Results 5,121-5,140 of 10,862 for speaker:Matt Carthy

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: International Agreements (14 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: 13. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will conduct a socio-economic and environmental impact assessment of the proposed EU-New Zealand trade agreement, in particular the impact on the domestic red meat and dairy sectors; and his proposals to support impacted farmers. [37914/22]

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: Mr. Walsh was before this committee on 13 May 2021. Did he take the opportunity to read over the transcript of that discussion before he came here today?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: Was he absolutely mortified and embarrassed? Did he wince?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: Did he not? Remy Farrell is now undertaking a review for the Department, the Planning Regulator is carrying out an investigation and the board is carrying out an internal audit, which Mr. Walsh has described. Have the terms of reference for that internal audit been published? I am not asking Mr. Walsh to outline the work being done but whether the terms of reference are available.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: Can they be circulated to the members here?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: It would be great if that could be done during this meeting. Deputy Catherine Murphy has more information on this than me. Who is carrying out that review?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: Who are they?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: Mr. Walsh has mentioned that this will deal with the allocation of files and with a range of cases. He has indicated 200 cases are currently involved. How long does he expect this review to take?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: Mr. Walsh will have it by the end of this month. Does he intend to publish it?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: Will Mr. Walsh publish the findings or the report?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: During the aforementioned meeting of 13 May 2021, I outlined a scenario. I said: There will then be a meeting with three representatives, two of whom - who will remain unnamed - may decide to overturn the recommendation of their own inspector and the local authority's decision, while providing minimal information as to how they came to that decision. It is quite possible that these...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: I am not asking whether there was corruption but whether Mr. Walsh accepts that there was scope for corruption in the way in which these matters have been handled up to now.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: Does Mr. Walsh not consider it a failure on his part that it is taking all of these investigations to investigate, review and audit all of these matters and that there was no system in place to identify and address issues as they arose?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: Here is the problem. If anybody, regardless of how powerful they are or anything else, has a fundamental difficulty with a decision made by An Bord Pleanála, the only recourse available to that person is to take a judicial review, JR, or legal action. There is no other mechanism. Mr. Walsh has said that in respect of cases regarding which very serious issues have been raised. Even if...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: Mr. Walsh described himself as almost the chair and the CEO. He is also the Accounting Officer, which is what we are interested in.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: Will the Comptroller and Auditor General remind me how many Departments and bodies this committee has oversight of?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: This is the problem. Reading through the transcript, we see that several members from across different political parties raised issues on 13 May 2021 with regard to the soaring legal costs, the scope for conflicts of interest and the potential trends that were emerging. Members dealing on a part-time basis with oversight of 250 bodies were able to ask him about all those issues, and his...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: The courts have found that the board was finding on an illegal basis in respect of those decisions. Despite that, the board continued to find on the exact same basis and was repeatedly taken to court where it repeatedly lost, to the point where €8 million per year, one third of the budget, was spent on legal fees. Mr. Walsh did not say "Stop".

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: My time is running short. I put it to Mr. Walsh that as Accounting Officer he had an obligation to identify an emerging problem, an obligation to ensure case files were being distributed to board members on a random basis and an obligation to ensure this body would not bring the planning process into disrepute, which is exactly what has happened. Nobody has confidence in An Bord...