Results 16,241-16,260 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin
- Public Sector Reform (13 Jun 2012)
Brendan Howlin: He said the gross figures were not there, but they are in the published report. This is not my report; it is from the implementation body. Let me be quite clear because we can lose things in figures. The bottom line is that in the reference period in question we have reduced the pay bill, independently validated not by my Department but by the implementation body, in gross terms by â¬650...
- Public Sector Reform (13 Jun 2012)
Brendan Howlin: Net.
- Public Sector Reform (13 Jun 2012)
Brendan Howlin: The Deputy is either living in a bubble or is deliberately ignoring the facts, because no Minister has been more proactive in reducing high-level pay than I have. I set the ceiling for civil servants at â¬200,000. As of now, no civil servant is paid more than â¬200,000.
- Public Sector Reform (13 Jun 2012)
Brendan Howlin: The reality is that we have pushed people's salaries down.
- Public Sector Reform (13 Jun 2012)
Brendan Howlin: We introduced a referendum to cut judges' pay. I have introduced new financial emergency measures in the public interest to implement that and other reductions, including pensions to further abate those with high public service pensions. It is absolutely wrong to say that we have not been active on that front. It is popular to trot out the same old thing and Deputy McDonald is addicted to...
- Public Sector Reform (13 Jun 2012)
Brendan Howlin: I can rely on Deputy McDonald to keep blowing her trumpet.
- Public Sector Reform (13 Jun 2012)
Brendan Howlin: When the Deputy runs out of truth, she puts words in my mouth. I never said anything about cruel and unusual punishment.
- Public Sector Reform (13 Jun 2012)
Brendan Howlin: The Deputy can shout me down if she wishes. I regard that level of salary as high. That is the reason the Government set it as a ceiling for the Taoiseach. Ministers are paid less than that. In net terms, the Taoiseach earns 44% less than a Taoiseach did in 2008 and Ministers are earning 40% less. They are still on a handsome salary; there is no doubt about that. However, we should...
- Public Sector Reform (13 Jun 2012)
Brendan Howlin: I happen to be the Minister with responsibility for doing this. The Deputy might some time have the good grace to acknowledge their efforts in the national interest.
- Public Sector Staff (13 Jun 2012)
Brendan Howlin: As the Deputy is no doubt aware Ireland is committed under the EU-IMF programme to reducing the overall size of the public service pay bill. Over the past number of years, enhanced numbers, monitoring systems and multi-annual employment frameworks have been put in place. These arrangements will be strengthened to ensure that effect is given to Government decisions on public service numbers,...
- Public Sector Staff (13 Jun 2012)
Brendan Howlin: I understand the Deputy's concern and will try to address it. It is a matter of annoyance that this sector is always a little later than every other in providing information to me. The Deputy might consider having the HSE invited to a meeting of the Joint Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform on this issue, which debate I will listen to with great interest.
- Public Sector Staff (13 Jun 2012)
Brendan Howlin: I am not going to be prescriptive about this because there will be cases where agency workers are the best way of meeting an urgent public demand for services and where, without them, central services might not function. There might be a case for that. Deputy Fleming is looking at the broader picture.
- Public Sector Staff (13 Jun 2012)
Brendan Howlin: The reality is we are faced with reducing the total volume of money we can borrow. The only people who will lend us money have attached conditions to it. We can stick our heads in the ground and pretend that is not a reality. We need to reduce the quantum of money we are borrowing. There are a variety of ways of doing so, including cutting services, making them more efficient and reducing...
- Public Sector Staff (13 Jun 2012)
Brendan Howlin: I take the final part of the Deputy's question quite seriously. We do need to ensure that wherever we are engaging with agency or temporary staff there is a robust business case for it and that it makes economic sense. That is part of the culture which I am trying to inculcate across all State agencies and Departments.
- Legislative Programme (13 Jun 2012)
Brendan Howlin: As the Deputy will be aware the programme for Government contains a commitment to introduce a statutory register of lobbyists and rules governing the conduct of lobbying. In addition, the public service reform programme, launched in November 2011, contains a commitment to prepare legislation to meet these objectives through the publication of legislation early in 2013. My Department is...
- Legislative Programme (13 Jun 2012)
Brendan Howlin: I intend to have a paper published very shortly but the Bill itself will be published early next year.
- Legislative Programme (13 Jun 2012)
Brendan Howlin: I could not agree more with the Deputy. She is aware I published a Private Members' Bill on this subject but it is a complicated issue. Lobbying is legitimate and every citizen and representative group should be able to lobby, whether it is a group representing the unemployed, farmers, single parents or anybody else. The issue is that it must be done in a regulated way that is transparent...
- Sale of State Assets (13 Jun 2012)
Brendan Howlin: Although I am unaware of the particular research to which the Deputy's question refers, and he might indicate what it is as I could not find it, I would not necessarily accept that such findings can be extrapolated either generally or to the particular context of the programme of State asset disposals I announced last February. In dealing with the troika it has been the Government's...
- Sale of State Assets (13 Jun 2012)
Brendan Howlin: If I cannot find the report he mentioned I will get my office to contact the Deputy to ensure the review group takes full account of it. The experience of privatisation is not uniform and it depends on what is privatised and the method used. Our experience in the State of the privatisation of Telecom Ãireann was disastrous in my judgment. It was a wholly wrong decision to privatise a...
- Sale of State Assets (13 Jun 2012)
Brendan Howlin: I agree with the Deputy.