Results 16,001-16,020 of 32,593 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (7 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy will be aware, the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment is the sponsoring agency for the national broadband plan, NBP. The Government is the final sanctioning authority. A procurement process was launched to engage a company to build, operate and maintain the State intervention network. A final tender from the remaining bidder was received by the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (7 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: To be clear, these are completely different processes. Where we are with the national broadband plan is that any decision to be made on it will be made on the basis of a price now tendered. In working with me the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment has completed a tendering process that is yielding figures. These figures, a consequence of the completed tendering...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (7 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I appreciate that. The Taoiseach was repeating again, in the context of the current debate, the decision the Government had made on this matter in December. I will be able to clarify the consequences of where we are with the national children's hospital project, but I also want to emphasise the long-term consequences when the hospital is delivered. I fully acknowledge the difficulties we...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Children's Hospital Expenditure (7 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: To answer the Deputy's two questions, I did not deal with the issue of whether a supplementary budget was required for capital expenditure at that point. There were two reasons for this. First, a supplementary budget would have dealt with last year, 2018, rather than with any additional costs for 2019. The second reason is that in all of my experience of engaging on this issue in previous...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Children's Hospital Expenditure (7 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: It is very important to be clear around the timings. The so-called black hole to which the Deputy is referring, which ultimately resulted in a supplementary budget of €645 million for the Department of Health, referred to 2018. It was a supplementary budget for last year. A discussion about additional funding for last year cannot be conflated with funding for this year and the years...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Children's Hospital Expenditure (7 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: As I have said, I have to take, and do take, responsibility for the framing of any budget. Ultimately, while line Departments have responsibility for specific projects, I hold myself accountable for overall decisions on how the country's money is used and I understand why the House is putting these questions to me. The majority of the discussions we had with the Department of Health were...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Children's Hospital Expenditure (7 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 2 together. With regard to the overruns associated with the build of the hospital, the full assessment of the cost overrun and the reasons for it were received by my Department in the form of a report from the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board submitted by the Department of Health on 19 November. My Department reviewed the report and...

Nurses and Midwives Industrial Action: Statements (7 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: We also went through a period in which we saw how they did not work and we had to deal with the consequences. Again, Fianna Fáil used collective wage agreements to respond to them. There will be a bitter legacy if it emerges that in the future Governments will be unable to negotiate a collective wage agreement for over 300,000 public servants.

Nurses and Midwives Industrial Action: Statements (7 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: That is why this is such a difficult matter. I understand fully and appreciate the great support nurses and nursing unions have received, but it is because of the value of the agreements that this is proving to be such a formidable issue. The Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, and I will continue to work at the Workplace Relations Commission and in the Labour Court to see if we can find a...

Nurses and Midwives Industrial Action: Statements (7 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: We cannot put the stability of our collective wage agreement on the table. There will be immediate consequences for every other public servant in the State if there is a change to the agreement. I appreciate there are many nurses in the Public Gallery this morning who would rather be in their places of work. The challenge that my ministerial colleague, Deputy Harris, and I will...

Nurses and Midwives Industrial Action: Statements (7 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I will deal first with the question that Deputy Catherine Martin put to me about what the figures say about recruitment and retention. Figures developed by the HSE and the Department of Health that have been shared with us make the point that, over the past number of years, 3,876 more nurses and midwives have been recruited. That change has happened. A report of the Public Service Pay...

Nurses and Midwives Industrial Action: Statements (7 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I acknowledge the contributions and questions that have been put by all Deputies here this morning. I want to respond to one particular allegation that has been made this morning about the nature of the current wage agreement. A number of speakers have asserted that we do not have wage restoration or wage growth in place. The agreement, as negotiated at the moment, provides that anybody...

Nurses and Midwives Industrial Action: Statements (7 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I will deal with the questions put to me by Deputies Pringle and Wallace. On Deputy Pringle's point regarding engagement to date, there has been engagement to date. The Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court have been involved. It is obvious that engagement did not yield outcomes that were satisfactory to those who represent nurses as otherwise we would not be in this...

Nurses and Midwives Industrial Action: Statements (7 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: It is appropriate that the pay commission engages with stakeholders. As I said, I met the commission. Did I issue a direction to it regarding what to do? Absolutely not, because it is independent.

Nurses and Midwives Industrial Action: Statements (7 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I have experience of institutions that are independent of me issuing recommendations that then cause significant consequences that I have to deal with as well. On Deputy Wallace's point on pay, one of the challenges we face is that the Public Service Pay Commission did issue recommendations in regard to pay for which, in my appraisal at the time, the rest of the union movement would have...

Nurses and Midwives Industrial Action: Statements (7 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Deputy Mattie McGrath made the absolutely ridiculous assertion that there is no money available. This year alone, the health services will be receiving €17 billion-----

Nurses and Midwives Industrial Action: Statements (7 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: -----of taxpayers' money to support the development and delivery of services in our country.

Nurses and Midwives Industrial Action: Statements (7 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: As I was saying in response to Deputy Mattie McGrath, there is €17 billion of taxpayers' money deservedly going into the provision of services that are available in the health service and into trying to improve them, of which at least one quarter goes into the wages of those who provide care in our country. The Deputy also asked if we respect the nurses and the contribution they...

Nurses and Midwives Industrial Action: Statements (7 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Deputy Danny Healy-Rae asked me to explain why we are putting money into a rainy day fund. I understand why many would ask that question given the pressures that always exist for today. The simple answer is that we will get into another difficulty in the future because we are an open economy and a huge amount is happening in the world at the moment, as the Deputy knows. Our debt levels, on...

Nurses and Midwives Industrial Action: Statements (7 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Deputy Breathnach asked me whether we are willing to put different measurements in place. We have looked to respond to that with the new entrant agreement we have put in place that we still hope to be in a position to honour and implement.