 and 21, to insert the following: " 17 Further Education and Training Act 2013 (No. 25 of 2013) Section 34 After subsection (3) insert— “(4) This section does not apply to a communication that is a protected disclosure within the meaning of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014.”. ”.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Protected Disclosures Bill 2013: Committee Stage (14 May 2014)
Brendan Howlin: Yes.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Protected Disclosures Bill 2013: Committee Stage (14 May 2014)
Brendan Howlin: The amendments to various Acts provided for in this Schedule will simply ensure a discloser or whistleblower is given the generally stronger protections that are available under this legislation. At the same time, they will ensure the protections available in the sectoral Acts will be unaffected in the unlikely event that the disclosure does not fall within the meaning of this legislation....
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Protected Disclosures Bill 2013: Committee Stage (14 May 2014)
Brendan Howlin: I will try to make it clear. What I have said is accurate. I can say it again. In essence, the weaker protections will not apply if the stronger protections of this Bill apply. If the stronger protections do not apply, for whatever technical reason, the sectoral protections that are implicit in the existing Acts will apply.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Protected Disclosures Bill 2013: Committee Stage (14 May 2014)
Brendan Howlin: Correct.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Protected Disclosures Bill 2013: Committee Stage (14 May 2014)
Brendan Howlin: No. The default position is this Bill. This is it. If this Bill does not apply for some technical reason, the other one will apply.