Results 13,101-13,120 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: Excellent.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: I will consider that and revert to the Deputy.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: It is no great harm to be on the back foot if one is changing things. One must then explain. We require a Department to explain where there is a substantial change. It is part of the normal annual cycle that an explanation is required. It is a good accounting procedure.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: That has to be explained to people.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: The form of words "as soon as may be" is standard and in my view it is appropriate. It is not always possible to proceed immediately in circumstances, for example, where the Dáil is not sitting for some period after the decision is made. The normal practice of inserting the phrase, "as soon as may be" is understood to imply as much expedition as is possible and practicable.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: It cannot be done immediately if the Dáil is not sitting immediately. Does that mean the law is being breached? There has to be some level of practicality about enactments of this kind.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: I think the phrase, "as soon as may be" is understood to be as soon as it is practicable to do it.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: No. The phrase, "as soon as may be" is perfectly understood to be as soon as practicable.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: I do not know what parents do in south Dublin.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: No.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: We are thinking ourselves into a European semester as well and we must have regard to the new European budgetary requirements. It will be possible for us to alter limits by formal Government decision subsequently. It will be a snapshot in time, in tandem with the obligations to maintain the fiscal disciplines set under the European treaties.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: That is all anything can be. The hands of Government cannot be tied. If the Government in 2007 was looking at a three-year horizon, it would have been a very different horizon to view by the end of 2008. There has to be flexibility to be able to alter course to meet changed circumstances and that is understood.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: By and large, the idea is to give as much certainty as possible but it cannot be locked in.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: We are presenting now a multi-annual budget twice a year. We are giving the horizon in April and then just before the budget itself, pre-October, we will present the multi-annual framework for the next three years. This is a twice-annual reporting. By and large, that should, with fiscal discipline and more settled times, be a horizon that is replicated in the next horizon with some sense...
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: Yes.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: Yes; on a multi-annual basis.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: Yes.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: We published the SPU in April this year but we have taken no regard for what decisions will be made in the October budget, clearly. The horizons are set but the specific details will be altered and there will be a new pre-budget set of documentation published to set the new horizons before the budget.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: I think they are more than statements of intent but they are not legally binding.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: Is the Deputy saying that floors and ceilings become confused?