Results 781-800 of 1,040,498 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Tom Kitt OR speaker:Rose Conway-Walsh OR speaker:Cathal Crowe OR speaker:Paschal Donohoe) in 'Committee meetings'
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Paschal Donohoe: I can deal with that question and I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. Within the documentation members have to hand, we deal with the cost of public pay for 2025, as one would expect. From 2027 onwards, we do not have a wage agreement in place. The current agreement will come to an end at the end of 2026. There is a large degree of provision for public pay in the existing level of...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Rose Conway-Walsh: It is not baked in. Okay.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Paschal Donohoe: The main reason for that is no agreement has been made in that regard. If we were to say how much we expect it to be,-----
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Rose Conway-Walsh: I understand.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Paschal Donohoe: -----it would materially affect negotiations, as the Deputy knows.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Rose Conway-Walsh: I understand. I was wondering if a figure was baked in or is to come out of the to-be-allocated funding. I wish to talk about the health budget and what was done yesterday, which I welcomed. Will the Minister admit at this stage that everybody, including members of this committee, the representatives of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, IFAC, and the CEO of the Department of Health, was...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Paschal Donohoe: Every budget I do receives criticism and focus in respect of different elements of the public service needing more funding. The way in which we handled the health budget for last year was consistent with how it has been done in every other year. In my efforts to deal with the issue now, I have tried to recognise that we have a level of spending within our health service that is far higher...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Rose Conway-Walsh: The difference is that the health sector was deliberately underfunded. I will tell the Minister why I am asking. Since then, we have had a moratorium on the hiring of staff. I cannot understand why there would be a deliberate underfunding because we know that, when there is a moratorium on staff, not only does it add to the pain and distress of patients and staff in the system, it also...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Paschal Donohoe: Respectfully, Deputy, I do not accept the premise that I deliberately underfunded health. First, the use of such language implies a lack of compassion and a lack of recognition of the demands that patients face. I fundamentally do not accept that characterisation and that use of language.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Rose Conway-Walsh: That would mean the CEO-----
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Paschal Donohoe: The further reason I do not accept that premise is that in the funding that was provided for the Department of Health, in the budget decisions that were made and communicated, there was an additional €1.9 billion. How can additional funding of €1.9 billion being provided be described as underfunding? Since 2019 alone, an additional €6 billion has been provided by me for...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Rose Conway-Walsh: Why is there a moratorium in place?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Paschal Donohoe: It is in place because every Department can only hire people it is funded to hire. We do not allow An Garda Síochána to decide how many gardaí it wants in each station. We do not allow our schools to decide how many teachers they want to hire.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Rose Conway-Walsh: The Minister is saying-----
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Paschal Donohoe: Were we to do that, it would create risks for our ability to fund our public services in the future. Moratorium is not the word I would use. All I asked, which I believe was reasonable, was that the health sector would only go ahead with recruitment that is funded and that it has the money to fund. To use the Deputy's word, since the introduction of the moratorium, the number of people...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Rose Conway-Walsh: Why are there so many people waiting on panels? Even in my own county, Mayo University Hospital, Belmullet hospital, and Ballina hospital are all waiting to fill positions but have been told they cannot do so because there is a moratorium in place. The same is true of a whole lot of other areas in primary care.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Paschal Donohoe: We have to ensure the posts that are being filled are funded by the taxpayer. I take great solace from the fact our waiting lists have fallen for the second year in a row. We are one of the few countries in Europe where that is happening. My constituency clinics are as full as the Deputy's with people wanting to get into our hospitals quicker, but surely Deputy Conway-Walsh can understand...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Rose Conway-Walsh: What I do not accept is that the CEO of the health service warned the Minister that there was deliberate underfunding and then it happened. Now the Minister has sought to correct it. I am seeing forced wastage there because we knew from last year this was going to have to be done. It was going to have to be corrected. The Minister sought to correct it yesterday with the €1.5...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Paschal Donohoe: The CEO of the HSE, as he has proven again and again, is a fully independent figure, as he should be. I do not recall him ever using the words "deliberately underfunded".
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Rose Conway-Walsh: What did he use?