Results 21,221-21,240 of 28,162 for speaker:Catherine Murphy

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (30 Jun 2022)

Catherine Murphy: There is a big difference in the number of complaints.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (30 Jun 2022)

Catherine Murphy: I suspect that it is falling into delays.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (30 Jun 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (30 Jun 2022)

Catherine Murphy: I ask that the Department would give us a note on this because I think it could be a lengthy reply and it would be useful for us to have a more detailed response. I want to ask on the issue of foreign birth passports. Prior to Covid, the processing of applications for foreign birth passport applications stood at 18 months. I have a list of the six top countries, with England being the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (30 Jun 2022)

Catherine Murphy: What is the delay now? It was 18 months before.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (30 Jun 2022)

Catherine Murphy: I am sure Mr. Conlan would say that a two-year delay in getting a passport processed is horrendous.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (30 Jun 2022)

Catherine Murphy: The Department might give us a note in regard to what timeline it is working towards to get that down to an acceptable length of time. I want to ask about the leasing of embassies and diplomatic relations. This is an issue that comes up each time the Department is with the committee. The Department has 134 leased properties and, between 2017 and 2020, there was an €80 million...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (30 Jun 2022)

Catherine Murphy: The €80 million is a sizeable increase. Is that to do with additional embassies or an increase in the cost of leasing? What is the reason for that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (30 Jun 2022)

Catherine Murphy: I ask that the Department again gives us a detailed note so we will see in tabular form what we are paying and what the length of the lease is for each of them, and whether consideration is being given to purchasing where the Department has seen a rationale for doing that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (30 Jun 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Where are we in regard to the embassy in Tokyo?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (30 Jun 2022)

Catherine Murphy: What is the timeline?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (30 Jun 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Is the Department looking to build any further embassies at the moment?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (30 Jun 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Is there a budget for that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (30 Jun 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Given we are moving to an online or a mostly online system, the Department might also give us a note on workforce planning because that will obviously have a bearing on dealing with the current backlog. I am sure it is very frustrating for the Department but all of us have found it an incredible experience trying to deal with people who are getting on to the Department. They are losing...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (30 Jun 2022)

Catherine Murphy: I have a number of questions. The officials might just come back to me on each of them. The Comptroller and Auditor General suggested - and I agree that it would be a good idea - that there be a separation between passport and visa and consular services from the point of view of the accounts. Will that be taken on board? The Book of Estimates for 2019 included a new metric for Passport...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (30 Jun 2022)

Catherine Murphy: That is permanent then.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (30 Jun 2022)

Catherine Murphy: One of the recommendations from a previous engagement was that Mr. Conlan would review the ratio of temporary and permanent staff.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (30 Jun 2022)

Catherine Murphy: When Mr. Conlan is coming back to us with the workforce planning thing that we asked for, he might just give us a note on that as well.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (30 Jun 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Some of the stuff relating to passports is not stacking up for me judging by what the people who have been coming to my office, which has been for quite a long time now, have said. I am always in favour of fixing the system rather than the individual problem. I certainly do not think any of us wants that kind of level of engagement with the Passport Office. We want people to be able to...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs (30 Jun 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Is that when all of the documents are in?