Results 12,541-12,560 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Other Questions: Equality Proofing of Budgets (9 Oct 2013)

Brendan Howlin: A number of questions have been asked and I will answer the last one first. I would ask ASTI members to come under the umbrella of the rest of the public service. That is all. In respect of the notion of rubber-stamping, it was a democratic vote. Members were asked to vote and they made their own democratic decision to exclude themselves. It was not a case of rubber-stamping anything....

Other Questions: Open Government Partnership (9 Oct 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The basic contention of the Deputy's question is wrong. Clearly, the Economic Management Council is not self-appointed. It is a Cabinet sub-committee, appointed by Cabinet. The Cabinet is the democratically elected Government of Ireland.

Other Questions: Open Government Partnership (9 Oct 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I know the Deputy would like to rule by decree but it is a matter of democracy. I put the challenge back to the Deputy. It is always great to say: "You do something." I am asking the Deputy to do something. We put in place the capacity for committees to examine budgets. That is what happens in the rest of Europe. We published the review of expenditure so that all the policy options were...

Other Questions: Open Government Partnership (9 Oct 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Thankfully I had no responsibility for that, and the Deputy is trying to get me into trouble by asking me questions about the Committee on Procedure and Privileges, which has nothing to do with the Executive. It is the primary committee of the Oireachtas. I will leave the decisions of the Committee on Procedure and Privileges to that committee and I will not voice a view on it.

Other Questions: Open Government Partnership (9 Oct 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy is being silly. That is a silly remark. Every international body, not partisan people, that has looked at the freedom of information legislation thinks it is world class in terms of the presentation we have made. We can argue about the individual Parts of it but I ask the Deputy not to be silly about it.

Other Questions: Open Government Partnership (9 Oct 2013)

Brendan Howlin: In terms of the lobbying legislation, the register of lobbyists Bill is separate legislation. We have had much public consultation about that Bill. I will bring it into the House early next year and we will have another debate about that.

Other Questions: Equality Proofing of Budgets (9 Oct 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 and 11 together. With regard to next week's budget, while the primary objective has been to reduce the deficit and return stability to the public finances, it has been vital to the Government to spread the burden of adjustments in as fair and as equitable a manner as possible while also seeking to minimise any negative impact on economic growth....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Issues (9 Oct 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Public service numbers stood at 290,400 at the end of 2012. That number should have decreased to 282,500 by 2015, in line with the target set by the Government. This means that between now and 2015, the number employed in the public service will fall in net terms by a further 2.7%. I anticipate that this will mostly be achieved through natural retirement across the service, while allowing...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Issues (9 Oct 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy is wrong.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Issues (9 Oct 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Many more people are being treated in the health service this year than ever before. We have 80,000 more pupils being taught in our schools. There are 900 more teachers this year. We can be fanciful about things and play politics with them, but that is the reality.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Issues (9 Oct 2013)

Brendan Howlin: We are trying to create a new type of public service. It is difficult to do so because there is a resistance to change. A great deal of work that used to be done at clerical officer level, for example, is no longer required because many people now do their own direct inputting. We are creating a different type of public service, which is much more in tune with the needs of a modern, 21st...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Issues (9 Oct 2013)

Brendan Howlin: As the Deputy knows, no teachers have been made redundant. Teachers who retire are replaced, which means there are more teachers now than ever before.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Issues (9 Oct 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The pupil-teacher ratio is fixed. If there are more pupils, there are more teachers. The fact is that there are 900 additional teachers this year. The Deputy has spoken about slashing public services. I reiterate that there have been no compulsory redundancies. In such circumstances, how can he say there has been slashing? Everybody who has left has retired naturally or has chosen to...

Other Questions: Open Government Partnership (9 Oct 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Following Government approval, I submitted a letter expressing Ireland's intent to participate in the Open Government Partnership on 15 May last. Therefore, Ireland has joined other newly implementing countries that are developing national action plans. The development of Ireland's first national action plan is well under way. The participation of civil society in the Open Government...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Infrastructure and Capital Investment Programme (9 Oct 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Youth unemployment is a critical issue. Thankfully, we have less than half the youth unemployment challenge as Spain. We have a variety of initiatives under way, including JobBridge, to tackle it. We have increased the number of young people in work, so it is not simply the emigration valve. There are actually more young people at work, which is very important. The youth guarantee is a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Capital Programme Expenditure (9 Oct 2013)

Brendan Howlin: For 2013, the Government set a general Government deficit target of 7.5% of GDP and the expenditure ceilings underpinning the budget were set on this basis. It is too early to estimate the end of year outturn in regard to the 2013 current and capital expenditure allocations. As I indicated, the end of September Exchequer returns are on target. While net capital expenditure was 17% below...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Capital Programme Expenditure (9 Oct 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I was very honest with the Deputy when he asked this question. There was a significant underspend last year by local authorities on the water system. They saw Irish Water coming along and did not want to use any of their own co-funding money to do sanctioned water schemes. I applied as much pressure as I could but local authorities are independent in making those decisions. It is...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Capital Programme Expenditure (9 Oct 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I agree with much of what the Deputy said. As he knows, we are putting a tranche of investment into Irish Water through the National Pensions Reserve Fund. Legislation will be brought in before the end of the year by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, which will change the National Pensions Reserve Fund into the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund. That device will be a primer of jobs...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Equality Proofing of Budgets (9 Oct 2013)

Brendan Howlin: As is normally the case when discussing matters of this nature, the Deputy is profoundly wrong. The Government has reversed the reduction in the minimum wage, removed 350,000 low-paid workers from the net relating to the universal social charge and protected all core social welfare payments. One can take a snapshot of individual budgets rather than considering the overall picture. Ireland...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Equality Proofing of Budgets (9 Oct 2013)

Brendan Howlin: That is what the worst projections show.