Results 2,301-2,320 of 4,350 for speaker:Bobby Aylward
- Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)
Bobby Aylward: The Secretary General of the Department presumably has some responsibility and can give some advice. I have never seen such hesitation in all my life as I have seen sitting here for the past hour.
- Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)
Bobby Aylward: I cannot hear half of what is going on.
- Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)
Bobby Aylward: I do not accept the witnesses are here in a voluntary capacity. They are here because they are spending taxpayers' money. It is not voluntary.
- Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)
Bobby Aylward: I think at this stage we probably need to get legal advice ourselves to know what we can actually do. We are after hitting a brick wall and we seem to be going nowhere. We need to move this on.
- Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)
Bobby Aylward: I do not think I have ever questioned witnesses who have come before the Committee of Public Accounts at 7.15 p.m. on a Thursday. If we stay any longer, it is beds we will want. That is the way we are going. At this hour of the night everyone is getting tired so I will be quick and fast. I will address my questions to both ETBs. Why were the audits late, in Tipperary's case in 2015 and...
- Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)
Bobby Aylward: It was not the first time.
- Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)
Bobby Aylward: What plans do Mr. Hogan and Mr. Ruttle have to create more efficiencies within their respective ETBs? Since they became the chairpersons of the ETBs, what have they done to ensure both ETBs are operating effectively? This question is along the same lines. What have they done? What are they going to do in the future to make sure there are efficiencies?
- Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)
Bobby Aylward: Okay. My time is not up yet. I want to ask about the Comptroller and Auditor General because there is a conflict here. There is an issue. An investigation is going on. Do the ETBs have any issues with what the Comptroller and Auditor General does and the functions he carries out? Are they playing their part in co-operating with him?
- Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)
Bobby Aylward: Has that been done on foot of a view in the Department that it is needed because the internal audit function has not been sufficiently efficient up to now? Was there a question mark over the way the audits were being done?
- Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)
Bobby Aylward: I would like to ask about overdrafts and loans. This issue was mentioned by the Chairman. What structures or procedures are in place for the ETBs to get loans or overdrafts? Some ETBs could run amok when borrowing money. It is easy to borrow money, but trying to pay it back is another thing. What kind of limitations are in place with the Department? How are the ETBs sanctioned for loans...
- Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)
Bobby Aylward: Tipperary ETB has no loans.
- Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)
Bobby Aylward: When I glanced through a document today, I saw that the ETB in Dublin has €2.5 million of a loan or overdraft. The Comptroller and Auditor General might be able to tell me whether this is right. I do not have the document in question in front of me.
- Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)
Bobby Aylward: The Department has to sanction it, is that correct?
- Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)
Bobby Aylward: I want to ask about information and communications technology, ICT, which the witnesses have made a lot of play about today. Can they explain how the operations have been enhanced? Witnesses spoke about having to have IT systems put in place when bodies amalgamated.
- Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)
Bobby Aylward: My last question is about the merger of ETBs. Has the learner been affected in any way? How are the ETBs improving services provided to the learner through this better system that is now in place?
- Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)
Bobby Aylward: Local authorities should operate in the same way. I am always hearing that local people lose out to-----
- Topical Issue Debate: Fodder Crisis (21 Nov 2017)
Bobby Aylward: Today eight Fianna Fáil Deputies are raising the issue of the ongoing fodder crisis. Many other Members have raised this matter over the past week or so. We cannot have another delayed response to the unfolding fodder crisis, as happened in 2012. There is an urgent need for swift action to be taken by the Government to assist farmers in affected areas and we have called for the...
- Topical Issue Debate: Fodder Crisis (21 Nov 2017)
Bobby Aylward: The Minister mentioned animal welfare. I am an active farmer myself. For any farmer worth his salt, animal welfare is the most important thing. It means maintaining animals and feeding them to keep the business going. That is what animal welfare is about. People, particularly those in the west, the north west and the Border, are going to run out of fodder. The Minister is correct to...
- Rural Crime: Motion (21 Nov 2017)
Bobby Aylward: We must ramp up our response to rural crime. The national statistics which show a reduction in burglaries and related offences do not reflect the situation on the ground in rural Ireland. People in rural Ireland are not reporting crime because they know that An Garda Síochána does not have the personnel to respond in a timely manner. I have heard that gardaí have responded...
- Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan Implementation (21 Nov 2017)
Bobby Aylward: 51. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the timeframe for the national broadband plan and the measures contained to ensure equality in the roll-out of broadband services for rural areas, rural communities and regional towns; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48678/17]