Results 4,341-4,360 of 10,862 for speaker:Matt Carthy

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)

Matt Carthy: That is probably an indication of how much it is spending on advertising as much as anything else.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)

Matt Carthy: If that is the big achievement of the year, that the regulator has managed to call up the fact the operator was advertising a jackpot online the day after the jackpot had been won, it is minimal in terms of the-----

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)

Matt Carthy: -----bigger issues that have been raised at today's meeting for which no action has been taken.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)

Matt Carthy: Has the regulator ever done that?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)

Matt Carthy: When was the last time the regulator refused a game?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)

Matt Carthy: Has it been done this year?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)

Matt Carthy: Maybe if we put in a freedom of information request, we will find out.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)

Matt Carthy: I apologise to the Chair for going off on a tangent. I agree that additional free tickets create a player protection issue but would free tickets, as a principle, not create the same issue? Should we not withdraw them entirely?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (24 Nov 2022)

Matt Carthy: On the RTB, I agree with the Comptroller and Auditor General that we should seek clarification, as he has suggested. The non-compliant procurement relates to a business process that costs €2.277 million for a year. Is that correct?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (24 Nov 2022)

Matt Carthy: Is there any reason for this? I am looking at the original five-year period where the total cost was €5.681 million-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (24 Nov 2022)

Matt Carthy: That works out at approximately €1.1 million per annum, yet for this one year without any procurement, we are looking at well over €2 million.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (24 Nov 2022)

Matt Carthy: In its own statements, has the board given an indication that it intends to regularise this? I have a fundamental difficulty. I understand that when an urgency arises, sometimes there may be an issue for non-compliance in procurement. When there is a rolling five-year contract, however, in the sixth year there is not the luxury of being able to say it came out of the blue.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (24 Nov 2022)

Matt Carthy: What can we do about that?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (24 Nov 2022)

Matt Carthy: Mr. McCarthy is not aware of any procurement process having been initiated.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (24 Nov 2022)

Matt Carthy: The board had not commenced it at that stage.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (24 Nov 2022)

Matt Carthy: In that case, I propose we write to the RTB seeking clarification on that.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (24 Nov 2022)

Matt Carthy: I agree with those proposals. On the alcohol hand gel and the fact it seems there will be a significant cost for the disposal of out-of-date hand sanitiser, it would be useful if we could get clarification from the HSE as to whether it has since been disposed of and the full cost associated with that. It is an expensive process to dispose of the hand gel and it would be useful if we could...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (24 Nov 2022)

Matt Carthy: In deference to the two Deputies who raised the matter, I request that we keep this on the agenda for a subsequent meeting. The Chairman mentioned that parliamentary questions have been submitted. These might assist the committee. I suggest that we write to the Charities Regulator to ask it for a response. This would help with the discussions when the other Deputies are here.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (24 Nov 2022)

Matt Carthy: May I just raise an associated point on that correspondence?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (24 Nov 2022)

Matt Carthy: It relates to masts. We went into some detail in our discussions with An Bord Pleanála. For example, I raised a specific case relating to Glaslough. What occurred is part of a pattern regarding the types of planning applications in question. A local authority refused planning permission and the board's own inspector recommended upholding that decision, but subsequently the board,...