Results 7,001-7,020 of 10,899 for speaker:Patrick O'Donovan

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: I wish to revert to a point raised by the Chairman. Without scapegoating the aforementioned junior official, this official was appointed and put in place by somebody essentially to take responsibility for paying out money. Is that somebody within the Department, who put that junior official in that place, still there?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: Has that person retired or left or been promoted?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: Basically, the aforementioned junior official had no limit in terms of the amount of money he could pay out, did he? Once the demand came, it was just a case of paying it out.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: Was there a requirement for him to report to anybody within the Department when he was signing off or paying out?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: But he was not obliged to get authorisation or sign-off or second sign-off or anything like that.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: Was there another signatory?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: How many signatories were there from within the Department of Communications, Energy and National Resources?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: How many?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: Since all of this has blown up, is a policy now in place whereby there is more than one signatory?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: On what amount of money can a person at his grade of executive officer now sign off?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: Can he still sign off on half a million?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: On how much can a person at his grade sign off today?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: Therefore, he still can sign off on half a million.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: If this has not been formally delegated, presumably it is business as usual.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: In respect of the stage payments for a project at present, I note it is akin to building a house. Were this entire fiasco to start again, is there anything to prevent a person at his grade from being scapegoated? There could be an attempt to scapegoat him because he is at such a junior level. I do not believe that. I believe the responsibility lies with the Secretary General who set up the...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: What is the ceiling today?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: Could it be half a million?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: I know, but the question I asked was, if this whole thing were to start again, could it be the case in Mr. Griffin's Department that a poor unfortunate executive officer was told he or she had the power to sign off on half a million. We do not know today whether that situation has changed or not. The officer could still be in the same position.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report 90 of the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
The Bytel Project (16 Apr 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: But there were project controls in place in this instance when DETI provided internal auditing that said everything was hunky dory, and we found out afterwards that it was not. So the same thing could happen again today.