Results 18,241-18,260 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin
- Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (13 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: Seven people from outside the civil service, six from the private sector and one from the public sector have been interviewed by the Top Level Appointments Committee (TLAC) in the past four months.
- Written Answers — Fiscal Policy: Fiscal Policy (13 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: The Estimates of Expenditure data have been prepared in electronic form within my Department for a number of years and, I understand, that work on preparing this data on a searchable time-series basis for internal use has been progressing for the past 2 or 3 years in particular. However, the decision to make all of this data accessible to the public was taken soon after the establishment of...
- Written Answers — Proposed Legislation: Proposed Legislation (13 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: The Programme for Government contains commitments to the holding of referenda to amend the Constitution to reverse the effects of the Abbeylara judgement and to protect the right of citizens to communicate in confidence with public representatives. The Government has also announced that it intends to hold a referendum on the right to alter judicial pay. It is my intention to bring to...
- Leaders' Questions (13 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: Is the Deputy against that too?
- Order of Business (13 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: That was in a neighbouring constituency.
- Written Answers — Departmental Properties: Departmental Properties (12 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: Blarney Garda Station suffered fire damage in 2008. Annual rent of â¬26,750 is paid to the landlord of Blarney Garda Station in accordance with the terms of the lease. The portacabin in which the temporary station is housed is owned by the Office of Public Works and rent of â¬7,800 is paid annually for the site on which this is located. Negotiations regarding the purchase of the Garda...
- Written Answers — Job Creation: Job Creation (12 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: The Department of Finance prepared a follow-on paper on this subject entitled "Replacement Rates 2010" which was submitted to the Tax Strategy Group to assist its deliberations in advance of Budget 2011. The paper is available on the Department of Finance website and I have asked my officials to supply you a copy of the paper.
- Written Answers — Job Creation: Job Creation (12 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: My Department will, as part of the process of informing expenditure decisions for Budget 2012, prepare a further analysis of replacement rates and this will be made available in due course.
- Written Answers — Public Sector Pay: Public Sector Pay (12 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: The Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No.2) Act, 2009 provided for the reduction in remuneration of public servants with effect from 1 January 2010. Section 7 of the Act required that the Minister for Finance undertake a review of the operation, effectiveness and impact of this Act, having regard to the overall economic conditions in the State and national competitiveness...
- Written Answers — Public Procurement: Public Procurement (12 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: The Deputy will be aware that late last year my Department issued guidelines addressed to public bodies and aimed at facilitating small and medium-sized enterprises in competing for public procurement opportunities. These guidelines maintained the existing threshold for advertising public works contracts in excess of â¬50,000 on the e-tenders website. The main reasons for setting the...
- Written Answers — Public Sector Pay: Public Sector Pay (12 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: The Implementation Body for the Public Service Agreement 2010 â 2014 published its first progress report on 15th June last. The Body found that, over the twelve months to end March 2011, sustainable Exchequer pay bill savings in the order of â¬289 million had been achieved, driven primarily by a reduction in public service staff numbers of 5,349 over the period. It is assumed the Deputy...
- Written Answers — Commercial Rates: Commercial Rates (12 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: The Valuation Act 2011, which came into effect on 2nd May, 2002, provides for the revaluation of all commercial and industrial property. The Commissioner of Valuation has sole responsibility for all valuation matters under the Valuation Act 2001 which includes the implementation of the revaluation programme on a nationwide basis. The revaluation programme began in November 2005 in the South...
- Written Answers — Consultancy Contracts: Consultancy Contracts (12 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: Three consultants from Deloitte Ireland and Accenture Ireland have been retained on a contract basis to assist my Department in relation to the development of a public sector reform plan. Under the contract, the companies are reimbursed the costs for the consultants on a cost recovery basis. The total cost per month is a maximum of â¬24,195 plus VAT and the contract will last for no more...
- Written Answers — Public Sector Pay: Public Sector Pay (12 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: Recognised schools, whether public or private, are defined as public service bodies within the meaning of, and for the purposes of, the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No 2) Act 2009. Once staff are employed by a public service body they must be subject to the provision of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No 2) Act 2009 irrespective of the...
- Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (7 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 133 and 134 together. The Pensions Insolvency Payment Scheme (PIPS) offers annuities for sale to defined benefit DB schemes where the scheme is winding-up and where the parent company is insolvent. Waterford Crystal trustees now wish to finalise applications for two of the Waterford schemes to enter PIPS. A proposal relating to a number of aspects of these...
- Written Answers — National Lottery Funding: National Lottery Funding (7 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: The surplus generated by the National Lottery is transferred annually to the Exchequer and is applied to part-fund the Exchequer allocations to a specified range of expenditure subheads across various Votes. It is not, a priori, allocated by specific spending headings as such. The amount transferred to the Exchequer from the National Lottery surplus, together with details of the total...
- Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (7 Jul 2011)
Brendan Howlin: Ministers have been working with their Departments over the last number of weeks to complete reviews of all expenditure under their auspices, including in all public service bodies. These Reports are now being submitted to the Steering Committee for evaluation and finalised reports will be presented to the Governmental Economic Management Committee in September. The results of the...
- Order of Business (30 Jun 2011)
Brendan Howlin: If the rota permits. I hope so.
- Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: From the Seanad. (30 Jun 2011)
Brendan Howlin: These are technical amendments and deal with definitions. They provide for the comprehensive definition of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in the Bill, and they also provide for the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 1939 to be referred to as the Act of 1939 throughout the Bill.
- Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: From the Seanad. (30 Jun 2011)
Brendan Howlin: These relate to technical amendments, including the tidying up of text. They cover the substitution of items of text for reasons of specificity and the inclusion of correct references to individual provisions as well as the disapplication of section 7 of the Official Languages Act 2003.