Results 18,221-18,240 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin
- NewERA Proposal (14 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: I do not answer questions that are not my responsibility. I am sure the relevant Minister will answer that. The infrastructure committee of the Cabinet has done a huge amount of work on this issue. It is crystallising proposals now to go to Cabinet on the establishment of the NewERA proposal. The idea is that it is to be a driver of new jobs into the future. That will be announced in due...
- NewERA Proposal (14 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: -----with the troika on the use of resources that are generated from the sale of State assets.
- NewERA Proposal (14 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: Yes.
- NewERA Proposal (14 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: It is not even under my remit.
- NewERA Proposal (14 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: I will not answer any questions that are outside my function and responsibility. It is a matter for the Deputy to table a question to the appropriate Minister. All I have indicated is that the Cabinet sub-committee on infrastructure, of which I am a member, has discussed and is crystallising the NewERA proposals that will come to Cabinet in due course. When they are before Cabinet, it will...
- Departmental Staff (14 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: Within the central government area, the Accounting Officer is usually the Secretary General or Civil Service head of a Department or office to whom the Minister for Finance has assigned the responsibility for preparing the annual appropriation account for Votes under his or her aegis. In addition to preparing the appropriation accounts, Accounting Officers are responsible for a range of...
- Consultancy Contracts (14 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: The Government is intent on bringing about real and lasting public service reform and detailed implementation plans are being developed by my Department that will encompass the commitments to public service reform in the programme for Government. Three consultants from Deloitte Ireland and Accenture Ireland have been retained on a contract basis to assist my Department in regard to the...
- Consultancy Contracts (14 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: No. The Deputy is absolutely wrong. I do not know whether he got the same message on the doorsteps as I got during the last general election campaign. For the first time in my political career, I noted that the demand and clamour for fundamental reform was almost as pronounced as the dismay over our economic collapse. People want fundamental institutional reform of politics, public...
- Consultancy Contracts (14 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: The vast majority of public sector workers earn nothing like the salaries to which the Deputy is referring, as he knows. Only a relatively small number of people earn big salaries in the public service. The first thing I did when I became Minister was reduce them considerably, by up to 30% and 40% in some instances. This is important but it is not the most important factor. It does not...
- Departmental Expenditure (14 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 10, 40 and 47 together. The task of settling the spending Estimates for 2012 will take place after the Government has considered the budget strategy memorandum from the Minister for Finance and a memorandum from me on the results of the ongoing comprehensive review of expenditure and the capital review. The overall target figure for the fiscal adjustment will...
- Departmental Expenditure (14 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: The Deputy will be aware that in the last published quarterly review associated with the memorandum of understanding, indicative figures were published. Those figures stand but there is an understanding that it will be up to the Government to negotiate within the parameters set. The parameter figure is â¬3.6 billion. The other relevant figure is the deficit target for next year, which is...
- Departmental Expenditure (14 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: Yes.
- Departmental Expenditure (14 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: It is an adjustment, not savings.
- Departmental Expenditure (14 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: The Deputy is very experienced and I put weight to his suggestions. The trajectory we are on, which we must achieve and which we are determined to achieve, is a 3% deficit by 2015. It is an incremental process and the incremental target we have set is 8.6% next year. The indications were that an adjustment of approximately â¬3.6 billion would achieve this. Given that there are so many...
- Departmental Expenditure (14 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: The analysis coming from the Deputy opposite is invariably the same. I debated this with her in advance of the election. She is great at analysing the failure of somebody else's policy but a bit weak on offering an alternative. The truth is we need to get control of our own fiscal destiny. The only way to do this is to balance our budget. We cannot continue to borrow, as we are, â¬18...
- Departmental Expenditure (14 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: We are borrowing money; we are borrowing it from the Troika, from the EU and the IMF and the European system of financial supervisors, ESFS, process-----
- Departmental Expenditure (14 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: We are borrowing it at an affordable rate. The markets are unaffordable to us, the Deputy is right. It is disappointing that one rating agency has made a decision but, as one can see from the reaction of the German Chancellor and the Commission they do not agree with it. We must stick to our purpose, which is not to despair or give the counsel of despair or say we will collapse our own...
- Order of Business (14 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: Only four months ago.
- Order of Business (14 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: What is the Deputy's point?
- Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (13 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: The following issues of European relevance fall under my responsibility: * Policy development, management and implementation of Ireland's EU Structural Funds Programmes under the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) including co-ordination of all EU Funds and promoting Ireland's interest in the debate on future EU Cohesion policy; * Representation of Ireland in eGovernment/ICT...