Results 21-40 of 13,375 for speaker:Pat Rabbitte

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Product Labelling (8 Dec 2015)

Pat Rabbitte: 605. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he is aware that there is inadequate enforcement of what is known as the Dim2/Erp legislation in respect of the import and sales of non-compliant LED lamps; his plans to improve enforcement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44095/15]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (3 Dec 2015)

Pat Rabbitte: I have a couple of questions. I thank Professor McHale and his colleagues for being here. I agree with Deputy Tóibín that the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has done the State some service. It has certainly done some service if it has converted to Sinn Féin to the views to which I have been listening for the last 12 or 15 minutes. I calculated recently that some of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (3 Dec 2015)

Pat Rabbitte: -----would involve a spend of approximately €11 billion in modest terms. I welcome the influence of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council purely for that contribution alone. Is Professor McHale not being a bit severe? When Professor McHale says the unplanned expenditure at the end of 2015 echoes the last boom, when property-related revenues funded large increases in spending, I am not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (3 Dec 2015)

Pat Rabbitte: Is it a fair parallel? Building 95,000 houses for the population, as we were doing at the time, was manifestly unwise but only a policy of devastation would cause international companies to withdraw, or to retrench dramatically, causing something similar to what happened in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Is it fair to raise the fear that something such as this could happen to the export sector?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (3 Dec 2015)

Pat Rabbitte: Is the professor saying some in the international sector might be declaring more tax than they would otherwise do in preparation for the implementation of the BEPS? Does implementation of the BEPS threaten the quantum of corporation tax we are likely to see in the future?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (3 Dec 2015)

Pat Rabbitte: If the professor was not chairman of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council but spoke simply as a professional economist, would he give any credence at all to the strains put on the system in the seven years we have been through? I refer, in particular, to the health sector and the cases my eminent colleagues raise every day in the Dáil in the course of looking for more expenditure. Does he...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (3 Dec 2015)

Pat Rabbitte: Professor McHale made reference to the extra spending at the end of 2015, saying we could have reduced the deficit by a further 0.5% of GDP had it not taken place, but is it not remarkable that we are forecasting the figures we are forecasting for the deficit? The latest Department of Finance figure is somewhat below what the professor suggested it would be - 1.7% at the end of the year. Is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (3 Dec 2015)

Pat Rabbitte: When this Government was formed all of the emphasis and all of the lecturing to it concerned the deficit. The deficit was the Holy Grail we had to aim for at the end of the lifetime of the Government and further down the line into 2018. I doubt that any economist reasonably could have forecast that we would be heading into the end of 2016 with a balanced budget, arguably, given the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (3 Dec 2015)

Pat Rabbitte: I have a final question. Is the witness articulating his conviction about the analysis he is making about the dangers of procyclical budgeting and so forth or is he expressing his satisfaction with the fiscal rules as they have been laid down for us?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on the Department of the Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 6 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor (Supplementary) (2 Dec 2015)

Pat Rabbitte: I mean no disrespect when I say that this is a fairly arcane area as far as parliamentarians are concerned. We would not really be in a position to evaluate or assess the information we get at Estimate time about the Office of the Chief State Solicitor. It is very difficult to form a view on it. There have been celebrated cases in the past fitting into the first category mentioned by the...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on the Department of the Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 6 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor (Supplementary) (2 Dec 2015)

Pat Rabbitte: Is it anticipated that the Court of Appeal will abbreviate the time it takes to crystallise a case?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on the Department of the Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 6 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor (Supplementary) (2 Dec 2015)

Pat Rabbitte: The assumption then is that the Supreme Court waiting time will be greatly foreshortened under the new arrangement.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on the Department of the Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 6 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor (Supplementary) (2 Dec 2015)

Pat Rabbitte: Has the staffing level at the office changed over the last seven years?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Supplementary)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Supplementary) (2 Dec 2015)

Pat Rabbitte: They are brown bread.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Supplementary)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Supplementary) (2 Dec 2015)

Pat Rabbitte: It will push up the quality of the intake.

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Garda Inspectorate Reports (2 Dec 2015)

Pat Rabbitte: 99. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if she has recently taken a report from the Garda Síochána Inspectorate; if she will publish it; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43144/15]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (1 Dec 2015)

Pat Rabbitte: Deputy Tóibín has overshot the runway.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (1 Dec 2015)

Pat Rabbitte: It is not quite right of Deputy Tóibín to say that the Government narrowed the tax base. I ask the Minister whether it is in fact the case that the Government has broadened the tax base. The takings from USC will be somewhat less for obvious reasons.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (1 Dec 2015)

Pat Rabbitte: I think Deputy Tóibín agrees with that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (1 Dec 2015)

Pat Rabbitte: The Minister referred to the BEPS reports. ECOFIN has done its business on that now. Is that it? ECOFIN has approved the reports and the matter now goes to the G20. Is that right?