Results 961-980 of 5,941 for speaker:Paul McAuliffe

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 would expect it to be several million euro.

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 find that difficult to understand, given the payment of €600,000.

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: Yes. In the short time available to me, I will mention a matter that my colleagues might take up subsequently, namely, vacant properties. I believe the OPW has a record 50 vacant properties. I accept that any portfolio will always have vacant properties, but less excusable are vacant properties arising from a decision to close certain Garda stations in 2012 and 2013. It is more than ten...

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: Will Mr. Conlon provide us with a list of the 31 stations?

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 of those was the Finglas Garda station, which has been fantastically repurposed as a local crèche and is leased by an organisation. Having seen that success, one would be frustrated that there are still 31 buildings and, in particular, four residences vacant. Why are four residences still available after more than ten years? Ms Morrison might have read that there is a housing crisis.

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 show Ms Morrison Housing for All. The Minister, Darragh O’Brien, might give the OPW a grant under the repair and lease scheme or the Croí Cónaithe scheme. There is no excuse for having residences empty for more than ten years. I urge the OPW to take immediate action. There are just four properties, so it is not a major issue, but there is no reason for them to still...

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: Without going into specifics, it is difficult to understand. The metric I do not believe is ten years.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (12 Jun 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: 7. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on Northern Ireland will meet next. [24766/24]

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (11 Jun 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: 35.To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if a passport can be expedited for a child (details supplied). [24731/24]

Ceisteanna - Questions: Urban Development (29 May 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: 12. To ask the Taoiseach to provide a report on the task force for Dublin city centre that he announced on 9 May 2024. [22006/24]

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 - Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Defence
Report on the Accounts of the Public Services 2022
Chapter 12: Stock Management in the Defence Forces (23 May 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: I thank our guests for being here today. I will continue the line of questioning started by Deputy Murphy. A number of her questions point to one of the structural issues in the way that funding and the accountability of funding is structured in the Defence Forces. Clearly, Ms McCrum is the Accounting Officer and we ask her questions when she comes before us. Many people in the Defence...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 - Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Defence
Report on the Accounts of the Public Services 2022
Chapter 12: Stock Management in the Defence Forces (23 May 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: I take the point. The separation of powers and responsibilities-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 - Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Defence
Report on the Accounts of the Public Services 2022
Chapter 12: Stock Management in the Defence Forces (23 May 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: -----is really fundamental and we should avoid mistakes made by other countries. However, there is a feeling that more opportunity or more support should be given to military leadership around decision-making processes. I refer to things like recruitment and retention, as mentioned by a previous Deputy, decisions on capital purchases and the allocation of resources for cybersecurity. Can...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 - Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Defence
Report on the Accounts of the Public Services 2022
Chapter 12: Stock Management in the Defence Forces (23 May 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: Does Ms McCrum accept that the Chief of Staff is in a difficult position? Other agencies of government - often to the detriment of Government policy or the Minister - advocate in public for their service or improvements in their service. They may make a public case against or to the Department. The Chief of Staff is not in that same position. The Chief of Staff is in a much more difficult...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 - Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Defence
Report on the Accounts of the Public Services 2022
Chapter 12: Stock Management in the Defence Forces (23 May 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: I have seen many civil servants advocating for change across the whole system. I am not saying they have to be party political. The military leadership - let us not make it personal to the Chief of Staff - are in a more difficult situation to advocate for their share of the cake compared with other national agencies. They are entirely dependent on the Department's senior management to make...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 - Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Defence
Report on the Accounts of the Public Services 2022
Chapter 12: Stock Management in the Defence Forces (23 May 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: That may be the case for the last number of years but for a significant period of time, we allowed recruitment to get to a point where it was a critical threat. I think everybody can accept that. Recruitment and retention dropped for lots of reasons and issues. My point is that many people in the Defence Forces argue that that would not have happened if those who are responsible for...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 - Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Defence
Report on the Accounts of the Public Services 2022
Chapter 12: Stock Management in the Defence Forces (23 May 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: There is a greater responsibility on Ms McCrum, as Secretary General, and on her team in the Department to ensure that the demands, wishes and expressions of the operational side are expressed than on their counterparts in any other Department. In any other Department, it would be more appropriate for me to have a direct conversation with the line operator. It would be more appropriate for...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 - Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Defence
Report on the Accounts of the Public Services 2022
Chapter 12: Stock Management in the Defence Forces (23 May 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: I am reminding the Secretary General that there is an additional responsibility on her in this area. I believe some of the issues, particularly around recruitment, have arisen in recent years - not during Ms McCrum's tenure - because, at a senior level in the Department, the case was not made earlier. The same point can be made in respect of pay issues. Simple changes were made by this...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 - Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Defence
Report on the Accounts of the Public Services 2022
Chapter 12: Stock Management in the Defence Forces (23 May 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: Let me move on to the independent review group's report on the Defence Forces. I suppose in its politest form it showed that there was a kind of tough-man approach within the organisation and that this strong or macho kind of culture was too prevalent. Ms McCrum might have a different view but that was the view in general terms. I would like for a moment to consider families and people...