Results 17,921-17,940 of 32,610 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

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

Paschal Donohoe: Chairman, can I just finish/ I will finish off answering the question but I am available and will spend the afternoon here to answer any questions that the Deputy may have. What is compounding the overrun is that our expectations on income that would be coming into our hospitals have not been met. We have a lot of work to do now, which we are in the process of completing, to understand...

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

Paschal Donohoe: I will come on to answer the Deputy's question. The Deputy put a question to me and I am going to answer it. The particular question the Deputy asked me was the degree to which we have already committed higher funding for housing for next year, as part of Project Ireland 2040 and the national development plan. We have committed additional funding for it. I do not have the figure in...

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

Paschal Donohoe: We make assumptions every year on how that Vote is going to perform. The challenge we have is that the overspend is of a level that is higher than we have seen before. Much of that is attributed to what we have seen happening in the acute hospital group. I made decisions on the allocation of funding for that. As the year went on, it was obvious that the demand from those parts of the...

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

Paschal Donohoe: Yes, I am. This is why I am taking care in naming the figure because there is a lot of debate under way and views expressed on what it is. When I put a figure to this committee, it cannot change because that is the figure that then goes into a Supplementary Estimate. One of the reasons I am taking care now in concluding my work with Minister, Deputy Simon Harris, is because what the Deputy...

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

Paschal Donohoe: We are trying to get the balance right because we have commitments overall in recruitment for the year that we want to meet. I want to ensure that any decisions we make for this year do not affect service provision given the great distress that can cause for our vulnerable citizens.

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

Paschal Donohoe: Does the Deputy mean beyond what I have already indicated?

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

Paschal Donohoe: The only reason we have not made a decision beyond that is that it is a consequence of the budgetary process. If we make a decision on the provision of more social and affordable homes and home hubs, we have to make a resource decision on it and that is being done at the moment in the budget. It is not complete yet. If we were to make such a decision, that would then change the housing...

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

Paschal Donohoe: I think there is a balance that we have to get right. What the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council noted about this is interesting. It stated that there is a degree to which, if house-building goes beyond a certain level in a certain period, it can pose a risk to the economy. Against that, there are two things. First, the lack of housing at a certain level also poses challenges for businesses...

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

Paschal Donohoe: It has. The chairman of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, Seamus Coffey, has always been consistent in making the point that we could get to a level of house-building that could itself pose a risk to the economy. I do not believe we are at that point yet. As already stated, the social consequences of the right number of homes being available are immense. I have to respond to that. If we...

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

Paschal Donohoe: My intention is unchanged from what I said in the summer economic statement in respect of seed funding of €1.5 billion and additional funding of €500 million. The engagement I have had with the European Union and the Commission has been very positive.

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

Paschal Donohoe: I think they would be happy with the triggers we have set out in respect of how that funding would be accessed; they currently understand the rationale for it. There is flexibility within the Stability and Growth Pact regarding the kind of conditions the economy could develop that would allow the release of funding. The Commission would see the rainy day fund - I know there are differing...

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

Paschal Donohoe: I will answer the first part of the Deputy's question and I might then ask him to clarify the second part. On the criteria under which funding could be accessed, the terminology they use is "severe economic shocks" or natural disasters. It would be up to us to be able to define what they are. I have proposed that this should be a Cabinet decision but also that it should be subject to...

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

Paschal Donohoe: No. I would have to raise revenue in order to do that.

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

Paschal Donohoe: No.

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

Paschal Donohoe: That is it.

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

Paschal Donohoe: I have been impressed by the cases that have been put forward by both sides of the debate. The protocol on tax strategy group papers is that they are views of the Department rather than of the Minister. They inform choices I, as Minister, make. Clearly, I have also met representatives of the Irish hospitality and accommodation sectors who hold a diametrically opposing view. As a former...

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

Paschal Donohoe: Any changes we make will be sustainable, affordable and in line with the kind of changes we made last year. Deputy Broughan began to outline what I am planning to do with expenditure, but if he looks at what I am doing, he will see that the key driver for our expenditure growth for next year is investment in capital expenditure: hospitals, schools, and homes. I think that the Deputy will...

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

Paschal Donohoe: I will be making reference on budget day to where we are with regard to equality proofing and equality budgeting. I would manage the Deputy's expectations, however, by saying that we will not yet be in a place where we can extend this approach to all Government expenditure. We are working on equality proofing six specific areas: education, business, transport, culture, health, and children...

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

Paschal Donohoe: In response to the Deputy's question, I have should have said that we do our own SWITCH model internally and we look at the distributional consequences of the decisions we make. It is fair to say that this model is not at the level of sophistication of the model published by the ESRI, but the ESRI is the leader in SWITCH analyses, most particularly the recently retired Professor Tim Callan....

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

Paschal Donohoe: I do not think the Deputy is reckless and profligate.