Results 17,741-17,760 of 33,392 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

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...

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

Paschal Donohoe: I thank Senators for their contributions. I am conscious that the Finance Bill is a key part of budget 2019 but it must also be seen in the context of the expenditure decisions I announced on 9 October. I wish to address our current environment, refer to other budget decisions to put the Bill into a different light and respond to the points raised by Senators. Our economy is doing well on...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Infrastructure and Capital Investment Programme (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: As I have informed the Deputy in response to similar previous questions, 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...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: There is no formal mechanism to include recipients of public service pensions within the industrial relations framework and pay determination processes in the public service. However, I can inform the Deputy that the interests and concerns of public service pensioners have been regularly articulated in meetings between the Alliance of Retired Public Servants and my Department. This...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Office of Public Works (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: As the question refers to matters which would be commercially sensitive, the Office of Public Works is unable to comment on any such plans.  Details of properties which are purchased for State organisations are normally made public when purchases have been completed. Generally when OPW is seeking to acquire a property or site it will trawl the market and advertise publicly. However,...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Funding (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The 2014-2020 EU-funded PEACE and INTERREG programmes will invest over half a billion euros in the border region of Ireland and Northern Ireland over the course of the programming period.  The programmes are managed by the Special EU Programmes Body, one of the North South implementation bodies established under the Good Friday Agreement.  My Department is joint sponsor...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Properties (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The Office of Public Works manage owned and leased properties held by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and the Commissioners of Public Works. In accordance with DPER Circular 17/2016 – Policy for Property Acquisition and for the Disposal of Surplus Property the OPW keeps this portfolio of properties under regular review to identify property needs and properties that...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Cross-Border Projects (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The EU ‘Floods’ Directive 2007, requires the Member States to undertake a Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment to identify the areas of potentially significant flood risk within their territories, to prepare maps of the flood hazard and risk for these areas, and then to prepare Flood Risk Management Plans setting out measures aimed at managing and reducing the flood risk within...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Relief Schemes Status (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I am advised by the Commissioners of Public Works that the Baile Mhúirne and Ballymakeera Flood Relief scheme is currently at outline design stage, and the preferred options for the scheme are in the process of being finalised. The River Sullane has a history of freshwater pearl mussels, which have protected status as an Annex II listed species under the EU Habitats Directive. An...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Legislative Measures (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy will be aware, the Public Service Superannuation (Age of Retirement) Bill 2018, which was published on 9 July, passed all stages in the Seanad on 17 July. It passed Second Stage in the Dail on 7 November and is provisionally scheduled for Committee Stage in the Dail on 11 December.  While ultimately, the scheduling of the Bill in the Dail is a matter for...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Office of Government Procurement (27 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: As Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, I have responsibility for the formulation of policy, and the dissemination of best practice and guidance in public procurement.  The Capital Works Management Framework, (CWMF), managed by the Office of Government Procurement, provides the necessary tools for Contracting Authorities to ensure adequate supervision and oversight on construction...