Results 2,541-2,560 of 2,990 for speaker:Ossian Smyth

Gas (Amendment) Bill 2023: Report and Final Stages (24 Jan 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I am not saying this is all covered already. What is outlined in amendment No. 4 is covered already. That amendment seeks that GNI complies with the terms of the climate Act. I am saying GNI is already covered by that. It absolutely is. GNI is not covered under what is referenced in amendment No. 6, which seeks the right to refuse connections and so on. What is outlined in that...

Gas (Amendment) Bill 2023: Report and Final Stages (24 Jan 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I move amendment No. 5: In page 13, lines 13 to 21, to delete all words from and including "Subject" in line 13 down to and including line 21 and substitute the following: "Subject to subsection (2), the majority-shareholding Minister may, by order, confer on the Board such function of developing, maintaining and operating telecommunications infrastructure as the majority-shareholding...

Gas (Amendment) Bill 2023: Report and Final Stages (24 Jan 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I move amendment No. 7: In page 17, line 15, after “notice” to insert “in writing”.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Regulatory Bodies (25 Jan 2024)

Ossian Smyth: Given the importance of the electronic communications sector to both the economy and society, robust regulation of networks and services in a manner that enables investment, ensures operational resilience and trust and appropriate consumer protection requires a fit-for-purpose communications regulator. Both my officials and I meet regularly with ComReg to discuss a range of policy and...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Regulatory Bodies (25 Jan 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I am glad to hear that the Deputy has taken the time to meet ComReg. It has 156 employees at the moment and has sanction for 177. ComReg came to my Department looking for an additional 55 employees. It was looking for specific increases in grades and salaries and so on, and that is under consideration at the moment. However, it does have sanction to move to 177. The Deputy mentioned...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Regulatory Bodies (25 Jan 2024)

Ossian Smyth: Communications networks are part of our critical infrastructure, of course. We can see that they are a target. The biggest target is the energy system, with communications probably second after that. We see the example of Vodafone Portugal being taken down for a number of days. This is the kind of thing we need to protect against. The function of ComReg will be to ensure that...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 11 – Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 – Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 – State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - the Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 – Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 – National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 -the Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 – Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Ossian Smyth: Where there have been a number of bids for a contract and the person who wins the contract does not go ahead with it, the project cannot automatically transfer some months later to the person who was second in line. That would be considered unfair to the other bidders because the situation may have changed in the interim. Unfortunately, the contract needs to go out for a full retender....

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 11 – Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 – Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 – State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - the Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 – Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 – National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 -the Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 – Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I understand from speaking to the CCPC that sometimes it strongly suspects some form of collusion is going on without being able to get the evidence together. I asked the OGP this year to collaborate more strongly with the CCPC on this and take the data it is gathering and perform analysis on it to look for the patterns that would indicate that type of collusive behaviour. The OGP has been...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 11 – Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 – Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 – State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - the Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 – Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 – National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 -the Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 – Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I agree.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 11 – Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 – Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 – State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - the Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 – Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 – National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 -the Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 – Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Ossian Smyth: If the Deputy has specific suspicions about collusion in particular areas, I invite her to talk to the OGP about them.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 11 – Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 – Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 – State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - the Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 – Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 – National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 -the Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 – Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Ossian Smyth: This is taken very seriously. For example, in the allocation of spectrum licences for mobile phone services, wireless broadband and so on, there is a great risk that if precautions are not taken, there could be collusion between the bidders. It has been studied in great detail and much work is done on it. It is a form of revenue protection and fraud avoidance.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 11 – Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 – Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 – State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - the Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 – Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 – National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 -the Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 – Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I think what we saw in Ukraine was suddenly a spike in energy prices because Ukraine was responsible for delivering a lot of energy, and also a spike in food prices. Energy prices then feed through to prices all the way across the economy. So we had a sudden change. Since then there has been a dramatic fall, certainly in the wholesale price of energy, which is then coming through into our...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 11 – Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 – Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 – State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - the Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 – Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 – National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 -the Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 – Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Ossian Smyth: We have to follow national law and European law. Approximately a year and a half ago, a general problem emerged when inflation appeared where we had never had inflation before, particularly in certain subindices. Suddenly, the price of wood, concrete or steel would go through the roof. We reached a point where it looked like certain projects would not go ahead, and there was a feeling that...