Results 16,481-16,500 of 32,864 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

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

Paschal Donohoe: That went to a referendum, however-----

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

Paschal Donohoe: -----which the people passed, and the benefits we receive in sharing that sovereignty are, I think, now well understood and have made a really big difference to the development of our economy and our society.

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

Paschal Donohoe: The fiscal rules allow us to spend taxes we raise in ways we see fit. This is why we are funding, for example, a massive increase in capital investment in public homes for this year.

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

Paschal Donohoe: I do not have that information with me today.

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

Paschal Donohoe: Yes. I am sure we would be able to calculate that for the Senator and I commit to doing so.

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

Paschal Donohoe: It is the provision of that clause that has allowed us to make the recommendations we have made on the additional allowances, which were in turn recommended by the Public Service Pay Commission and which I have already said I will act on. The challenge we have with pay is, first, that there is an issue as to what the legal basis for changing wage rates would be, but the bigger issue we would...

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

Paschal Donohoe: I refer to the expectation that everyone else will see the same wage increases. I am just repeating a key answer to the Senator's question.

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

Paschal Donohoe: The Senator is correct that the number of hours people work or do not work of course feeds into the effect that pay policy can have on anyone. As for the assertion she made about recruitment and retention and her description of it as a crisis, I go back to the learnings and conclusions of the Public Service Pay Commission's report, which I accept and which stated we do not have a generalised...

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

Paschal Donohoe: I disagree with the Senator's claim that our general procurement policies are not working. Where we may differ is I do not think she envisages any role for the private sector in delivering projects, but I do. The tendering process we have used, which has worked a lot of the time for schools, primary care centres and road projects, involves the State tendering for the best value and then...

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

Paschal Donohoe: No. We make projects and tenders available to companies that are able to deliver them at the best value. Value has two different elements, namely, price and the quality of the work done. If it turned out, when procurement processes are reviewed, that an organisation made a project available to a company that was not the cheapest bidder, questions would be raised about whether we could have...

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

Paschal Donohoe: The controls on the vast majority of other projects that we do work. Of course we spend little time debating projects that communities need and which are delivered on time and on budget. I understand why those projects do not get the kind of scrutiny a project with this kind of difficulty deservedly does. I do not believe we have a situation of mass waste on our different projects. Those...

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

Paschal Donohoe: Access to the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund is a policy area for the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation. She has had wide-ranging discussions with the Commission about the various kinds of supports that might be needed.

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

Paschal Donohoe: The provider of the majority of resources in the early days of a disorderly Brexit will have to be the Irish Government because we are fundamentally responsible for looking after our own economy and our own citizens. The main support we will quickly need from the European Commission will be the sufficient policy flexibility to make funding available.

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

Paschal Donohoe: From the discussions I have had with the Commission to date I believe there will be. The Commission's intention is to support Ireland in the various challenges we could face. In regard to what we will do for SMEs, we will do all we can to provide support and help to different parts of our economy in the event of a disorderly Brexit. I do not want to understate just how challenging and...

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

Paschal Donohoe: I know much of that thinking is going on in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, which is involved with the part of our economy that would be most severely affected, including those who work in our food and food export business. It has done a lot of work about how that would happen.

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

Paschal Donohoe: The main provider of support for any economy in a shock like that will be the home Government. We will need flexibility from the European Commission in a number of different areas. It is possible that there will be a need for additional support from it. The main area in which we are most likely to have to deal with that will be the export of food.

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

Paschal Donohoe: All I can do is reassure the Senator that, in those circumstances, we would move with all the speed that we can to provide support to those who are in difficulty. I emphasise that no matter what support we can supply, a disorderly Brexit will pose a significant challenge to the Irish economy. That will mean change for all who are affected by it.

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

Paschal Donohoe: Capital expenditure for this year is up by 24% compared with a year ago. I hope it will become clearer that the decision in budget 2019 to target such a large amount of additional capital expenditure in this year was the right year to choose for the Irish economy.

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

Paschal Donohoe: My understanding is that they are included in the €1.4 billion but I will double-check that for the Chairman.

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

Paschal Donohoe: The Department of Health has outlined other contingencies that could take it up to €1.7 billion.