Results 581-600 of 5,601 for speaker:Paul McAuliffe
- Committee on Drugs Use: Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)
Paul McAuliffe: Is that the case even given the very tight margin? I am not talking about that issue or debate specifically. I suppose it is the point that this is a nuanced debate and the recommendations of the citizens' assembly on that issue were very narrow. In my view, that leaves the Oireachtas the freedom to take it and respond to it, given that it was such a narrow margin.
- Committee on Drugs Use: Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)
Paul McAuliffe: I have a lot more questions and I hope to come back.
- Committee on Drugs Use: Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)
Paul McAuliffe: I fully agree and wanted to give the witnesses an opportunity to address those issues because they are being addressed publicly. I have a lot more questions, but I want to particularly thank the members of the citizens' assembly. They gave up a big chunk of their time. I am sure they were not experts on the area in any way and they feel they have gained huge experience. I thank them so much.
- Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024) Paul McAuliffe: Good morning to our witnesses. Let us deal with the issue of non-compliant procurement first. It is the one that always comes up at the beginning of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report. There were 122 instances. Mr. Conlon indicated that they relate to capital works in the property portfolio. Could he explain that a little further?
- Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024) Paul McAuliffe: If officials from another Department were with me and talking about any of those things, I would say they might be explainable on the basis of there being other areas of expertise within the Department. The OPW’s core business is all these things. Surely there is a framework tender that allows the OPW to implement solutions. I am thinking about local authorities, which have a...
- Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024) Paul McAuliffe: Of the 122 instances, has Mr. Conlon identified any that should have been addressed within some sort of framework tender?
- Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024) Paul McAuliffe: Of the 122, how many have been corrected?
- Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024) Paul McAuliffe: What about the remaining ones?
- Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024) Paul McAuliffe: What services did they relate to?
- Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024) Paul McAuliffe: How did they relate to procurement?
- Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024) Paul McAuliffe: So there was non-compliant procurement as a result of not being able to publish the specific layouts for-----
- Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024) Paul McAuliffe: How does Mr. Conlon intend to address that?
- Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024) Paul McAuliffe: One gets judged more harshly for non-compliant procurement regarding what are basic capital and maintenance issues, rather than other issues. I want to move on to other areas but I wish to flag that this is an area that the committee will likely return to.
- Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024) Paul McAuliffe: Let me raise the issue of the payment of €299,559 to a subcontractor. In 2020, the OPW paid that amount, which was not due under the terms of the contract with the main contractor, directly to the subcontractor. It has been noted that the transaction was not recorded as a debt in the accounts. Could Mr. Conlon explain that to the committee?
- Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024) Paul McAuliffe: Can Mr. Conlon state the site in question?
- Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024) Paul McAuliffe: Regarding that site, a payment was made directly to the subcontractor. Can Mr. Conlon explain why that happened?
- Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024) Paul McAuliffe: I can understand how somebody responsible for a project, fearing it might not be completed and that there could be a risk of losing the subcontractor, would put in place a sticking-plaster solution to ensure completion. In the private sector, those kinds of arrangements are made, but the difficulty is that the OPW, in going beyond the tender, exposed the State to a charge of €300,000.
- Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024) Paul McAuliffe: The money was returned but not listed as a debt in the accounts. Did the OPW expect to get the money back?
- Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024) Paul McAuliffe: Surely if it expected to get it back, it would have been recorded in the accounts.
- Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024) Paul McAuliffe: Has Mr. Conlon examined whether any conflicts of interest arose regarding this issue?