Results 3,381-3,400 of 26,705 for speaker:John McGuinness

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

John McGuinness: No. Where one enters into a procurement process, one has one's legal team representing one and the case drags on. Is there any way within that procurement process where somebody can step in and say that one has racked up huge amounts of money here in terms of costs and fees and what one should be doing is finding a resolution to the problem? At what stage in the procurement process can one...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

John McGuinness: Maybe to give a more stark example of this, the children's hospital goes through the procurement process, all the t's are crossed and i's are dotted, and they follow the rule that the Minister of State has set down in terms of procurement. It is fair to say that it has all gone wrong. Was it that the procurement process itself was weak, was it that the contracts are weak, or what has caused...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

John McGuinness: Does the Minister of State monitor the non-compliance with the procurement strategy that he has set out? Are there Departments or agencies that are particularly bad at using the system? Is there a monitoring role in the Department to show up these weaknesses?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

John McGuinness: In terms of the SME sector, what would the Minister of State say to the SME when it expresses concerns about being excluded from some of these contracts? Some of them are held locally. They do not hold them anymore, because a bigger firm has gotten it. They may be used as part of the delivery chain. What words of comfort does the Minister of State have for the SME sector?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

John McGuinness: I should say to the Minister that at a private session today we agreed to review the Ministers and Secretaries Act. He mentioned a further Act of 1997. We would welcome any background materials that he might have regarding those Acts, how they were changed or how the Minister might like to see them changed or reformed in the future. This is because most of what we are talking about goes...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

John McGuinness: It certainly has.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

John McGuinness: That system of which the Minister spoke earlier is outdated. It takes no account of the work we do elsewhere. As part of reform, Members of the House do not like to talk about it, because the media gets upset over it. However, I firmly believe that it is time that we show some respect to Members of this House. I do not mind accounting for anything and everything. I believe that that...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Message to Dáil (2 Feb 2022)

John McGuinness: In accordance with Standing Order 101, the following message will be sent to the Dáil: The Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Reform and Taoiseach has completed its consideration of the following Revised Estimates for Public Services: Vote 11 - Public Expenditure and Reform; Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances; Vote 14 - State Laboratory; Vote 15 - Secret...

Youth Mental Health: Statements (26 Jan 2022)

John McGuinness: It seems like another week, another scandal of outrageous proportions. Everybody in this House will speak about it and will demand action of one kind or another. It is a reflection on the system itself. I agree with Deputy Nolan when she said that the State is broken. It is true. The administration of this State is broken, and particularly the administration of the HSE. We have to come...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (26 Jan 2022)

John McGuinness: I remind members of the note on privilege. Members attending from outside the Leinster House campus may have just limited privilege, whereas those who are attending the meeting or on the campus of Leinster House are fully covered. Would the Minister like to make an opening statement?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (26 Jan 2022)

John McGuinness: Is the Deputy looking at professional consultancy and other services?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (26 Jan 2022)

John McGuinness: How did it feel when Deputy Doherty was over there?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (26 Jan 2022)

John McGuinness: I want to support Deputy Tóibín's comments about the increase of €81,000 plus €3,000 for Robert Watt. I refer to our report. While we can all take political positions on many issues, there is a factual aspect to this increase, as well as how it was arrived at. Quite frankly, the manner by which that increased was arrived at was bad governance, bad administration and...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (26 Jan 2022)

John McGuinness: Ministerial drivers are mentioned in a general way. Will that cost now be covered by the Department of Justice because I understand this whole area is being changed?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (26 Jan 2022)

John McGuinness: Regarding the Comptroller and Auditor General, in the context of Vote 8, a significant number of agencies and accounts are audited by that office. Why has the overall spending on that Vote not increased to give a greater level of resources to the Comptroller and Auditor General to enable him to delve further into the detail of these audits? It is clear from the work of the Committee of...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (26 Jan 2022)

John McGuinness: I understand that point and I acknowledge the positive work done by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General. Having examined the role of the office over the past ten to 15 years, however, has the Government not determined that there is a clear signal from that analysis of a requirement for the office to do much more detailed work on the accounts? Should it perhaps be looking at...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (26 Jan 2022)

John McGuinness: The amount of money being spent in, for example, the third level sector is enormous. The Minister, Deputy Harris, is constantly reforming and creating new entities. History over recent years shows a greater study is required of how that money is spent. Now a greater amount of money is being spent and there needs to be a focus on sectors like that. I hope staff levels in the Comptroller...