Results 3,541-3,560 of 34,618 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Public Accounts Committee: Caranua Financial Statements 2017 (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: What does Ms Dwyer mean by "on low funding?"

Public Accounts Committee: Caranua Financial Statements 2017 (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: So Caranua's case workers help people get over the line.

Public Accounts Committee: Caranua Financial Statements 2017 (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: There is one thing I do not get from what I have been hearing so far. It has been said that of the 317 outstanding cases, 95% or thereabouts are first-time applicants. Caranua has made payments to about approximately 6,000 people. I see in the annual report how Caranua has made payments of €11,500 to survivors to date. This means that on average, 6,000 people got two payments....

Public Accounts Committee: Caranua Financial Statements 2017 (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: Caranua has made payments to-----

Public Accounts Committee: Caranua Financial Statements 2017 (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: Is Ms Downes telling me that they are just cheques, three of which could have been to the same person?

Public Accounts Committee: Caranua Financial Statements 2017 (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: That does not come out. Ms Downes understands that figure but nobody other than whoever wrote that could get that impression from that. When I see €11,500 under payments made to survivors, I would assume that there are 11,000 different cases but they might have all been a series of stage payments. That figure does not mean what I thought it meant. That is fine. Caranua will give...

Public Accounts Committee: Caranua Financial Statements 2017 (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: I see in the accounts, and it will be the same next year, that everybody who joined Caranua will be part of the single public service pension scheme because they all joined after 2013. At the end of the day, the Department will take over liability for all those pensions when Caranua is gone. Will a figure be put on that in this wind up or will it just get paid when people retire, as is the...

Public Accounts Committee: Caranua Financial Statements 2017 (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: Pay as you go. So in other words-----

Public Accounts Committee: Caranua Financial Statements 2017 (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: The note to the accounts said such liability in the wind up of the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Board will transfer to the Department of Education and Skills for payment. So Mr. Ó hAonghusa is telling me that this note is not correct and that liability will essentially go to the Vote for pensions and salaries under the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform Vote.

Public Accounts Committee: Caranua Financial Statements 2017 (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: When I read the note in the financial statements, it was clear that liability was going to the Department of Education and Skills. Mr. Ó hAonghusa is now telling me that it will not go to the Department of Education and Skills.

Public Accounts Committee: Caranua Financial Statements 2017 (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: By the time the Department of Education and Skills signs off on the 2018 accounts, that will not have crystallised. Could Mr. Ó hAonghusa have a look at the note to flesh it out to see if it is going to go to a different Vote rather than the Department of Education and Skills Vote? As the note stands, the Department of Education and Skills is assuming liability but I am hearing that it...

Public Accounts Committee: Caranua Financial Statements 2017 (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: The witnesses from the Department get the point I am making. With regard to my next point, it will not necessarily affect the 2018 accounts because Caranua is in existence for 2019 but when we come to the 2019 accounts, knowing that it will be wound up within six months of year end, it cannot possibly prepare them on the basis of a going concern because it will not be a going concern for the...

Public Accounts Committee: Caranua Financial Statements 2017 (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: That must be stated in the accounts.

Public Accounts Committee: Caranua Financial Statements 2017 (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: That note on the going concern must be fleshed out substantially when that time comes. These are just small points. My next two points are more for the Department of Education and Skills. From what I have heard here as Chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts, Caranua was set up without adequate resources and an adequate estimate of what was involved and as soon as it was...

Public Accounts Committee: Caranua Financial Statements 2017 (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: It is unusual that there is a wind up. Be that as it may, let there be lessons from it. There have been other wind ups and some third level institutions have merged and amalgamated with others. I hope this lesson is well learned across the public service. Does the Comptroller and Auditor General have anything to add?

Public Accounts Committee: Caranua Financial Statements 2017 (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: To conclude on a good note, I am pleased with the letter we received from Mr. Seán Ó Foghlú about the property transfers and cash payments from religious congregations as contributions towards the costs incurred by the State in responding to residential institutional child abuse. It would be remiss of me not to put this on the public record. As Chairman of this committee, I...

Public Accounts Committee: Caranua Financial Statements 2017 (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: That is great.

Public Accounts Committee: Caranua Financial Statements 2017 (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: In terms of the 2002 agreement and Mounthawk, Tralee, County Kerry, there is a title related issue that is not connected to the Department. It is not possible to give a timeframe because of that but the Department is hopeful that it will be resolved soon.

Public Accounts Committee: Caranua Financial Statements 2017 (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: Yes, the property is already in public use and that should be put on the record. We are talking about the title. The Sacred Heart property in Waterford is also in use. The issue is that it was never registered previously. The certificate of title is expected to be received shortly from the Property Registration Authority to enable the transfer to be completed. That is progress and we are...

Public Accounts Committee: Caranua Financial Statements 2017 (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: Okay.