Results 781-800 of 1,039,622 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Ray Butler OR speaker:Paschal Donohoe OR speaker:John Paul Phelan OR speaker:Mick Barry) in 'Committee meetings'

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

Paschal Donohoe: He made the case that he wants more money, as does every leader of every State body and agency and as does everybody who appears before an Oireachtas committee. They say they acknowledge what they have but they will always make the case for more. To every charge that is made of deliberate underfunding on my behalf, including by the Deputy, I simply point to the fact that €1.9 billion...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: We will indeed.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: The ESRI and my Department have published independent data showing we have been successful in protecting those on lower incomes from the effects of inflation, in particular through a combination of one-off measures and core social welfare increases. I did not say in any presentation that we do not have people who are still living in situations of low income. I did not deny for a moment the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: Will I take this as it may be a bit more relevant to my Department?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: The Minister, Deputy Chambers, and I are aware of this issue of people who, late in life, find themselves in a position where they do not own their own home, do not qualify for social and affordable housing, and rent is going up or maybe their rental accommodation is uncertain. With regard to what we are doing in relation to it, this is why funding we are making available to the Department...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: I take the Deputy's point but I know the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is aiming to do that. The plans I would be most familiar with in Dublin City Council, and the mix of homes being built by the city council, are predominantly focused on one- and two-bedroom units. In many cases the focus is on one-bedroom units to provide support for people who need the kind of accommodation the Deputy...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: This is why existing level of service, ELS, funding is going up by so much. It is one of the big reasons. It is very clear to me that the demographic transition, which we used to think about being in the medium term or happening at some point in the future, is happening now and in many different ways. It is happening in our health service and in our schools. We do ELS forecasts and ask...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: I did not say they would be ring-fenced-----

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: I did not say they will be ring-fenced because when we start ring-fencing funding for one group of people, then we are always faced with demands to ring-fence funding for other groups of people. The way in which we try to deal with the Deputy's point, which is an important one, is through the ELS funding that is made available to different Departments and we have a forecast for what that...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: The €24.2 billion refers to where we are with current funding and does not take any account of where we are with capital funding. Regarding the national children's hospital, I am confident that despite the many difficulties we have had with that project and the many issues that we acknowledge we need to handle in a different way, when that hospital is open and running it will make a...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes, but sure I said in my answer to the Deputy that I accepted we had to learn lessons from it. On the other hand, now that we publish a cost span for huge projects, we receive commentary in respect of their cost being too big. We acknowledged what went wrong with the national children's hospital project and we have learned to fix it. While I deeply regret some of the issues that happened...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: If I may respond to that, I have great respect for Deputy Healy-Rae. He has been elected to Dáil Éireann many times and I recognise that on many different topics, with all the experience he has, he speaks an awful lot of sense. However, I have to honestly say to him that when I hear him speak about "our people", I flinch. He speaks, for example, about the Ukrainians. Of course,...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)

Paschal Donohoe: If the Deputy will allow me to make a comment, I opened my contribution saying how much I respect him. That should indicate to him that the last thing I am trying to do is banish him. I believe that would also be completely unhealthy. We have to be able to have a debate and discussion, and this is what we are doing.