Results 12,161-12,180 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Brendan Howlin: With regard to the Deputy's first comment, the same argument was made about water charges and a variety of other services - that people have paid their taxes over time, so a service fee is a double tax. The claim that one has already paid for a service is an argument that can be applied at will. We will bring in a new fees regime but we do not know how much revenue will be generated. As...
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Brendan Howlin: I understand, though I did not hear it myself, that the Deputy mentioned the report during Leaders' Questions earlier. I do not know what that analysis was based on.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Brendan Howlin: How can one possibly predict how the service will be used in the next period?
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Brendan Howlin: Yes.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Brendan Howlin: We did. We asked for various projections-----
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Brendan Howlin: As the Deputy probably knows, we have established in my old Department-----
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Brendan Howlin: Sorry; I thought I was interrupting.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Brendan Howlin: The economic evaluation unit found it difficult to make projections. There are all sorts of projections that are very difficult to nail down. In truth, I cannot give the Deputy reliable data.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Brendan Howlin: Nothing reliable.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Brendan Howlin: Sure we all know the list.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Brendan Howlin: Does the Deputy mean for the whole system?
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Brendan Howlin: I shall try to get the answer for the Deputy. I do not carry such information with me.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Brendan Howlin: I did not realise that the Deputies would give me information, as opposed to asking me for same. Deputy Donnelly now has the information.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Brendan Howlin: With all due respect to the Chair, Deputy Donnelly is badgering me. I have answered his question.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Brendan Howlin: No. The Deputy can do his own research. The Information Commissioner annually publishes the factual information produced by the statutory body charged with doing the work. With regard to projecting into the future, when we establish the new regime, I do not know what the impact will be. I do not know whether there will be a new awareness of FOI, and the broad new range of bodies...
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Brendan Howlin: -----and the Deputy does not know.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Brendan Howlin: I answered the questions but I do not want words put in my mouth. Of course if one sets up a new fee regime one expects that it will be a plus to the State. I am saying that there are economic terms for fundamentally altering a regime by broadening the scope in the way that we are doing. It is a structural break and we do not know what the consequences will be. I do not know whether all...
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Brendan Howlin: No; the Deputy's comment is entirely unfair. I never objected to his asking the question. The problem is that he rejected my answer.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Brendan Howlin: I will parse and analyse the Deputy's response. He did not reject my answer but said that it was unacceptable. I shall contemplate his response for a while.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)
Brendan Howlin: We are going to restate it in the way I am now describing. I will hold the cap but am removing the notion that the public body could refuse to process an application if it was determined that the volume of work involved would exceed the cap that could be charged.