Results 16,461-16,480 of 32,864 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

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

Paschal Donohoe: The reason they are contingencies is that we do not yet have clarity on what the final cost will be. How each of those contingencies materialises will depend on whether a procurement process is under way in relation to it. I am pretty certain that as a consequence of all the scrutiny that now understandably surrounds this project, great efforts will be made to ensure that any confusion or...

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

Paschal Donohoe: No, that process will still be led by the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board.

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

Paschal Donohoe: That is a hypothetical question-----

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

Paschal Donohoe: -----about what would happen if I was doing another job. My hands are full doing the job I have at the moment. It would not be fair of me to comment on what I might do or say if I was in another situation. The Minister, Deputy Harris, was dealing with an exceptionally difficult situation, one of many that he has to deal with as Minister for Health. He dealt with this in the best way that...

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

Paschal Donohoe: The Minister, Deputy Harris, has acknowledged that there are many aspects of this issue that have concerned him. That is one of the reasons a review of it is under way. I will not comment on what I might have done in those circumstances.

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

Paschal Donohoe: We have already made clear that in the absence of an agreement we will not be putting those checks in place at the Border. In fairness to the European Commission and the British Government, they have all acknowledged their commitment to that objective as well. Regarding checks that are likely to develop, I have already said in dealing with questions Deputy Doherty put to me that if the UK...

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

Paschal Donohoe: The Minister is repeating a commitment that the Government will not impose any checks on the Border in the event of any sort of Brexit.

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

Paschal Donohoe: I have answered this question in this committee already but I am happy to say it again. The Irish Government has made clear that we will not be putting checks or procedures in place on our Border. The reasons for that transcend the discussion we are having about economics or trade policy. I know the consequences of doing that would stretch all over our island and deeply affect the stability...

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

Paschal Donohoe: The European Commission has been at the forefront of a process of trying to avoid those checks taking place in the first place.

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

Paschal Donohoe: Let me deal with that by going back to the questions from the Deputy's colleagues which I have dealt with. As I said in an interview earlier in the week, in that kind of scenario we would have to engage in a further negotiation, to which there would be three parties, namely, Ireland, the European Commission and the United Kingdom, on how the consequences of a disorderly Brexit would be...

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

Paschal Donohoe: Our commitment and objective of ensuring that would not change in that scenario.

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

Paschal Donohoe: That is the second hypothetical question the Deputy has put to me now.

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

Paschal Donohoe: Hypothetical situations are sometimes the most difficult to manage. As I said, we will not be part of putting in place hard infrastructure on our island on the Border between North and South, nor is that our objective. The Commission, to which the Deputy referred, has been at the forefront of trying to avoid that happening. The challenge it would face would be in dealing with the...

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

Paschal Donohoe: I imagine there are citizens working in many different parts of the economy who now understand the effects Brexit will have on all of our prospects. If members of the nursing unions and nurses - I always say I have the height of respect for the work nurses do - feel that Brexit will affect their prospects, that is also the case with many others. Brexit will decisively shape decisions that...

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

Paschal Donohoe: I acknowledge and understand the support nurses have and we are all aware of the reasons for that support. I understand how popular their cause is at the moment because of the care they give and the professionalism they show at all times. While the Deputy is able to talk about the nurses in isolation, I am not. If a move is made in one part of our Civil Service and public service, every...

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

Paschal Donohoe: As the Taoiseach said, at a certain point a way will be found to solve this issue. I have much experience of how these issues have developed in the past. I have always seen a way for them to be resolved. I expect the same will happen here. I know this is not a concern for the Deputy because he wants to see all public servants have their wages increased; he and I have debated this...

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

Paschal Donohoe: Let us consider each of the claims the Deputy has made. The Apple money is not our money.

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

Paschal Donohoe: Given the charges and what we think we have learned from the past about not spending money we ultimately might not have, and if we were to lose the case, many other countries across the European Union and the world would come looking for that €14 billion. The Deputy knows it is not open to me to spend it because he understands what would happen in the event of our losing the case. ...

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

Paschal Donohoe: -----are easy to make. Of course, across the same period no depositor lost any money either. I am sure the Deputy would have been concerned if during the crisis period, people who had money in banks, ordinary depositors, had lost money as well. In every one of these cases what the Deputy is referring to is once-off amounts of money that, ultimately, he is saying should be used to fund...

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

Paschal Donohoe: Arguments about sovereignty are articulated much of the time in respect of different issues in which I am involved. I hear them being raised as live issues in respect of climate change, for example. I would not for a moment make the case that they are just confined to issues of big business. I think the reason one hears sovereignty talked about the most regarding taxation is that it is...