Results 15,201-15,220 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Nov 2012)
Brendan Howlin: May I answer that question?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Nov 2012)
Brendan Howlin: I am giving notice now. We have a busy work agenda and the committee has had an extremely busy working agenda because it has to deal with my Department and the Department of Finance. We need to have a smooth interaction to ensure the committee can schedule business in a way that is appropriate to the membership. We have made good progress on an ambitious reform agenda. I am mindful that...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Nov 2012)
Brendan Howlin: I will return to discuss the Supplementary Estimate.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Nov 2012)
Brendan Howlin: I will have the officials who are dealing with that with me and all my briefing notes.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Nov 2012)
Brendan Howlin: When did the Deputy know I should have known earlier?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Nov 2012)
Brendan Howlin: I would rather deal with it in a structured way when I am accompanied by the officials dealing with it and I have my briefing notes with me.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Nov 2012)
Brendan Howlin: It is not the answer. If the Deputy wants to answer his own questions, there is no point in me coming at all.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Nov 2012)
Brendan Howlin: The first question was when I knew and the Deputy then said it should have been sooner. He might wait for the answer before coming to a conclusion.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Nov 2012)
Brendan Howlin: I am in the Oireachtas almost 30 years and it is normal for Supplementary Estimates to be introduced at the end of the financial year. There are never Supplementary Estimates early in the year, as the Deputy will be aware. That is the way the process is structured. If it needs to be structured differently, let us have a debate about that. This has been the way for as long as I have been a...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Nov 2012)
Brendan Howlin: The first of the shared services projects is ahead of schedule. We are calling it PeoplePoint. It will be a shared service for Civil Service human resource management and it will be up and running early next year. We are examining other areas that might migrate into that, including pensions. We are also considering whether banking and financial management can be done on a shared basis....
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Nov 2012)
Brendan Howlin: I circulated a statement which is quite long and I am conscious of time. I do not know whether the Chairman has a view on it. My preference would be not to read the statement but to-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Nov 2012)
Brendan Howlin: -----speak on it briefly in order to leave more time for questions. Is that acceptable?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Nov 2012)
Brendan Howlin: Most of those in this room have heard me talk about the reform agenda. From the time my Department was established, I have stated that we needed to have an expenditure control Department that also had at its heart a reform agenda. That was agreed in the negotiations on the programme for Government, and hence my Department exists. We have embarked on the programme. We published the plan in...
- Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts (22 Nov 2012)
Brendan Howlin: Under a public works contract the contractual relationship is between the public body and the main contractor. A public body has no contractual ties with a subcontractor engaged by a main contractor. Any contractual relationship is exclusively a matter between the main contractor and its sub-contractor. I am conscious of the difficulties being experienced by sub-contractors in this...
- Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Oireachtas Members' Salaries (22 Nov 2012)
Brendan Howlin: The provision for payment of an annual allowance to the chairpersons of Oireachtas Committees is made in the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial, Parliamentary, Judicial and Court Offices (Amendment) Act, 1998. The system of allowances paid to TDs was substantially overhauled by this Government in 2011 upon taking office. The number of committees, and therefore chairpersons,...
- Other Questions: Departmental Expenditure (21 Nov 2012)
Brendan Howlin: The architecture of the current Croke Park agreement, which I have defended and worked to the best of my ability, was not of my construction.
- Other Questions: Departmental Expenditure (21 Nov 2012)
Brendan Howlin: Absolutely. What I inherited was a useful and important enabler for change. I have said that publicly and I acknowledge that. I have worked the agreement to the very best. It is not, however, a robust enough instrument to get us to where we need to be by 2015. Deputy Fleming made some points about fairness, with which I would not disagree. However, there is no point in saying I would...
- Other Questions: Expenditure Reviews (21 Nov 2012)
Brendan Howlin: It is likely there will be a supplementary budget for health. I am having a bilateral meeting with the Minister for Health after this session.
- Other Questions: Expenditure Reviews (21 Nov 2012)
Brendan Howlin: The health budget was of the order of €13.5 billion. It is a multifaceted, complex system that is demand-led. We cannot guarantee that the pressures on hospitals can be accurately forecasted, nor can we do so for the number of people applying for medical cards or any of the other variable factors. I do not yet know the quantum of the Supplementary Estimate but it will be a tiny...
- Other Questions: Departmental Expenditure (21 Nov 2012)
Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 9, 46, 97 to 103 inclusive, and 105 together.