Results 16,941-16,960 of 32,602 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Defence Forces Remuneration (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: As Deputy Burton will be aware, and Deputy Daly also has a lot of experience in this area, the way in which we manage public sector wage and allowance policy is via a collective agreement. Any change that is made or considered for the Defence Forces, therefore, has immediate consequences for the rest of those who work in the public and civil services, as noted in the debate a short time ago...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Gender Equality (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I take the Deputy's point. We can point to progress but I am equally clear that we must make more progress. I am encouraged that, whether it is the Department of Finance or of Public Expenditure and Reform, I can see the changes to which I referred happening at assistant principal or principal officer level. At budget time in the Revenue Commissioners, for example, I could see how young...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Gender Equality (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I accept the Deputy's point about the need for diversity at political and senior business levels in Ireland. However, I wish that the appreciation for the role played by then-Tánaiste, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, had been more evident during the period when many people were calling for her to go. It would have been nice to hear the kind of appreciation for diversity offered by the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Gender Equality (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Deputy Burton may be aware that gender equality and the gender pay gap in Ireland have been examined by the European Commission, particularly in 2014 when it compared our figures with those of the EU 27. We then stood at a 13.9% pay gap compared with the EU 27 average of 16.7%. It is no comfort that we were lower than the EU average. It is a pay gap that should be got rid of and the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: EU Funding (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 61 and 191 together. As I am sure Deputies will agree, the EU-funded INTERREG and PEACE programmes continue to act as important drivers of regional development for the Border region of Ireland and for Northern Ireland.  INTERREG programmes funded by the EU exist to address the challenges encountered by border regions.  In the case of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: EU Funding (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Some 83% of the PEACE IV programme, of €270 million, is committed with 88 projects approved for funding. These include groups of projects under the local authority PEACE action plans, and projects in the area of shared education and giving additional support to children and young people. I have visited some of these projects and am aware of how valuable they are. Under the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Development Plan (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: There was a change of €33 million in the total capital allocation for 2019. The overall capital allocation for Project Ireland 2040 rose by that amount, which is a change of 0.5%. Over the period 2019 to 2022, the period for which we have the clearest budgetary ceilings, there was an overall change of €290 million, which is a 0.3% change in an upward direction. On the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Development Plan (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The main reason for those changes is what is happening in the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. Of the total amount of increased allocation in that period, that Department accounts for well over €200 million and, therefore, it is the main reason for the increase in the figure over the next three year period. No other adjustments will be made in other Departments...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Gender Equality (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: We have made significant progress on gender equality in the Civil Service, which is my area of direct responsibility. The overall number of civil servants at the end of the third quarter of 2018 was 38,736, of whom 21,954 were female and 16,782 were male. I have provided a breakdown by grade within the Civil Service for the Deputy. The proportion of females at the levels of Secretary...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Expenditure (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Managing the delivery of public services within allocations forms a key part of the responsibilities of every Minister and Department. My Department is in regular contact with all other Departments and offices to ensure that expenditure is being managed within the overall budgetary parameters. The drawdown of funds from the Exchequer is reported on each month against expenditure...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Expenditure (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The reality is that the expenditure ceilings the Deputy is referring to are both negotiated ceilings and budgetary ceilings. Budgetary ceilings, and the figures we set for 2019 and beyond, are a consequence of Government making decisions regarding where resources need to be allocated, overlaid with the inevitable political negotiation that happens, particularly in late September and early...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Expenditure (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The controls we have work for nearly all Departments most of the time. The key issue we have had has been in respect of the Department of Health. I have outlined the way I am looking to handle the matter differently in 2019. I make the point, however, that myself and the Minister, Deputy Harris, were successful last year in significantly reducing the need for a Supplementary Estimate. We...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Development Plan (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Public capital investment has a critical role to play in ensuring a whole of Government implementation of the new national planning framework. This is why the new national development plan was fully aligned with the national planning framework, all of which combined to deliver Project Ireland 2040. Project Ireland 2040 moves beyond the approach of the past, which saw public...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Broadband Plan Funding (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: On the first question I do not have the exact amount of money the European Investment Bank has committed to the national broadband plan, but I will get the information and send it on to the Deputy. On the second question, as I said if the national broadband plan needs additional funding within the national development plan, that funding could only be provided in one of two ways: either...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The status of pay negotiations is that we are in the first year of a three year collective agreement to progressively dismantle emergency legislation, giving individual public servants benefits of between 7.4% and 6.2%, or up to 10% for new entrants hired after 2012. Unwinding the emergency legislation has been a priority for the Government and we have ring-fenced substantial resources to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: On recruitment, between October 2013 and October 2018, the number of nurses and midwives has increased by 10%, or 3,300 full-time equivalents. Since 2011 alone, 10,000 new entrants have joined as nurses and midwives. Significant recruitment has taken place in both those areas in recent years. At this point having negotiated an agreement in good faith with all our public and civil servants,...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: We have a mode and a format for engagement with the nursing unions, which is the oversight committee of the Public Service Stability Agreement. Officials from my Department are key participants within the committee. Through that we have the opportunity to engage directly, for example, with the nursing unions, on any issue that pertains to the Public Service Stability Agreement. I again...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Broadband Plan Funding (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Under the public spending code, value for money reviews are conducted on existing programmes of expenditure and are targeted at areas of significant expenditure where there is the greatest potential for them to add value and influence policy developments. These are ex post evaluations. The Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment is the sponsoring agency for the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Broadband Plan Funding (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy is correct regarding how much money is currently profiled for this in the NDP. Under it, I acknowledge that depending on the decision the Government makes, the amount that might be needed for the national broadband plan could increase. We have to make a decision in that respect in the coming period. If additional funding is put in to fund the NBP, it can come from two...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2018: Second Stage (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Acting Chairman and apologise to him and to the other Members for being late. I was replying to parliamentary questions to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, which ran over time. I am very pleased to be here with Senators and to bring the Finance Bill to the Upper House. In many ways this Bill reflects the progress we have made as a country and an economy but it...