Results 14,841-14,860 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts (23 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 17 and 35 together. The matter of social clauses in public contracts is something that I have been examining closely recently. Social clauses can be used in public procurement in cases where they are targeted at factoring into the procurement process consideration of social issues such as employment opportunities, equal opportunities and social inclusion....

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts (23 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: In relation to improving access for SMEs to public procurement opportunities the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has issued guidelines (Circular 10/10) that require public bodies to promote participation of small and medium-sized enterprises in the award of public contracts. These guidelines set out positive measures that contracting authorities are to take to promote SME...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Remuneration (23 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 21 and 46 together. The reduction by 10% of the salary scale and fixed allowances for new entry grades to the public service was implemented by the previous government with effect from 1 January 2011 and remains in place. The stated purpose of the measure was to achieve a medium term structural reduction in the pay bill cost of the public service, and as a...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Economic Competitiveness (23 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Apart from instances where statutory rates of pay apply, pay rates in the private sector are generally a matter for negotiation between individual employers and employees and I have no proposals which would impact on that relationship. My responsibilities in relation to pay extend to the public service where the Government has a direct role in the determination of pay rates as employer. Pay...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Recruitment (23 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Government is committed to delivering the pay saving as set out in the EU/IMF Programme of Financial Support. Continued reductions in public service numbers in line with Government policy will go a considerable way towards achieving this saving. Significant progress has already been made in this regard. End 2012 preliminary returns show that serving numbers in the Public Service were...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Sale of State Assets (23 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The House will be aware from my announcement last February of the shape and scale of the State asset disposal programme that is to be pursued. In brief, the State asset disposal programme that the Government has agreed consists of: the sale of Bord Gáis Éireann’s energy business (but not including BGÉ’s gas transmission or distribution systems or the two gas...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Equality Issues (23 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Programme for Government contains a clear commitment that all public bodies would take due note of equality and human rights in carrying out their functions. The State and its bodies must, of course, comply with all provisions of equality legislation in the development and delivery of policies and services. When focusing on the primary objectives of reducing the deficit and returning...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Capital Expenditure Programme (23 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The actual roll-out of capital expenditure is a matter for line Departments, operating within the multi-annual budgetary allocations decided by Government and within delegated sanction arrangements issued by my Department. As the Deputy will be aware, capital spending has general characteristics which influence the allocation drawdown pattern. Expenditure on capital projects typically...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Political Reform (23 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Significant progress was made in 2012 on the commitments for political reform contained in the Programme for Government falling into my area of responsibilities, including for example the most significant reform of the Ombudsman legislation in the last thirty years. I expect that progress will be further intensified in relation to a number of key reform priorities in the course of 2013. ...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Equality Issues (23 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Programme for Government contains a clear commitment that all public bodies would take due note of equality and human rights in carrying out their functions. The State and its bodies must, of course, comply with all provisions of equality legislation in the development and delivery of policies and services. On a Departmental level, it is the responsibility of individual Ministers and...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Budget Targets (23 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 36, 101, 102, 106 to 109, inclusive, and 112 together. The Government is making good progress on achieving all of our targets and priorities, as articulated in the Government programme. We are bringing public expenditure back to a sustainable level and driving forward the public service reform agenda to ensure that efficiencies and reformed work practices...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Services (23 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Within the Reform and Delivery Office, the Shared Services Transformation Unit is leading a number of key projects. In May of last year, a formal decision was taken by the Government to set up a HR and Pensions Administration Shared Service Centre, called PeoplePoint, in Clonskeagh in Dublin. PeoplePoint will commence HR services at the end of March, 2013. It is estimated that with the...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Legislation (23 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 39, 56, 59 and 61 together. In line with the commitments in the Programme for Government, a central objective of our programme of reform for Freedom of Information (FOI) is the extension of the Act to all public bodies. As set out in the General Scheme of the FOI reform legislation, it is proposed to include a provision in the Bill which would ensure the...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Commercial Rates (23 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Commissioner of Valuation is independent in the exercise of his duties under the Valuation Act 2001. Under the provisions of that Act, commercial and industrial properties occupied by the State may be entered on the valuation list but are not rateable. If such properties entered on the valuation list are transferred by the State to another body, public or private, they become effective...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts (23 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The procurement of public contracts should be conducted in an open, objective and transparent manner and the principles of all EU and national public procurement rules should be adhered to. A tender which might be regarded as abnormally low or below cost may not be rejected without investigation and consideration of the relevant elements that gave rise to a particularly low bid. Such...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Semi-State Bodies (23 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Commercial semi-State companies are generally established with two Ministers holding shares or capital stock on behalf of the Government – the relevant Minister with responsibility for the sector in which the company is operating and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, who is the Minister with overall responsibility for the commercial State sector. This position...

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

Brendan Howlin: ThePublic Service Agreement 2010-14 (Croke Park Agreement) provides for agreed redeployment arrangements to apply in the Civil Service and in other parts of the public service. Under the Agreement, redeployment generally takes precedence over all other methods of filling a vacancy and supersedes any existing agreements on the deployment of staff. It allows staff to be moved from...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff (23 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: As I have reiterated on a number of occasions, this Government is committed to developing a leaner, more efficient Public Service. To this end, we agreed on 2 October 2012 to accelerate the reduction in Public Service numbers in order to achieve the previous end 2015 target of 282,500 by end 2014 instead. Greater efficiencies in the way the Public Service is going about its business means...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Valuation Office (23 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Commissioner of Valuation is independent in the exercise of his duties under the Valuation Act, 2001 and the carrying out of valuations for rating purposes is his sole prerogative and the Act does not accord me as Minister any function in this regard. The current staffing complement of the Valuation Office is 135, representing 132.4 whole time equivalent posts. The appointment of...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts (23 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The information sought by the Deputy is not recorded centrally by my Department. The responsibility for implementation of the public procurement rules rests with individual contracting authorities. Details of any exclusion by a contracting authority of an applicant from a public procurement process would be held by the individual contracting authorities concerned.