Results 5,261-5,280 of 34,627 for speaker:Seán Fleming
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Seán Fleming: Has it accepted the reality of the situation?
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Seán Fleming: We will write to NAMA asking how the issue arose, how it came to light and why it took so long to deal with it.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Seán Fleming: The agency's annual report and financial statement for 2018 have been published and laid before the Oireachtas. It records an after-tax profit of €795 million for the year. NAMA is now stating that, subject to market conditions, its projected lifetime surplus is up from €3.3 billion to €4 billion. I had a quick look at the summary and it shows that the agency has...
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Seán Fleming: We are probably looking at a meeting in the autumn.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Seán Fleming: Has the Deputy raised this issue before?
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Seán Fleming: I ask the Deputy to bear with me. We will hold this topic over until the next meeting because I want to raise it also.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Seán Fleming: It was the subject of a recommendation in our periodic report which has been rejected by the Minister and NAMA. They are nearly there, which is fine. However, I am not satisfied and we will hold our ground. NAMA included some wholly unnecessary and gratuitous remarks in its response to the committee, which remarks I reject. I wish to discuss the matter next week. NAMA stated the European...
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Seán Fleming: The answer NAMA is giving ten years after it was established is that the regulations and the register might capture it, but it will be winding up at that stage. I am asking that this topic be held over because I wish to raise it and I am conscious that the committee has a few things to do in private session. We will return to it because it is very much on my radar. I was going to deal with...
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Seán Fleming: We will hold it over until next week for discussion. I am holding over the noting of the National Asset Management Agency 2018 accounts. We are not noting them today; we are holding over noting and discussing them until next week. The next item is the Health Service Executive accounts. They received a clear audit opinion, but attention is drawn to the fact that, on the direction of the...
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Seán Fleming: We will take comments and then ask the Comptroller and Auditor General to respond in more detail.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Seán Fleming: I thank the Deputy for highlighting the issue. For the purposes of clarification, I withdraw my usage of the word "fiddled". I want to clarify what I meant when I referred to "fiddled accounts". I will choose my wording more precisely. Speaking as a chartered accountant and Chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts, the accounts, as presented by the HSE, do not present a true and fair...
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Seán Fleming: We will ask the Comptroller and Auditor General.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Seán Fleming: On that point, there is in the health sector provision for the Minister to issue a direction. Several of the health bodies that are audited in the health sector are subject to presenting their accounts in the format directed by the Minister. The Minister has the legal authority to make a direction. Normally, it is not to include the costs of pensions and pension provision. That is not...
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Seán Fleming: Yes, we will write to the Secretary General of the Department of Health, who is the Accounting Officer, for a copy of the directive and the legislation underpinning this directive. What I found very unusual was that this was done on the last working day before the accounts were sent. It was obviously known that the accounts would present figures showing a deficit of €283 million and...
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Seán Fleming: We have already arranged to have representatives of the HSE before us on 11 July to discuss its annual financial statements. I consider this matter so serious that we may have to have an urgent meeting with the Accounting Officer of the Department of Health. This is a new departure and, as Deputy Catherine Murphy stated, if we cannot trust the accounts of the HSE as presented, we have a problem.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Seán Fleming: I am speaking now from recollection as I do not have the papers in front of me. My understanding is that hospital consultants had taken a case regarding their remuneration under the 2008 contracts.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Seán Fleming: That case was adjudicated on in the High Court on 15 or 16 June 2018.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Seán Fleming: That adjudication resulted in the court obliging the HSE to make payments to the hospital consultants. The cost of these payments has been put at €198 million.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Seán Fleming: The payment of that sum is being deferred to 2020 or 2021.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Seán Fleming: The liability determined by the court in its final decision was incurred in 2018 and should have been in the accounts for 2018. It could have been paid last year and would have been in the accounts, but it has been deferred. It is a liability.