Results 17,901-17,920 of 32,610 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (27 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The detailed costings sought in this request would require detailed 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. Pay band data available to the Department indicates that some 96% of all public service staff are on salary points in...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Correspondence (27 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy will now be aware, a reply to your correspondence issued on Monday 24th September. The delay in replying to the Deputy is regretted. It was an administrative oversight, recognising the time of year where the primary focus of the department has been on the preparation for the forthcoming Budget.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Appointments Service (27 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The Public Appointments Service (PAS), an independent statutory recruitment body, advertised a competition for Investigation Officers in the Protected Disclosure Unit, Garda Ombudsman Commission in July 2017. Following the selection process conducted by PAS a panel of candidates was formed. Should any of these candidates come under consideration for a position they are informed of this and...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Budget 2019 (27 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 82 and 83 together. As outlined in the August 2018 Fiscal Monitor published by the Department of Finance, overall gross voted expenditure to the end of August 2018 was €39,449 million. This was €152 million, or 0.4 per cent, below profile and €2,874 million, or 7.9 per cent, higher than expenditure for the same period in 2017. Gross...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (27 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I refer the deputy to my previous response to PQ 35780/18.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the committee for the invitation to the meeting to discuss the forthcoming budget and I welcome the contributions members will make in this regard. I also thank the committee for its recent report which I had an opportunity to read in the last few days. The budget will be presented to the Houses of the Oireachtas on Tuesday, 9 October next. Over recent months, many elements of our...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The overspend at the end of August is €343 million on the HSE subheads. I want to reaffirm to the Deputy what I said before the summer, which is that a Supplementary Estimate for the health Vote will be needed. As for what the final figure will be, I am still working with the Department of Health to clarify the final figure because it will be a crucial input into my budgetary...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: There are many different figures moving around regarding what it could be. What I am very conscious of, as Minister for Finance, is that once I say what the figure is, that is the figure on which I am accountable to the Oireachtas and that is the figure against which a Supplementary Estimate will be brought in. I am taking care with regard to indicating what that figure is because I am...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: According to the figures to date, a shock in the form of either a very hard or disorderly Brexit would be equivalent to three quarters of a point to a full point of national income growth over a period. My expectation is that if we were faced with a disorderly Brexit, that shock would materialise over the year as opposed to over a number of years. Regarding the impact of that on the budget...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I can only give the Deputy my judgment because this is an event, were it to occur, that would clearly involve many unknowns. What we have said in the past is that there would be an impact of three quarters of a point to a point. In terms of what impact that would have on our budgetary framework, the answer is that it would be significant.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I think it is likely that our economy would still grow but it would be at a significantly lower rate. In terms of what we said and the medium-term impact of a shock like that occurring, it could be worth three to three and a half growth points over the years afterwards. If that was to occur, it would be a significant shock for our economy. To answer the Deputy's question regarding what...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: If there is any change, I expect that it will be around the margins. I am not expecting a big increase. Were I to expect a huge change in the budgetary framework, not only would it be apparent to all members in terms of the growth forecast we will publish, I would be informing colleagues of it so it will be a shift around the margin if that even occurs.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: That is one of the matters on which I am working with the Department of Health because the key issue is not just the magnitude of any potential overrun but how much of that goes into the base. My experience in dealing with matters such as these in health expenditure is that the majority of this expenditure does go into the base.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: A bit less at times. One of the variables tends to be what happens with regard to the State Claims Agency or capital expenditure. It is a majority of that expenditure but that is a key element with regard to what impacts my budget 2019 calculations.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: That is correct. That is why I must put so much focus on understanding how much of that expenditure will be repeated into 2019 but the framework outlined by the Deputy is correct.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: No. I would look to the end of the year regarding what the revised and final expenditure figure would be for 2018 and then decide how much of the additional expenditure of that goes into the base for 2019 and how much of that is going to be covered by tax revenue, about which I can make a determination that is likely to continue into 2019. The delta between the two will influence the degree...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: It could influence other budgetary choices that I make as well. I have always said there are choices I can make on the overall stance for the budget that might require tax changes elsewhere.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes, this is a matter that I will be looking at in the next couple of days because we are now seeing, across a number of tax headings, a really strong performance. We have seen this in taxes in the labour market and we are also seeing it in corporation tax. I will have to make an adjudication next week as to what degree any of that is sustainable for 2019. That will determine how much of...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: In my experience the small questions are sometimes the trickiest. If the Deputy puts them together I am not sure it will make it any easier for me.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: In dealing with the Deputy's first question on whether I knowingly underfund the health service, the answer is no. I made decisions which I take responsibility for and that I worked on with the Department of Health. What is an issue for us is the fact that we are seeing overspends developing in both pay and non-pay areas. Much of this is concentrated in our acute hospital groups.