Results 20,181-20,200 of 26,792 for speaker:David Cullinane

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 – Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Department of Defence
Chapter 8 – Disposal of the Government Jet (26 Jan 2017)

David Cullinane: What I seem to be getting from Mr. Quinn, everything I have seen in his opening remarks and also the responses to the Comptroller and Auditor General is that Mr. Quinn believes a cost analysis is not needed to inform, but only to validate, a decision. In any sale, one should do a cost analysis. I would imagine the company, Journey Aviation, that bought the jet carried out a cost analysis...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 – Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Department of Defence
Chapter 8 – Disposal of the Government Jet (26 Jan 2017)

David Cullinane: I noted the Department got their views. That is not the question I asked. Mr. Quinn should stick to the questions. I noted that they gave their recommendation.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 – Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Department of Defence
Chapter 8 – Disposal of the Government Jet (26 Jan 2017)

David Cullinane: I understand their role and Mr. Quinn has accepted their role. That is fine. I am talking about this informal contact from the Department with an aviation consultant company which then went on to make a number of observations, which I will get to. What does "informal" mean?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 – Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Department of Defence
Chapter 8 – Disposal of the Government Jet (26 Jan 2017)

David Cullinane: I accept that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 – Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Department of Defence
Chapter 8 – Disposal of the Government Jet (26 Jan 2017)

David Cullinane: What does "informal" mean?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 – Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Department of Defence
Chapter 8 – Disposal of the Government Jet (26 Jan 2017)

David Cullinane: "Informal", I have asked it three times now. What does "informal contact" mean?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 – Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Department of Defence
Chapter 8 – Disposal of the Government Jet (26 Jan 2017)

David Cullinane: What form did that take? I am trying to-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 – Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Department of Defence
Chapter 8 – Disposal of the Government Jet (26 Jan 2017)

David Cullinane: Specifically, when Mr. Quinn says "informal", was it phone calls? Was it communication? Was it e-mail? What was it?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 – Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Department of Defence
Chapter 8 – Disposal of the Government Jet (26 Jan 2017)

David Cullinane: Okay.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 – Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Department of Defence
Chapter 8 – Disposal of the Government Jet (26 Jan 2017)

David Cullinane: How much was that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 – Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Department of Defence
Chapter 8 – Disposal of the Government Jet (26 Jan 2017)

David Cullinane: Sorry, how much?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 – Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Department of Defence
Chapter 8 – Disposal of the Government Jet (26 Jan 2017)

David Cullinane: The informal contact advised that the necessary repairs could be carried out and the aircraft kept for another few years but that it seemed to have had its day. He said an immediate sale would likely be to a parts dealer, which conjures up the thought that the aircraft would be sold for scrap. Mr. Quinn described the aircraft in the Savannah plant, broken down into parts and that image is...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 – Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Department of Defence
Chapter 8 – Disposal of the Government Jet (26 Jan 2017)

David Cullinane: It was sold to Journey Aviation. We have an image of a jet stripped down in a hangar in Savannah and are being told that an informal contact who was paid just €900 and whose expertise in this area we know nothing about advised that it should be sold for scrap because it had had its day. It is still flying. On 23 November 2016 it flew from Paris to New York; on 28 November it flew...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 – Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Department of Defence
Chapter 8 – Disposal of the Government Jet (26 Jan 2017)

David Cullinane: I was able to make myself aware of it very quickly and easily as I was conducting research for this meeting. As the Accounting Officer who signed off on the sale for €418,000, Mr. Quinn should be aware of it. The same company that bought the parts that were worth €800,000 bought them for €40,000 and used them to get the aircraft back into circulation. I imagine that it...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 – Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Department of Defence
Chapter 8 – Disposal of the Government Jet (26 Jan 2017)

David Cullinane: That is Mr. Quinn's analysis, but we have a completely different analysis from the Comptroller and Auditor General, whose job it is to make sure proper processes are in place and that they are followed. His report is very clear and there is no disagreement about it, yet Mr. Quinn is now justifying why these things were not done. That is completely unsatisfactory. It has happened on a...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 – Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Department of Defence
Chapter 8 – Disposal of the Government Jet (26 Jan 2017)

David Cullinane: Clarification is needed on the process, notwithstanding the answers we have received from Mr. Quinn. Will Mr. Quinn give us the name of the person who gave the informal advice? Who in the Department made contact with this person who worked in the aviation industry? What is the name of the company for which the person worked? Was the person a board member, a CEO or a director? What level...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 – Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Department of Defence
Chapter 8 – Disposal of the Government Jet (26 Jan 2017)

David Cullinane: What is his expertise? What is his role in the company?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 – Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Department of Defence
Chapter 8 – Disposal of the Government Jet (26 Jan 2017)

David Cullinane: Will Mr. Quinn provide the committee with the full transcripts of what it provided to the Department? Whatever about there being similarities, the judgment the Air Corps made, with respect, was to hold on to the aircraft and not to sell it. That is the point.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 – Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Department of Defence
Chapter 8 – Disposal of the Government Jet (26 Jan 2017)

David Cullinane: No contemporaneous cost-benefit analysis was carried out by the Department or the Defence Forces on the issue. That is the point. We want as much as possible of the information the Department and the Defence Forces had at the time. We probably should have had all this, but we want it now because we did not have it in advance of the meeting.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (26 Jan 2017)

David Cullinane: 12. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if his Department is committed to equal pay for equal work; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3275/17]