Results 12,621-12,640 of 32,547 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Ministerial Meetings (12 Nov 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: As part of my ongoing international engagements, I meet monthly with my EU counterparts at meetings of Eurogroup and the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN). I also meet regularly with colleagues on a bilateral basis whenever opportunities present themselves outside the Council format. At the last monthly meeting of Eurogroup and ECOFIN on 7 and 8 November I met with my Belgian...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Reports (12 Nov 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I refer the Deputy to my reply to Parliamentary Question Number 116 on 10thOctober 2019. The position is unchanged since this reply.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions Legislation (12 Nov 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Act 2012 represents the delivery of key structural reform commitments agreed under the Troika programme of financial support for Ireland. Among other things, it provided for the creation of the Single Public Service Pension Scheme, the extension of abatement across all the public service, the extension of the 40 years' (or...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Offices (12 Nov 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I wish to advise the Deputy that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform currently has one vacant desk available in Civil Service accommodation outside of Dublin. The Office of Government Procurement, which is also part of the Department, has a number of offices outside of its headquarters in Dublin. The details of these office locations and the number of desks currently available...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions (12 Nov 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Pensions paid under the Single Pension Scheme (SPS) are uprated in line with changes in the Consumer Price Index. The 2012 legislation that introduced the SPS includes a provision that allows for the extension of the same method of uprating to the pre-existing pension schemes. As I informed the Deputy on 5 March 2019 (PQ 10419/19), the Government committed in the Public Service Stability...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Project Ireland 2040 Expenditure (12 Nov 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Project Ireland 2040 is the Government's long-term, overarching strategy to make Ireland a better country for all its people, integrating, for the first time, the national spatial and investment strategies. The projects under these plans which include roads, schools, primary care centres, housing, sporting and cultural amenities and business activation facilities impact villages, towns,...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Project Ireland 2040 Expenditure (12 Nov 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: While my Department sets the allocations for Departments and the delegated sanction arrangements under which Departments make their spending decisions, the actual roll-out of particular projects and programmes is managed by the individual line Departments and their agencies who are responsible for project and programme delivery, and decisions regarding associated publicity and advertising in...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Data (12 Nov 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Freedom of Information disclosure logs are routinely published by my Department, as required by the Freedom of Information Act 2014. The Department's disclosure logs are published on a quarterly basis and currently cover the period up to 30thSeptember 2019. These are available to view at this link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/ce2e67-foi-disclosure-log/.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions Legislation (12 Nov 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The principle of abatement of a public service pension has always existed within the scheme rules of various public service pension schemes. Section 52(1) to 52(5) of the Public Service Pension (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Act 2012 (the Single Scheme Act) extended abatement and provides that where a retired public servant, in receipt of a public service pension, is re-employed...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Advertising Campaigns (12 Nov 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: My Department is represented on the Government Task Force on Emergency Planning and fully supports the Be Winter-Ready campaign. The 2019-20 campaign, jointly launched by a number of my Ministerial colleagues on 6thNovember, provides vital information and raises awareness about the particular challenges that winter can present and is a part of the ‘Whole of Government’ approach...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex Post Budget Scrutiny: Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform (12 Nov 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the committee for the invitation to attend. I look forward to a good exchange of views. I remind the committee of the Government's main priority in the framing of budget 2020, which is to help our economy and society to deal with the potential impacts of a disorderly Brexit. As the committee is aware, on 11 September the Government agreed to base budget 2020 on the assumption of a...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex Post Budget Scrutiny: Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform (12 Nov 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I will work through each of them in turn. I do not expect my Supplementary Estimates to vary from what I indicated on budget day. I expect they will be broadly in line with what we announced on budget day. Sometimes there is a degree of change because there are technical issues in various Departments that require an intervention but I am confident the figures I outlined on budget day, and...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex Post Budget Scrutiny: Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform (12 Nov 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Austerity tends to be defined by the reduction of Government expenditure over time, but this budget increased Government expenditure by €3.4 billion.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex Post Budget Scrutiny: Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform (12 Nov 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: To describe a budget as an austerity budget-----

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex Post Budget Scrutiny: Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform (12 Nov 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: -----when we increased overall expenditure is very odd.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex Post Budget Scrutiny: Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform (12 Nov 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy asked how topics were picked for the spending reviews, and there are two different ways. A Department may recommend a topic to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform or we may recommend one to it. The topics tend to be worked on between both Departments. The Deputy also asked about health. I understand that the Department of Health has received the HSE service action...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex Post Budget Scrutiny: Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform (12 Nov 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The work has been done, primarily by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, which has looked at the estimated cost of retrofitting our entire housing stock. Work has also been done by industry bodies. I do not have the figure for the total budget for this at the moment, but we can write to the committee with details. Some €13 million from the change in...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex Post Budget Scrutiny: Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform (12 Nov 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I am sure the Deputy is referring to the €1.2 billion in the Brexit contingency framework. If a no-deal Brexit does not happen, the money will not be used for any other purpose and would transfer into an improved surplus position for next year of 0.5% of our national income. We would see a swing from an expected deficit next year of 0.6% of national income to a surplus of 0.5%. We...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex Post Budget Scrutiny: Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform (12 Nov 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: There are two different pillars of the potential OECD framework. Pillar 1 relates to taxing where value is created and pillar 2 refers to the requirement for a global minimum effective tax rate. The Deputy referred to our responsibility and Ireland has not received the recognition it has merited for the scale of change we have made to our tax code. Looking forward, I am clear that to...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex Post Budget Scrutiny: Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform (12 Nov 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I will answer first the Deputy's questions about demographics and then deal with his questions about equality budgeting. We will absolutely support the committee in any work it plans to do in this area. For 2020 we have provided a sum of €451 million; for 2021, €455 million; and for 2022, €455 million. In my statement to the committee I outlined some of the...