Results 16,401-16,420 of 32,864 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Pension Provisions (5 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The Government have approved public service pension increases under the pension increase policy adopted for the period to end-2020 as part of the Public Service Stability Agreement 2018-2020 (PSSA) . The principle of pay parity underlies this pension increase policy. This means that the pay increases agreed as part of the PSSA, and legislated for in the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Pension Provisions (5 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I assume that the Deputy is referring to any outstanding contributions that may be owing with respect to an individual’s membership of a public service Spouses' and Children’s Contributory Pension Scheme, which I understand are deducted from the pension lump sum at point of retirement. My information is that individuals should qualify for tax relief in respect of such...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Prevention Measures (5 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The Office of Public Works (OPW) is responsible for the maintenance of Arterial Drainage Schemes and catchment drainage schemes designated under the Arterial Drainage Acts of 1945 and 1995. Local authorities have responsibility for the maintenance of Drainage Districts designated under the same Arterial Drainage Acts. Local flooding issues are a matter, in the first instance, for each Local...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Civil Service Management (5 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The Civil Service Employee Assistance Service (CSEAS) provides support to civil servants experiencing workplace and personal difficulties. This includes supporting individuals who have experienced domestic and gender based violence. Information on the CSEAS (information leaflets, and website etc) advises that the CSEAS provides one-to-one support and guidance in the areas of relationships,...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: National Children's Hospital Expenditure (5 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I've been involved in a number of discussions around the Children’s Hospital over the last few years. The first full assessment of the cost overrun and the reasons for it was 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 met with the...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: EU Funding (5 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Following the publication of the Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF) on 02 May 2018, the Commission published their Cohesion Policy Legislative package on 29 May, along with initial indicative allocations of structural and cohesion fund support for each Member State. In Ireland’s case this allocated was estimated to be €1.088 billion. However, it should be noted that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach (5 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the committee for the invitation to be here to discuss Brexit preparations and the recent European Commission communication entitled, Towards a more efficient and democratic decision making in EU tax policy. In relation to Brexit, the Government remains firmly of the view that the only way to ensure an orderly withdrawal of the United Kingdom is to ratify the withdrawal agreement, as...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach (5 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I am happy to be guided by questions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach (5 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes. When I was publishing these forecasts last week I emphasised that they were all based on economic forecasts drawing on information from the UK. There are two specific issues that we cannot take account of, the first of which is the second round effects on consumer and investor confidence, to which Deputy McGrath alluded. As against that, one positive that we cannot take account of -...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach (5 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes, that is based on the information currently available to me. As we move forward, I will use further information and models that emerge from the UK to update the forecasts again when I provide the stability programme update in April. To make a final point, if the Deputy is asking me to forecast the effect of a recession in the UK on the Irish economy, we have ample experience of those...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach (5 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: What will come from me next will be the stability programme update, which will be shared with the Oireachtas. The Department of Finance is also producing work in conjunction with the ESRI that also will be published. I believe this work is on track to be completed by the end of the first quarter of this year. I want to share the information that is available to me now.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach (5 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: That is correct.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach (5 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The Chairman of the Revenue Commissioners gave an update of where we are with the preparation of the implementation of customs policy if we got into a disorderly Brexit scenario. Representatives and officials-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach (5 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I believe the Chairman of the Revenue Commissioners gave the committee an update regarding what we are planning for and what is part of scenarios we are willing to implement concerning how we would manage things on an east-west point of view that I am happy to go through again. There is engagement. The Commission is here at the moment and is discussing how we would implement and deal with...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach (5 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The Commission has said publicly, and this has been reiterated by the President of the Commission, President Juncker, that it does not want to see the development of a hard border on the island of Ireland. As the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and I have said, were a disorderly event to take place, we would then have to engage in a period of negotiation and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach (5 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: It came to pass because we had a separate governance structure for the national children's hospital which was independently chaired. That led to a lot of engagement within the board and with the Department of Health and HSE on the issue. That engagement took place, as the Minister for Health has confirmed, from the end of August through September and October and in early November I became...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach (5 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: In terms of managing this issue, if the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, had come to me earlier on the matter, I would have asked him to quantify the scale of the issue and to set out what could be done to reduce it further. This was what he was doing throughout that period. If I had been aware of it at an earlier point, I would have asked him to take the actions he was undertaking...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach (5 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The Minister for Health has acknowledged that the way in which this issue developed and its consequences for the national children's hospital were significant. I was then in the position of asking whether we should go ahead with the project or not. As I look back at how this developed, the fact that we had such an independent governance structure engaged in trying to resolve this issue...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach (5 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The moment we were alerted of the issue, the scale of it was fully understood. That enabled a lot of work to be done from early November into December in dealing with the matter.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach (5 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: It would have been helpful to have been aware of this issue as it was developing. The Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, was doing what he should have been doing across the period, which is to understand the scale of the issue and be in a position to fully brief Government once he was confident of the matter, which he did. He came to me.