Results 9,361-9,380 of 26,357 for speaker:Kieran O'Donnell

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Implementation of the EU Digital Covid Certificate: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (14 Jul 2021)

Kieran O'Donnell: Accenture was awarded the contract to run the call centre. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Implementation of the EU Digital Covid Certificate: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (14 Jul 2021)

Kieran O'Donnell: How long ago was the contact awarded?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Implementation of the EU Digital Covid Certificate: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (14 Jul 2021)

Kieran O'Donnell: Is Mr. Lowry satisfied that it is up to speed and will hit the ground running next Monday in terms of being able to deal with queries?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Implementation of the EU Digital Covid Certificate: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (14 Jul 2021)

Kieran O'Donnell: How many staff will be recruited under the contract?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Implementation of the EU Digital Covid Certificate: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (14 Jul 2021)

Kieran O'Donnell: Up to what level?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Implementation of the EU Digital Covid Certificate: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (14 Jul 2021)

Kieran O'Donnell: How long is the contract for?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Implementation of the EU Digital Covid Certificate: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (14 Jul 2021)

Kieran O'Donnell: Where will the call centre be based? Will it be based in Ireland?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Implementation of the EU Digital Covid Certificate: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (14 Jul 2021)

Kieran O'Donnell: Will the call centre be operated from the UK or Ireland?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Implementation of the EU Digital Covid Certificate: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (14 Jul 2021)

Kieran O'Donnell: How many of the agents will be based in the UK?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Implementation of the EU Digital Covid Certificate: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (14 Jul 2021)

Kieran O'Donnell: As a committee, we will follow up on that. Have offices been leased in Ireland for the call centre?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Implementation of the EU Digital Covid Certificate: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (14 Jul 2021)

Kieran O'Donnell: Okay. There were 4,000 calls in one day, 1,200 of which were answered. That means that only one in three of those who called spoke to an operator. We do not know the full circumstances behind that. It seems a relatively low level of throughput, given the level of callers who stayed on the line. That was with 25 to 35 staff. Have 60 to 90 or 60 to 70 staff been recruited for the call centre?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Implementation of the EU Digital Covid Certificate: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (14 Jul 2021)

Kieran O'Donnell: I would have thought the figure would be at the upper end of 90. There will be a lot of calls initially. It is something we as a committee will take up with the Department of Health. The way the digital Covid certificate has been rolled out has been very efficient, but the call centre will be a huge element of the end service. Will the Department of Health have oversight of that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Implementation of the EU Digital Covid Certificate: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (14 Jul 2021)

Kieran O'Donnell: Okay. Why was it decided to subcontract the service to a private operator? Why was it not done by Departments?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Implementation of the EU Digital Covid Certificate: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (14 Jul 2021)

Kieran O'Donnell: The digital Covid certificate I have received is self-explanatory. It is well laid out and includes thereopen.europa.eu/enaddress. It is highly effective. I thought there would be a one-stop-shop where people could see all of the various aspects of the certificate. I have no doubt it is something that will happen as the certificate is rolled out. Will people be able to visit a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Implementation of the EU Digital Covid Certificate: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (14 Jul 2021)

Kieran O'Donnell: No, I do not think that. It is an observation. The process has been simplified. Effectively, the entire house has been painted. I would like there to be nice handles on the doors as well. A lovely job has been done; it just needs the finishing touch. We will bring the Minister of State and Mr. Lowry back in to discuss the NCSC and the report. Will the report on the capacity review be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Implementation of the EU Digital Covid Certificate: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (14 Jul 2021)

Kieran O'Donnell: When will that be?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Implementation of the EU Digital Covid Certificate: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (14 Jul 2021)

Kieran O'Donnell: We will probably have a meeting in public session on the more substantive areas. When does the Minister of State anticipate he will publish the redacted report?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Implementation of the EU Digital Covid Certificate: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (14 Jul 2021)

Kieran O'Donnell: I ask that in a context in which the budget has gone up to €5.1 million, which we welcome. The number of staff is going up to 70. We would like to support the NCSC to get more funding. The consequences of cyberattacks are enormous. We will discuss that in session with the Minister of State at the start of the term in September. I thank the Minister of State for the work he has...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Implementation of the EU Digital Covid Certificate: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (14 Jul 2021)

Kieran O'Donnell: We have had an honest discussion and this is important. We accept the Minister of State's bona fides. We can come back on that matter but it was important that we discussed it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Implementation of the EU Digital Covid Certificate: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (14 Jul 2021)

Kieran O'Donnell: I was going to put it more diplomatically but I have no doubt that Mr. Lowry is quite happy with his own role.