Results 14,781-14,800 of 34,777 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (8 Mar 2018)

Seán Fleming: There is no current report on those accounts before us. We will base it on the most recent set of accounts and an update of information will be requested.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (8 Mar 2018)

Seán Fleming: Will it cover which?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (8 Mar 2018)

Seán Fleming: We will specifically say that.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (8 Mar 2018)

Seán Fleming: Absolutely.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (8 Mar 2018)

Seán Fleming: Absolutely. If they have already circulated information to specific journalists, we will ask for it. We are agreed on where we are going now. Will people want to set a date for as soon as is practicable after the break?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (8 Mar 2018)

Seán Fleming: I will ask the secretariat. In a few days the secretariat will issue and update to the committee members about precisely where we are at. If members are busy on Thursdays, we can come in to the House on a Tuesday or a Wednesday evening to do this. I believe there would be general agreement to do that. We will start that with the Accounting Officers. The secretariat will update us after a...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (8 Mar 2018)

Seán Fleming: We are writing directly to them, straight away, for a full breakdown, a full analysis and a reason it occurred.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (8 Mar 2018)

Seán Fleming: No. 4.3 is the clear audit opinion of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland. The board procured €890,100 of services during the year without the required competitive tendering. We will write directly to the board to request an explanation as to why this happened. It is a significant portion of its income.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (8 Mar 2018)

Seán Fleming: I will ask the secretariat to circulate that. If the board has already answered in that regard, we circulate it to members. No. 4.4 is a clear audit opinion for the fishery harbour centres. The clear audit opinion for the Church of Ireland College of Education is for the nine-month period ending September 2016. The report states that the review by the Board of Governors of the...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (8 Mar 2018)

Seán Fleming: Okay. That is reasonable. The Aquaculture Licences Appeals Board has a clear audit opinion. It is a very small organisation. No. 4.7 is the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission and this is a clear audit opinion. The committee is getting these audited accounts 15 months later. They took their time in getting these accounts to the Comptroller and Auditor General. It is a clear...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (8 Mar 2018)

Seán Fleming: It would point out that if some organisations can do it, why the rest cannot do it. I take the Deputy's point. We have the work programme and will have to come back with a date for the meeting we missed last week. We will try to schedule a date. The secretariat will work on this with regard to the Department of the Taoiseach and the strategic communications unit.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (8 Mar 2018)

Seán Fleming: We will ask the secretariat to address this over the break. That concludes our discussion for today on the work programme. I propose to suspend the meeting for a few minutes to allow our witnesses to take their seats.

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 8: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Local Government Fund Financial Statement 2016
Special Report No. 97 of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the Administration and Collection of Motor Taxes (8 Mar 2018)

Seán Fleming: In the first session of today's meeting, we will consider chapter 8 of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report of 2016, which is on central Government funding of local authorities, the Local Government Fund Financial Statement 2016 and Special Report No. 97 on the administration and collection of motor taxes. The second session will focus on the Appropriation Account for the Department...

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 8: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Local Government Fund Financial Statement 2016
Special Report No. 97 of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the Administration and Collection of Motor Taxes (8 Mar 2018)

Seán Fleming: I thank Mr. Doyle and invite Mr. Nolan to make his opening statement.

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 8: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Local Government Fund Financial Statement 2016
Special Report No. 97 of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the Administration and Collection of Motor Taxes (8 Mar 2018)

Seán Fleming: I thank Mr. Nolan. Before I call the first member, for the benefit of those watching the proceedings of the meeting, I would like to set the context of what we are discussing. As set out in the reports before us, public funding for local authorities comes from nine sources, including the local government fund, the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Transport Infrastructure Ireland,...

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 8: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Local Government Fund Financial Statement 2016
Special Report No. 97 of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the Administration and Collection of Motor Taxes (8 Mar 2018)

Seán Fleming: I thought that by capturing all nine sources we would have captured most of the funding allocated to local authorities. Mr. McCarthy is now saying only €2.2 billion comes from the sources I mentioned, which is about one third of the funding allocated to local authorities. From where does the other two thirds come? The local authorities derive income from commercial rates, planning...

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 8: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Local Government Fund Financial Statement 2016
Special Report No. 97 of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the Administration and Collection of Motor Taxes (8 Mar 2018)

Seán Fleming: I thought we had a comprehensive list here today, and people would have assumed that. I know Deputy Cassells will mention rates and some other issues, but there is as much money being raised locally for revenue expenditure by local authorities themselves, separate from the commercial rates. Essentially, central government is only a small contributor and provides a third of the funding for...

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 8: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Local Government Fund Financial Statement 2016
Special Report No. 97 of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the Administration and Collection of Motor Taxes (8 Mar 2018)

Seán Fleming: Fine. It is nice to get that information. The Department will probably send us a list of the breakdown of the three thirds and-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 8: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Local Government Fund Financial Statement 2016
Special Report No. 97 of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the Administration and Collection of Motor Taxes (8 Mar 2018)

Seán Fleming: I ask Mr. McCarthy to send it to us because it is valuable reading.

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 8: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Local Government Fund Financial Statement 2016
Special Report No. 97 of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the Administration and Collection of Motor Taxes (8 Mar 2018)

Seán Fleming: I have one final question. What is the total debt of all the local authorities combined? The Department must have an approximate-----