Results 24,081-24,100 of 34,832 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Public Accounts Committee: HSE Financial Statement 2015 (15 Jul 2016)

Seán Fleming: At this stage, as it is very late in the afternoon, on behalf of the Committee of Public Accounts, I thank all our witnesses from the HSE, the Department of Health, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Comptroller and Auditor General for having participated in the meeting and for the material they supplied to the committee. We will have further meetings with the HSE. Of...

Public Accounts Committee: HSE Financial Statement 2015 (15 Jul 2016)

Seán Fleming: Under freedom of information?

Public Accounts Committee: HSE Financial Statement 2015 (15 Jul 2016)

Seán Fleming: To individuals who ask for them?

Public Accounts Committee: HSE Financial Statement 2015 (15 Jul 2016)

Seán Fleming: On that note, we must be equally careful regarding the quality of information. If the HSE has an issue publishing them as a matter of course, we must be equally conscious about ourselves as Members of Parliament in what we publish. I thank the committee members and witnesses for their attendance.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (14 Jul 2016)

Seán Fleming: We are in public session. Apologies have been received from Deputy McDonald. We are joined by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr. Seamus McCarthy who is a permanent witness to this committee. Are the minutes of our meeting of 7 July 2016 agreed? Agreed. The next item is matters arising out of the minutes. Are there any matters?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (14 Jul 2016)

Seán Fleming: Are there any other matters arising from the minutes? In the minutes last week, we mentioned a few specific items. One item was a request for a report from Inland Fisheries Ireland about commercial rates. Have we received that?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (14 Jul 2016)

Seán Fleming: They are on their way. The next item is an issue mentioned by Deputy Cullinane, who was seeking information on the capital project for a national paediatric hospital in Thornton Hall. We will return to that report again. We wrote to Dublin Institute of Technology regarding the €700,000 advance payment in respect of library services for which no service was delivered - the money was...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (14 Jul 2016)

Seán Fleming: That will categorically be in our work programme. We will have representatives of the HSE before the committee to discuss its annual report as well. We are now moving on to correspondence received since the last meeting. I will refer to the correspondence numbers. Correspondence items 26A and 30A refer to the Office of Public Works briefing and its opening statement for today's meeting....

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (14 Jul 2016)

Seán Fleming: The road upgrade is the R158. The local authority is Meath County Council.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (14 Jul 2016)

Seán Fleming: Okay. We can deal with that next week as well. The next item is No. 25C, an e-mail from an anonymous source in relation to alleged financial abuse at a HSE-funded institution. I propose that the clerk write to the HSE outlining the key matters raised in the e-mail and ask for a response. There is no name on the correspondence. We will wait until we get a response before we deal with...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (14 Jul 2016)

Seán Fleming: Okay. We can deal with that tomorrow or at the end of-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (14 Jul 2016)

Seán Fleming: That is good. We will do that. Is it agreed to note the correspondence for today? Agreed. We will come back to that. Items 28C and 29C are two notes prepared by the Comptroller and Auditor General's parliamentary liaison officer on the central funding of local authorities and the land aggregation scheme, as requested. Is that noted? Noted. The next item on the agenda is the...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (14 Jul 2016)

Seán Fleming: That is the national lottery fund. Sorry, that is my mistake.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (14 Jul 2016)

Seán Fleming: That is fine. That was my mistake. The regulator was set up to regulate the National Lottery because once the licence for the lottery is gone out of State control, we have the need for an independent regulator. There is the lottery fund as well. Does Deputy Cullinane have a quick comment to make?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (14 Jul 2016)

Seán Fleming: Deal with them now, because I have mentioned them.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (14 Jul 2016)

Seán Fleming: I propose that we write directly to IDA Ireland, saying that we are very concerned about those two notes, regarding the rental agreement and the €1.375 million spend on a judicial review in relation to the decision of the agency to acquire land by compulsory purchase order, which was never followed through on. We should write directly to IDA Ireland seeking a detailed explanation in...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (14 Jul 2016)

Seán Fleming: We will ask Mr. McCarthy to comment.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (14 Jul 2016)

Seán Fleming: I think that concludes this week's review of reports, statements and accounts received. The next item is the work programme, which we all know. Today is the OPW, tomorrow is the HSE, next Thursday is that National Treasury Management Agency and by next week we will have to finalise our work programme for September and October so the committee secretariat can arrange to have witnesses...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 92 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Strategic Planning for Flood Risk Management (14 Jul 2016)

Seán Fleming: The Comptroller and Auditor General has been joined by Ms Mahin Fitzpatrick. I welcome Ms Clare McGrath, chairperson of the Office of Public Works. She is accompanied by Mr. Tony Smyth, director of engineering services, and Mr. Mark Adamson, assistant chief engineer. From the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform we are joined by Mr. Dermot Quigley, principal officer. We are also...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 92 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Strategic Planning for Flood Risk Management (14 Jul 2016)

Seán Fleming: I thank Mr. McCarthy. I now call on Ms Clare McGrath to make her opening statement.