Results 2,861-2,880 of 21,440 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Expenditure (23 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: To ask the Taoiseach if he will provide details in tabular form for the years 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and to date 2012, inclusive, of the arrangements entered into by him, anybody under his aegis or State agency for which he has responsibility for the obtaining of advice from a senior or junior counsel and or a firm of solicitors; the subject matter for which advice was sought; the names of...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Expenditure (23 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: To ask the Taoiseach if he will provide a list of all companies or persons providing an external professional service to his Department such as ICT, legal advice, advertising, project management and including any other external professional service not listed; the amount invoiced by each company to him over the past 12 months, in tabular form. [45657/12]

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: I understand I have 20 minutes and I will try to stay within this time. I am glad Mr. Coughlan acknowledged in his statement that €31.7 million, which is the sum for salaries and allowances, is substantial. He is right to acknowledge this. I take issue with Mr. Coughlan when he says the system for accounting for this money is robust. He used that term a couple of times. I would...

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: Does having an unvouched regime not undermine any argument we, as parliamentarians, or Mr. Coughlan might make that the system is robust? There seems to be a glaring contradiction there.

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: How many Deputies, Ministers and Senators avail of the unvouched system for the public representation allowance?

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is extremely troubling.

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: Please. That would be even better.

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: What is the cumulative value of those unvouched expenses? Does Mr. Coughlan have those figures? It is, obviously, €15,000 by 39 plus €12,000 by 12 plus €9,250 by 44. I do not have my calculator.

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: Could someone add that up and I will come back to it? Mr. Coughlan then moved on to the secretarial allowance, that is, the staffing issue. Deputies, Ministers and Senators can opt for an entirely transparent system or for one that is at least partially unvouched. I accept that Mr. Coughlan is not the person who set out the parameters of this system, but it is completely and utterly...

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: What does the €18.2 million cover?

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: Is that the total cost of the secretarial allowance? Does Mr. Coughlan have a differentiation between the unvouched and vouched elements? That is what I am trying to capture.

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: I do not expect Mr. Coughlan to do complex calculations on the spot. I appreciate the documentation he has given us, but it is not sufficient for the committee to have an informed discussion on the subject. We need to know the amount of unvouched payments. How much money is going through the system in representative or secretarial allowances for which there is no paper trail? It would be...

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: Combining the public representation and secretarial allowances amounts to just short of €2 million in unvouched payments. We have to cease that practice. I appreciate Mr. Coughlan's commentary. His idea of an independent body deciding on the allowances regime and the level of allowances is probably wise advice. Public representatives need to take note that money of that magnitude...

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am reading the document in which it states that members holding certain offices of Oireachtas committees have an additional telephone allowance of €11,000 annually, which is paid quarterly. So that figure should be €1,100?

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: Thank God for that. I only wish there were several more typographical errors. Does that additional payment of €1,100 go to other members, as well as to the chairpersons of committees? Is that payment unique to the chairpersons of the various committees?

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: An impression is created in the document that it might go elsewhere.

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: It would have been useful to have that noted in the document. I will now focus on the cost of the committees. One must take account of the additional allowance for the chairperson, payments to the Seanad Select Committee on members' interests and to the commission. That comes to a startling figure of €266,500 per annum. Is that calculation correct? The reason I am raising the...

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: Will Mr. Watt develop that point? He estimates that the allowances to those serving on committees could cost €400,000.

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: The figure for 2010 was €1.1 million?

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: Does Mr. Coughlan dispute the €400,000 figure that Mr. Watt has given us?