Results 17,101-17,120 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Written Answers — Oireachtas Allowances: Oireachtas Allowances (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: Provision is made for the payment of an annual allowance of 9,500 euro to the chairpersons of each of fourteen Oireachtas Committees and an annual allowance of 3,100 euro to a chairperson of one further committee. The Committees are listed in the Oireachtas (Allowances) (Chairpersons of Oireachtas Committees) Order 2011, Statutory Instrument No. 530 of 2011. The Government has made no...

Written Answers — Voluntary Redundancy Schemes: Voluntary Redundancy Schemes (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: There are no plans at this time for a voluntary redundancy scheme at the Office of Public Works.

Written Answers — Local Loans Fund: Local Loans Fund (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: The Local Loans Fund was created as a mechanism to provide loans to local authorities for various purposes including on-lending to individual house purchasers under the Small Dwellings Acts. Funds were made available to the Local Loans Fund from general Exchequer sources, which would include general Exchequer borrowing. There is no direct link between particular Government bonds and long term...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: I am informed by the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission that the direct costs of the Seanad (Senators' pay and allowances, senators' staff pay, and pay of the Seanad Office officials) come to approximately 9.2 million euro in 2012. In addition to these costs, account has to be taken of the shared indirect costs of the Oireachtas which support the Seanad (such as broadcasting, printing,...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 284 and 293 together. TLAC retirement terms do not apply where the Secretary General has been appointed to an appropriate position elsewhere in the Civil Service or in another area of the Public Service, or is nominated to a post in an international institution. Given the Secretary General's appointment to the Court of Auditors, no enhanced superannuation...

Written Answers — Ministerial Staff: Ministerial Staff (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: As legislation was enacted in July 2011 to establish my Department, I am not in a position to provide relevant details for the period prior to then. Since my appointment as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform on 9 March 2011 the following staff members have been appointed as Special Advisers: Name Title Salary (per annum) Duties Anne Byrne Special Adviser €83,337 Any duties which...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: The Government announced a new National Internship Scheme as part of its Jobs Initiative programme, which was published on 10 May 2011. The National Internship Scheme, known as JobBridge, provides at any one time up to 5,000 work experience placements of 6 or 9 months for unemployed individuals in organisations in the private, public and voluntary sectors. It is a time-limited scheme for a...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: Section 51 of the Bill, as is made clear by the title of Chapter 4 of the Bill in which it appears, applies to all public service pension schemes. The section provides for abatement and for a public service-wide 'cap' of forty years pensionable service. These are standard public service pension provisions in individual schemes but may not, at present, always consistently apply on an...

Written Answers — Public Service Recruitment: Public Service Recruitment (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: The criteria for recruitment of staff to the public service are determined in the context of the Government's budgetary and policy framework. While the primary focus of public service numbers policy will remain the reduction in the public service pay bill, there must also be an opportunity for selective recruitment in the coming years to reinforce the upskilling and reforming of the public...

Written Answers — Departmental Offices: Departmental Offices (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: In response to the Deputy's question, The Office of Public Works is the property manager for the civil service. The Office Public Works have informed me that while it would be normal practice to have a management company involved in the maintenance/management of facilities such as apartment blocks, the position in multi occupancy commercial office buildings is different. If the OPW, or any...

Written Answers — Freedom of Information: Freedom of Information (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: My Department is at an advanced stage in the preparation of the General Scheme of a Bill to give effect to the commitments in the Programme for Government in relation to Freedom of Information. Subject to Government approval I expect to be in a position to introduce the necessary legislative measures to give effect to these commitments over the first half of the year.

Written Answers — Public Service Remuneration: Public Service Remuneration (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: Contemporary data on earnings for public servants is not available to my Department. The closest data currently available within the Department to that sought by the Deputy relates to salary ranges. The estimated breakdown of employee numbers on a whole time equivalent basis (based on a whole time equivalent figure of 300,000) by salary range within the public service (excluding Commercial...

Written Answers — Departmental Agencies: Departmental Agencies (11 Jan 2012)

Brendan Howlin: In relation to my Department the only State agency is An Post National Lottery. This is a Commercial Semi State Body and as such is not financed by the Exchequer. The office of the Ombudsman, State Laboratory, Public Appointments Service, the Office of Public Works, the Valuation Office and the Commission for Public Service Agency have their own individual voted expenditure and are not...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (15 Dec 2011)

Brendan Howlin: Civil servants recruited before April 2004 generally have a minimum pension age of 60 years. This is a key long-standing feature of their pension scheme and I have no plans to stop pensions in payment to retired civil servants under the age of 65 years until those persons reach that age. Civil servants recruited from April 2004 onwards generally have a minimum pension age of 65 years with no...

Written Answers — State Property: State Property (15 Dec 2011)

Brendan Howlin: Under the arrangements entered into with the European Commission, the IMF and the ECB on external financial support for Ireland, the Government has agreed to prepare a draft programme of asset disposals and associated regulatory reforms, by the end of December 2011, for discussion with the Troika in advance of taking final decisions on the programme to be pursued. The draft programme will...

Written Answers — Departmental Properties: Departmental Properties (15 Dec 2011)

Brendan Howlin: The question of putting in place a policy in relation to rents receivable by Government Departments and associated bodies on the lines adopted by NAMA is under consideration in my Department in consultation with potentially affected Departments.

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (15 Dec 2011)

Brendan Howlin: I refer the Deputy to the Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2012 – 2014 (Part IV Estimate of Supply Services, page 155), published recently by my Department and which contains the details requested.

Written Answers — Consultancy Contracts: Consultancy Contracts (15 Dec 2011)

Brendan Howlin: As clarified with the Deputy's office, my Department had no expenditure on public relations consultants in 2011.

Written Answers — Ministerial Appointments: Ministerial Appointments (15 Dec 2011)

Brendan Howlin: In response to the Deputy's question the following table contains details of committees, advisory groups etc. set up since March 2011 and which come under the aegis of my Department. Committees and Advisory Groups Title Function Interdepartmental committee to progress examination of sick leave arrangements The purpose of this committee is to contribute to the development of policy around...

Written Answers — Members Allowances: Members Allowances (15 Dec 2011)

Brendan Howlin: The Party Leader's Allowance is provided for in the Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) Act, 1938, as amended by the Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Act, 2001. The allowance is paid to the parliamentary leader of a qualifying party in relation to expenses arising from the parliamentary activities, including research, of the party. Payments are...