Results 3,021-3,040 of 26,021 for speaker:Kieran O'Donnell

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: Under the current system, to whom does the local authority auditor report?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: To whom does the local authority report?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: After they report to the elected members does the report go to the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: Is that a function of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: I welcome Ms Tallon and her colleagues. We are encountering many cases of people who want to pay the household charge but are having difficulties coming up with the funding. What flexibility do the local authorities have to introduce an instalment payment system? Considering that the household charge is gone by 1 January and the property tax, as announced, will not be introduced until...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: One of the local authorities told me it could only facilitate an instalment up to 31 March because, as far as it was concerned, that was when it expected the household charge to kick in again for the following year, but the household charge is no longer in existence. I ask the Department to contact individual local authorities to advise them that they now have a window of a further three...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: I appreciate that. I do not want to take up time. Will the Department speak to the local authorities, which are under its remit, and tell them that they should be able to give perhaps a further three months for people to have cleared the household charge before the property tax comes in? It would make an enormous difference to people in terms of facilitating the payment. I am conscious of...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: Do the local authorities have the flexibility to take it up to the end of June if they wish? If, for instance, €100 is owing, do they have the flexibility to say to the individual that, as long as he or she clears it before the end of June, they will provide for payment on an instalment basis up to the end of June?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: I will come back to that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: What has it cost the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to date to implement the household charge?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: The Department could give some indication of the split between the administration of collection and the fact of the database coming into being. On the auditing of local authorities by the Department, how many staff are there in the local authority audit section within the Department? Some €3.5 billion was allocated to local authorities in 2011. The Secretary General might give an...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: Of those 33 staff, how many are inspectors who would go out to the individual local authorities to do work?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: How many of those are qualified accountants or auditors?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: In what area?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: If a situation arises whereby they report back that there is a difficulty with funding or whatever, what is the process of how the Department interacts in terms of getting value for the taxpayer in respect of local authority spending, similar to what we do in terms of general public bodies where the Comptroller and Auditor General conducts his audit of individual Departments, the Secretary...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: To whom do they report?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: Do they report to the Department in any way?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: The auditors are reporting to the members of the relevant local authority. The Department allocates a significant share of the funding for local authorities. How does the Department get to the point where it is absolutely confident that the taxpayer is getting value for the money that goes into the local authority system? How does it ensure the money is spent efficiently? I assume that...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: Am I clear?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: Enlighten me.