Results 241-260 of 3,374 for speaker:Shane Cassells

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Shane Cassells: I would like to ask the Comptroller and Auditor General, looking at the other figures for the other categories, if it is quite a high figure in terms of the range of schemes.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Shane Cassells: The word "fraud" has serious connotations when assigned to the farming sector and it would be very worrying. I wanted to explore it in case people are not actively or knowingly trying to pursue fraudulent payments. It is a high figure when one sees that it is up there under disability allowance.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) (25 Oct 2016)

Shane Cassells: 333. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if he will change the way his Department calculates contributory pension contributions in order that the calculation will be based on actual years worked and not solely on the date when a person enters the workforce for the first time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31999/16]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Disability Support Services Provision (25 Oct 2016)

Shane Cassells: 484. To ask the Minister for Health the alternative services he plans to provide for persons and service users in a unit (details supplied) to replace a much needed hydrotherapy pool; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31998/16]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Sports Facilities Provision (2 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: 30. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his views on the municipal stadium model which has been successfully developed in Tallaght by South Dublin County Council; and if he will examine the possibility of helping to finance less affluent local authorities in other parts of the country develop similar schemes. [32789/16]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Home Tuition Scheme Eligibility (2 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: 141. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will review a decision not to grant home tuition to a person (details supplied) in County Meath following a number of recent operations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32699/16]

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Office of Public Works Properties (2 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: 251. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his plans for a building (details supplied) in Enfield, County Meath; and if the Office of Public Works will consider its use as a community space for persons living in Enfield and its environs. [32697/16]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services Provision (2 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: 313. To ask the Minister for Health if he will address the ongoing need for medical services in south Meath and specifically in Enfield, County Meath, where a population of 4,000 persons have no access to medical services of any type; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32696/16]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Mental Health Services (2 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: 314. To ask the Minister for Health if due to the transfer of psychiatric admission beds from Navan to Drogheda and the resultant burden put on service users and their carers, he will redraw the sector line in mental health areas to include south Meath in the Mullingar catchment area to allow accessible treatment and admission facilities for persons in south Meath; and if he will make a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teachers' Remuneration (3 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: 60. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the costs to his Department if two-tier pay disparity between pre-2011 and post-2011 teachers was ended immediately and all teachers' salaries were based on the pre-2011 scales; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33139/16]

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Agriculture Industry (9 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: 115. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he will implement stricter enforcement of the protocol for the spreading of bio-solids and sludge as many residents in affected areas of County Meath are concerned regarding the strong odour which comes from fields in which bio-solids and sludge spreading takes place; and if he will make a statement on the...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: There have been a few senior analysis pieces done recently in national newspapers on the work of this committee, in this respect berating members, including the Chairman, for some of the approaches and on their questioning of NAMA officials and other senior witnesses. When NAMA officials have attended these meetings, they has been quite strong in attacking back, in particular, in terms of...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: I was not doing so. I am making the point that there is quite a divergence, not a small one, between both sets of the accounts that have been brought before us. That naturally calls into question what has been said to us.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: The attitude and the tone of some of the witnesses who have come here has not helped the case. As I said, the work of members of this committee has now also been called into question in the context of robust questions being asked when the suggestion is perhaps we should be coming in here with cotton wool and cuddling some of the witnesses.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: That goes to the heart of the matter. When it talks about the rump - I think that is how it described it - of what was left, that was the motivation for the bundling of the assets. It felt the rump of what was left could not be worked out. That is what drove NAMA to the motivation for the opportunity to avail of an overall sale rather than a work-out. On that basis, Mr. McCarthy is asking...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: Unfortunately, that is the issue.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: That comes back to the point that NAMA's failure with the procedural process leaves us with a whole raft of “what ifs” in terms of the questions Mr. McCarthy is raising. That is one aspect of its decision to go and pursue that strategy if it had not worked out. The points raised by Deputy Peter Burke are pertinent here in respect of the Minister for Finance and in terms of...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: If there is pressure from the European Central Bank and so forth, that is not a quantifiable accounting figure that one can put in an audit. It is a bigger pressure coming from those in Europe. What is Mr. McCarthy's assessment of that?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: The Comptroller and Auditor General has made a very forthright statement here this morning to the effect that it is not an accounting difference between his office and NAMA. He has said the difference is about economic decision making and how one makes choices about public resources. That is a very important statement because the dispute was characterised as simply a matter of accounting...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: Sorry to interrupt, but on that final point, is that where we are? Is the dispute about that, namely, that it could be the right decision, from a business point of view, to proceed and take a loss? NAMA is still contending that given the baseline figure that was set out it made a profit, not a loss. Are we arguing the toss of a coin on that point? Is that where we are?