Results 14,081-14,100 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Revised Estimates Publication (23 Apr 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 306 and 307 together. The Revised Estimates Volume (REV) is published each year a few months after the Budget. The REV gives a fuller, more detailed breakdown of spending by each Department and Vote than the spending information announced in the Estimates which are published with the Budget each year. The REV also gives the provisional outturn for...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Staff Redeployment (23 Apr 2013)

Brendan Howlin: There are no formal arrangements in place within the civil service to facilitate requests for transfers to other locations/employments, except in the case of grades represented by the Civil & Public Services Union. Transfers for these (mostly Clerical and Staff Officers) are arranged in accordance with formal procedures agreed with the Staff Side at General Council under the...

Other Questions: Estimates for Public Services (18 Apr 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy will be aware that the two legislative bodies within the European Union, the European Council and the European Parliament, have enacted the so-called two pack legislation which requires us to bring forward the budget and the Estimates to October, as Deputy Fleming rightly pointed out. It is the intention of the Government to have the Estimates for 2014 debated and voted on before...

Other Questions: Estimates for Public Services (18 Apr 2013)

Brendan Howlin: While the Deputy is going back to the previous question, I am happy to answer that. The arithmetic agreed with the troika was the budget line, which contained an additional saving of €300 million in payroll this year. That was understood when we negotiated the service outline for this year because we wanted to add back money to the Departments of Health and Social Protection. It was...

Other Questions: Estimates for Public Services (18 Apr 2013)

Brendan Howlin: That was the basis of the discussion, yes.

Other Questions: Estimates for Public Services (18 Apr 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I entirely agree with Deputy Broughan. Parliament has never really been used in a way that meaningfully involves it in the drawing up of the Estimates. It was for that reason that the Government fundamentally changed things. However, it is not just a question of facilitating such involvement - the facilitation must be seized upon by Members of the House. We have published the...

Other Questions: EU-IMF Programme (18 Apr 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I entirely understand the sentiment expressed by Deputy Broughan and I agree with much of it. I do not wish to be in the current position. I do not wish to reduce expenditure in any area of the public service. I do not want to ask public servants to make a contribution. I say that because people call for an end to austerity. I would love to end austerity today. The problem is that we...

Other Questions: EU-IMF Programme (18 Apr 2013)

Brendan Howlin: We have a track record with the troika of delivering on every promise the Government made to the troika. Our reputation was rubbish as a nation internationally when we came into office. Among the many big jobs we had was to build our reputation so that people could trust us. The two things we said is that we would not over-promise and we would not under-deliver in what we undertook to do....

Other Questions: Estimates for Public Services (18 Apr 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Revised Estimates Volume, REV, 2013 was published yesterday, 17 April, and provides additional details and information on the allocations contained in the 2013 Estimates as published on 5 December 2012 in the Expenditure Report 2013. Furthermore, the REV has set out key performance information regarding the outputs and impacts of programme expenditure and this will complement the...

Other Questions: Departmental Staff Training (18 Apr 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Senior Public Service, SPS, was established with the aim of strengthening senior management and leadership, initially across the Civil Service. Membership of the SPS comprises all Secretaries General, deputy secretaries, assistant secretaries, directors and related grades in the Civil Service. Over time, the SPS will be extended to senior levels of the wider public service. The SPS is...

Other Questions: Departmental Staff Training (18 Apr 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I thank the Deputy for welcoming this initiative. One of my first acts was to establish the SPS. We took this opportunity shortly after the Government was formed. At that point, we had summoned all of our ambassadors back to Ireland so that we could give them a briefing on the programme for Government and our economic strategy, allowing for a joined-up international presentation. All...

Other Questions: Departmental Staff Training (18 Apr 2013)

Brendan Howlin: There has been enthusiasm about the course. I want to roll it out beyond the most senior grades to middle management and the wider public service.

Other Questions: Departmental Staff Training (18 Apr 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Perhaps we could consider that suggestion. I know that I should not digress on a Priority Question, but I have always been concerned about the level of coaching for Opposition spokespersons, Ministers and Deputies. Often, people become Members and find themselves needing to make their own way.

Other Questions: EU-IMF Programme (18 Apr 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 and 39 together. The Government continues to make good progress in achieving all of our deficit targets and priorities, as articulated in the Government programme. We are bringing public expenditure back onto a sustainable path and driving forward the public service reform agenda to ensure that efficiencies and reformed work practices play a full part in...

Other Questions: EU-IMF Programme (18 Apr 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I might have the opportunity to respond to Deputy McDonald's question if I piggyback it onto these questions, as I did not mention the troika when she raised that matter. We need to find €300 million in payroll savings in this year's budgetary arithmetic. We must embed them in a way that achieves savings of €1 billion by 2015. When we embarked upon this process, I had no...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Service Staff (18 Apr 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Does the Deputy intend to ask a question?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Service Staff (18 Apr 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy is on very thin ice altogether if he is seeking to claim credit or responsibility for certain things. He spends most of his time denying that the previous Administration - which ruined our country-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Service Staff (18 Apr 2013)

Brendan Howlin: -----and handed over to us an economy on the verge of bankruptcy and in the control of the troika - was responsible for anything. If he wants to lay claim on the great successes of that Administration, then the Deputy is skating on very thin ice. The current Government established the Department for Public Expenditure and Reform. In November 2011 we published an entire reform programme...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Sale of State Assets (18 Apr 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I expect that the Bord Gáis Energy sale transaction will be formally launched in the coming weeks and that it will be completed by the end of this year. I further expect that the sale of two of ESB’s overseas assets - at Marchwood in the United Kingdom and Amorbieta in Spain - will also be completed this year.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Sale of State Assets (18 Apr 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy again asked a number of questions and she prefaced them by revisiting past issues and making assertions which are profoundly untrue-----