Results 11,421-11,440 of 18,851 for speaker:Fergus O'Dowd

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (1 Jul 2014)

Fergus O'Dowd: It would depend on what the direction was. I will come back to the issue on Report Stage.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (1 Jul 2014)

Fergus O'Dowd: Section 21 requires NewERA to prepare a report at least annually for the Minister responsible, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, as well as other relevant Ministers, on the financial performance of each designated body. The amendment would require the Minister to lay such a report before the Oireachtas. We need to consider this provision in its full context. NewERA’s...

Topical Issue Debate: Local Authority Funding (1 Jul 2014)

Fergus O'Dowd: I assure Deputy Kevin Humphreys in particular that this Government is not ripping off the people of Dublin and it has no intention of doing so.

Topical Issue Debate: Local Authority Funding (1 Jul 2014)

Fergus O'Dowd: The facts are simple. I have clearly stated, and I repeat, that regardless of where people live, 80% of the funding will be spent where it is raised. That is the Deputies' Government and mine, their Ministers and mine, which are committed to this goal. We are also committed to the financial certainty that we all want, whether it is in Dublin, Drogheda, Cork, Kerry, Limerick or Tipperary....

Topical Issue Debate: Local Authority Funding (1 Jul 2014)

Fergus O'Dowd: We are not ripping off anybody but ensuring that there is fair and equitable distribution of funding. Everybody will get 80% of what they pay in and the balance will go to some counties or areas which do not have the funding to maintain basic services. The Minister, Deputy Hogan, is firmly of the view that certainty is important in this significant time, and he will continue to work with...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (1 Jul 2014)

Fergus O'Dowd: Tá sé soiléir sa Bhille seo go gcaithfear an stiúradh a fhoilsiú agus a chur ar fáil go poiblí ionas go mbeidh a fhios ag daoine cad é an beart atá déanta ag an Aire. Uaireanta, bíonn commercially sensitive information i gceist anseo agus tá sé tábhachtach nach mbeadh an t-eolas sin ar fud na tíre. Tá sé...

Topical Issue Debate: Local Authority Funding (1 Jul 2014)

Fergus O'Dowd: I thank the Deputies for raising this important matter which I am taking on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government. In recent months there has been extensive discussion of the issue of local property tax, LPT, and how local retention of that tax might impact on local authorities in the future. It is a complex issue that will need much...

Topical Issue Debate: Local Authority Funding (1 Jul 2014)

Fergus O'Dowd: I have no intention of doing so.

Topical Issue Debate: Local Authority Funding (1 Jul 2014)

Fergus O'Dowd: I will not either.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (1 Jul 2014)

Fergus O'Dowd: Subsection (3) does not give a Minister more powers in respect of the sale of State assets than he or she already has. It provides him or her with a new means of acquiring or disposing of an asset and allows him or her to ask that NewERA take charge of the asset or act on behalf of the asset. For this reason, I do not agree with the suggestion that State assets can be sold off willy-nilly...

Topical Issue Debate: Local Authority Funding (1 Jul 2014)

Fergus O'Dowd: The Deputy might be over here.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (1 Jul 2014)

Fergus O'Dowd: It is a very good question, but I am answering questions on the proposals before us. I am happy to answer questions from the Deputy on the legislation. I have clarified the issue a number of times.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (1 Jul 2014)

Fergus O'Dowd: I have finalised my contribution.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (1 Jul 2014)

Fergus O'Dowd: It is set in legislation that ownership of the shares rests with the Minister. Unless the Minister agrees, nobody else can do it.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (1 Jul 2014)

Fergus O'Dowd: If we take the example of Irish Water, with which I am most familiar, the legislation is very clear. The three shares are owned by Irish Water, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government and the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. The legislation states that they can never be disposed of. What we are talking about here is about getting advice as...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (1 Jul 2014)

Fergus O'Dowd: All I can say is that this legislation deals with a request from the line Minister, who has ownership of the entity, to ask NewERA to give professional advice.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (1 Jul 2014)

Fergus O'Dowd: All I can say is that raising one's voice does not make one's argument any weaker or stronger. It just makes one more strident. The reality is very clear. The legislation states that the agency shall, if a Minister who is the relevant Minister requests it to do so, provide a project manager to do certain acts. I am most familiar with Irish Water. That can never happen in terms of the...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (1 Jul 2014)

Fergus O'Dowd: I can assure the Deputy that the issue is very clear. The Minister can only act on the powers based in the legislation, which are set up in the individual entity. For this reason, it is not possible to act ultra vires.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (1 Jul 2014)

Fergus O'Dowd: The amendment would require the Houses of the Oireachtas to approve a request to NewERA to be involved. In other words, it would place an extra burden on the Minister or the Government to ask NewERA for an opinion on issues.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (1 Jul 2014)

Fergus O'Dowd: The Government has a majority when elected so I presume a decision would be a matter for the Government in the first place. I presume that because it would be such a significant issue, the Oireachtas would have a view. I presume there would be a debate in the Dáil but it would be a matter for the Government or the Dáil to decide.