Results 17,601-17,620 of 32,610 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (24 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy's response to this does not surprise me because all he is interested in is division, friction and turmoil.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (24 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: That is the clear agenda of the Deputy and is articulated as such by his views. Let us look at the facts. In 2019, if this agreement is accepted, 58% of those who entered during the new entrant period will benefit from this agreement, and this will increase to 78% by 2020. Underneath those percentage figures is the reality that this is an agreement which will offer benefits to 47,750 of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (24 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: We are unwinding FEMPI. I do not know if the Deputy has missed what we have been doing and what I have been looking to do in successive budgets. The last item of FEMPI legislation I brought in front of the House about a year ago lays out a path whereby the majority of our public servants on low and middle incomes will see the FEMPI measures that were applied to them gradually unwound, and...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (24 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: That is why we have made this change. What the Deputy is not recognising in what he said is that austerity tends to be defined by reducing public expenditure and reducing pay. We are doing the opposite. We are increasing public expenditure and we are affordably increasing pay. Regarding what the Deputy said about retention and staffing difficulties, he is not acknowledging that, in the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Recruitment (24 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I accept fully the recommendations as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and I have answered Deputy Troy's questions. I accept the recommendations and analysis put forward by the Public Service Pay Commission. It stated we have challenges in particular areas. I accept the recommendations it has put forward on what needs to be done from a targeted allowance point of view. My answer...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (24 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 56 to 59, inclusive, together. After the passage of the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017 in the Oireachtas, I accepted an amendment to section 11 of that Bill that required the preparation of a report on new entrant pay. The report was furnished to the Oireachtas in March this year and provided the context within which negotiations on this issue...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (24 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: On the two points Deputy Jonathan O'Brien has made, first this does represent a genuine and comprehensive effort from the Government, and myself, to respond to the issue of new entrant pay. I am honouring the commitment I gave in the public service stability agreement. To give an example of what this means, we can look at the teaching profession. The move I am proposing to make with the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (24 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: To respond to Deputy Troy, I understand the issues pay inequality has caused. I have engaged with the matter through my representatives and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform over the last year. We believe this is a comprehensive proposal that looks to address the issue, and it has been acknowledged as such by some unions. There is a process under way and, as it is under way,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Recruitment (24 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: To date, the Public Service Pay Commission has completed two reports that address recruitment and retention issues in the public service. The first report, which was published on 9 May 2017, primarily focused on the unwinding of the financial emergency measures legislation. The Government asked the commission, in making its findings, to take account of evidence on recruitment and retention...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff Recruitment (24 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: As I indicated in my Budget Statement earlier this month, I will be accepting the Public Service Pay Commission's recommendations on recruitment and retention in the health sector. Of course we are willing to engage with representatives of the health service, while making it very clear that our pay bill and our pay policy are determined through the PSSA. Our public pay figures for next...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Capital Expenditure Programme (24 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: In my role as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform I am responsible for setting the overall capital allocations across Departments and for monitoring monthly expenditure at a Departmental level. Decisions on how and where those allocations are invested by Departments are a matter, in the first instance, for my ministerial colleagues. The ten-year National Development Plan (NDP) has...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Relief Schemes Status (24 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: This scheme is being progressed by Clare County Council (CCC) as the Contracting Authority with funding from the Office of Public Works (OPW). When completed the scheme will provide protection for 74 residential and 10 non-residential properties. The tender competition initiated last year had to be relaunched due to issues surrounding the costs submitted by the preferred tenderer which could...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Bord Gáis Privatisation (24 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I assume that the Deputy is referring to the €400m of proceeds from the sale of Bord Gais Energy that the Government announced, in Budget 2015, would be made available to support the Government's Social Housing Strategy. As the Deputy will be aware, the intention when Bord Gais Energy was sold was that €400m from the proceeds would be made available to establish an...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Relief Schemes Funding (24 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 67 and 77 together. In relation to the immediate short-term works for the town of Mountmellick, the Office of Public Works’ representatives on the steering group have advised Laois County Council that there is the option to apply for minor works funding for interim defences. As I have previously stated, Laois County Council have confirmed that...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Foireann Roinne (24 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Mar fhreagra ar cheist an Teachta Dála, dearbhaím go bhfuil cúigear ball foirne i mo Roinn atá inniúil chun seirbhís a chur ar fáil trí Ghaeilge. Is é seo a haon fán gcéad (1%) d’fhoireann na Roinne. I mo Roinn, ag glacadh le cinéal dá fheidhmeanna agus a chuid oibre, níl léibhéal ard do...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (24 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 69 and 89 together. An issue which has been the subject of discussion by the Community Sector High Level Forum relates to community employment supervisors and assistant supervisorswho have been seeking, through their union representatives, the allocation of Exchequer funding for the provision of a pension scheme. At the April 2017 meeting of the Forum, my...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Drainage Schemes Status (24 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: There are a number of watercourses including the River Erne that flow between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The Office of Public Works (OPW) has a long-standing working relationship with the Department of Infrastructure, Rivers (Dfl Rivers) which is the competent authority for the implementation of the ‘EU Floods Directive’ in Northern Ireland. In 2009, the...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Risk Management (24 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: On 3rd May, 2018, I was delighted to launch 29 Flood Risk Management Plans and €1bn investment in flood risk over the coming decade. These Plans are the output from the Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management (CFRAM) Programme - the largest ever flood risk study carried out in the State. The Plans set out the measures proposed to address the flood risk nationally, and...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Relief Schemes Status (24 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The flood relief scheme at Ballybofey and Stranorlar was not included in the initial phase of 50 flood relief projects, throughout the country, that was announced on the 3rdMay 2018. The proposed scheme is included in the second tranche of these schemes, to be progressed at a later date and within the 10 year investment timeframe announced on 3rd May. However, in order to alleviate the...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Living Wage Implementation (24 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 75 and 88 together. The actual number of employees working in the public sector with salaries below the living wage would require individual level data on the position of staff on each salary scale across the public service and details of the standard working hours per week for each individual grade. This data is not available to the Department. However, an...