Results 3,501-3,520 of 11,255 for speaker:Colm Burke

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Work Permits (23 Feb 2023)

Colm Burke: Can the Minister not set a timeline for the Departments to work out a solution to this problem? A big complaint I hear, for instance, is that medical practitioners who are going to New Zealand or Australia can get a visa and work permit sorted in a week, whereas we still have a glitch in our system whereby a person can get a work permit but cannot get a visa. I encourage the Minister to...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 14: Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (23 Feb 2023)

Colm Burke: I thank the witnesses for the presentation and for making themselves available this morning. The €738 million was paid out without all the proper procedures being followed. Mr. Molloy talked about two major organisations, namely the Department of Finance and the Central Bank. Not just one organisation, but two, made a mistake. Surely there should have been a checks-and-balances...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 14: Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (23 Feb 2023)

Colm Burke: Is Mr. Molloy saying there was a glitch in the system because it was in the run-up to a bank holiday weekend?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 14: Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (23 Feb 2023)

Colm Burke: Was there not a delay in notifying the Comptroller and Auditor General?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 14: Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (23 Feb 2023)

Colm Burke: The error was made on the Friday. When was it actually identified as an error?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 14: Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (23 Feb 2023)

Colm Burke: There was a delay in real terms from the time the error was identified until Mr. McCarthy's office was notified.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 14: Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (23 Feb 2023)

Colm Burke: Is Mr. Molloy satisfied that there are enough mechanisms now in place to ensure an error like this will not be made again?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 14: Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (23 Feb 2023)

Colm Burke: Is the Department of Finance satisfied it has enough checks and balances in place to ensure an error like this will not be made again?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 14: Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (23 Feb 2023)

Colm Burke: I will move to a completely different issue about the ICF and Quinn Insurance Limited. The State paid €1 billion to the ICF. There was litigation against the auditors of the company, PwC. My understanding is that the case has been settled. Is the Department able to disclose the settlement figure?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 14: Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (23 Feb 2023)

Colm Burke: Surely the figure appears somewhere in the books. In such circumstances, how can it be confidential? The figure that was paid over has to appear somewhere?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 14: Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (23 Feb 2023)

Colm Burke: This is a case where €1 billion had to be paid out by the State through the compensation fund. There is now a 2% levy on each policyholder. That will continue to be the case for quite some time. Surely we are entitled to know the settlement involved. A security of costs in an amount in excess of €30 million had to be lodged to allow the case to proceed. Are the taxpayers...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 14: Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (23 Feb 2023)

Colm Burke: What is the story with the money that was lodged for security of costs?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 14: Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (23 Feb 2023)

Colm Burke: State money was provided as security of costs. Surely we, as taxpayers, are entitled to know if that money has now been refunded. We are also entitled to know was the risk worth taking. If the case settled for €1, the risk was obviously not worth taking.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 14: Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (23 Feb 2023)

Colm Burke: Surely the Department can come back to us with a note in respect of the security of costs issue.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 14: Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (23 Feb 2023)

Colm Burke: We need to know that the money came back.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 14: Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (23 Feb 2023)

Colm Burke: I will ask about the whole insurance industry. PMPA was the first company to enter administration, which happened in the 1980s. In the period 2010 to 2016, four insurance companies went into liquidation or administration. The State had to intervene to provide support to policyholders. Are we now satisfied there are adequate systems in place in respect of insurance companies? Four...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 14: Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (23 Feb 2023)

Colm Burke: In respect of Quinn, a fund of €350 million was available at any one time and that fund was being gambled with, in real terms.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 14: Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (23 Feb 2023)

Colm Burke: Is the Department concerned about any activity in the insurance industry at the moment? In the period from 2011 to 2016, which is a very short time, four companies ended up in a position from which the State had to bail them out, or at least bail out the policyholders.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 14: Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (23 Feb 2023)

Colm Burke: Have insurance companies sufficient mechanisms in place to cross-check?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 14: Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (23 Feb 2023)

Colm Burke: My understanding in respect of the fund is that more than €1 billion was paid in for Quinn Insurance Limited. The Central Bank has been handling it since 2018. There is still more than €500 million owed and which remains to be collected from insurance policyholders. Is the Central Bank satisfied that we now have sufficient mechanisms in place across the board in the insurance...