Results 841-860 of 1,040,980 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Tom Kitt OR speaker:Thomas Gould OR speaker:Paschal Donohoe OR speaker:Johnny Guirke OR speaker:Brian Leddin)

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.

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

Paschal Donohoe: I will have to check the figure of €2 billion. Last year, we had a figure of €2.6 billion, but that figure included the provision for a pay deal which we were negotiating.

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

Paschal Donohoe: I will check that.

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

Paschal Donohoe: The figure of €2 billion last year was to include a pay deal. It included provision for a pay deal. The amount of money we have available for new policy measures is the same. It was €1.8 billion.

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

Paschal Donohoe: Yes, it is.

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

Paschal Donohoe: If you take 5% of GNI, it gets you to a figure that I am sure is lower than our total capital investment at the moment. It is up to the Government to try to figure out how we get up to that figure of 5% and how quickly we can do it. It is simply not achievable to get to that target in a single go because were we to get to that figure in capital, everybody would raise lots of current spending...

Courts, Civil Law, Criminal Law and Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2024)

Jim O'Callaghan: I did not intend to speak on this amendment but I will do so because a very interesting debate has commenced since I came into the Chamber. I came in here intending to speak on amendments Nos. 7 to 12, inclusive, which seek to give effect to another High Court decision - in the case of A & B v. the International Protection Office and the Minister - which was delivered in March of...

Courts, Civil Law, Criminal Law and Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2024)

Brendan Howlin: It was October 2022.

Courts, Civil Law, Criminal Law and Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2024)

Jim O'Callaghan: We are three years on from the Damache case, in which the Supreme Court declared sections 19(2) and 19(3) of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 to be unconstitutional. We sat on it for quite some time. The Supreme Court provided some form of instruction to this House in terms of what to do. The Supreme Court decision said and recognised that the decision as to whether...