Results 401-420 of 31,112 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach and the committee for the invitation to attend the meeting today to discuss the Supplementary Estimates for 2023. The Revised Estimates for 2023, published last December, set out planned expenditure of €91.1 billion. This funding was put in place to support the delivery of better public services, living standards and infrastructure for the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy very much. The decision regarding the level of ELS is always a really important part of our budget negotiations. I believe that, by and large, the work we do in this regard is accurate. Where we do, of course, have ongoing challenges is to recognise it in how we fund the Department of Health overall and challenges that are there, which I know is a feature of the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: At a number of different times in the process relating to the health budget, the Minister for Health and his departmental officials made the case for more funding, but that is a regular feature of the budgetary process. Every Minister that I engage with makes the case for more funding for the services for which he or she is responsible. If we look at the level of funding the Department of...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: No, it was roughly the same as in previous years in term of the expectations that were there for the Estimates process. I have now done lots of them. The expectations are always really high. It may even be a bit higher this year because, undoubtedly, there has been a change in expectations regarding what the State can deliver and what it can fund in the aftermath of the pandemic....

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I cannot give that guarantee to the committee. It has been an ongoing feature of health budgets in recent years that it has required a supplementary budget, and a substantive one. The level of that supplementary budget has varied over the years. In some years we have been successful in meeting the needs of patients but also containing the Supplementary Estimate to a lower level while in...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I would definitely prefer to be in a position whereby we did not need to use Supplementary Estimates. The best practice that the IMF wants us to adhere to makes an awful lot of sense. We try to be in a position where we can avoid using them, but they are needed. At times they are needed because things happen during the year that we do not expect. They also happen because we now have a...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes, I refer specifically to the non-core funding that we have made available in recent years for the two most recent shocks that we have had. I highlight where we have been with the cost of living due to the inflationary surge, and while we could have expected that it was going to happen, few expected it was going to happen with the speed it did. I would also particularly highlight where...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: As I look forward to next year, when I consider the amount of funding we have allocated to the Department that is responsible for dealing with the cost of migration, I do feel that we are adequately funded there at the moment. Again, that all does depend on migration flows into our country and further policy decisions that the Government will make in the future on how we support the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes, from my perspective and certainly from the perspective of the Minister of the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman. We have moved heaven and earth to make funding available to deal with the needs of those who come to our country seeking refuge. The scale of the Supplementary Estimate we brought in for the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth for well over €1...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes, that is correct. There were Supplementary Estimates for health in six of the seven years between 2017 and 2023. The one year where it did not happen was during the pandemic. It should be state that during that period, there was a very big variance in the scale of the Supplementary Estimates. Outside of the Covid era and the post-Covid era, when it was above €1 billion, it...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: It is €1.04 billion.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: That is correct. Last year, it was €1.39 billion, and this year, it is €1.04 billion.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I would respectfully say “No”. I would do so for two reasons. The first is that the budget process is not just about allocating to Departments on the basis of need, and it is also based on the availability of money and resources. We have to allocate money based on all of the different competing demands that are there. The second point is to reiterate the value of the last...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I disagree. The Deputy has to look at what we are doing with our health budgets beyond what happens in any given year. If he looks at where we have been since 2019, the figures are worth repeating. Excluding and stripping out the value of disability services, because they have now been moved out of the Department of Health to the Department of Children-----

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: No problem. The increase in cash terms is €7.4 billion. That is a very significant increase in the funding that was made available to our health services over a number of years, and it was made available to them because they need that. If we look at where matters stand in terms of healthcare staff and the number of people who work there, we now have 22,000 more people working in our...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: The majority, though not all, of the funding that health got during the pandemic has been kept because we realise the healthcare environment has changed because of the pandemic. I know the Deputy wishes to come in again. I will make one last quick point with regard to shocks and how things can change. One thing that I acknowledge is different to what we thought 2023 would look like is...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I do indeed and I will make two quick points before we go to the vote. I travel to London a bit and I am aware of the strong Irish community that is there. I lived in London myself for many years. I would be very surprised if those living in the heart of London were finding Dublin more expensive, I have to say. I would be very surprised, given the size and the cost of Dublin itself. I...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Supplementary Estimates for 2023: Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform (6 Dec 2023)

Paschal Donohoe: I am grand. I think I was just concluding my response to Deputy Boyd Barrett, so I am all done.