Results 3,261-3,280 of 5,388 for speaker:John Deasy

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Apr 2014)

John Deasy: Allegedly.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Apr 2014)

John Deasy: That is fair enough.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Apr 2014)

John Deasy: If there is no problem with the procurement, as the Comptroller and Auditor General has said, we should be wary about this. Maybe it is a simplistic way of putting this, but if there was a tender for firearms for An Garda Síochána and they were used, hypothetically, in an illegal shooting, would the Committee of Public Accounts be getting involved in the tender for those firearms?...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Apr 2014)

John Deasy: I feel a tiny bit differently on this issue in that I am less interested in the individuals. The issue is the information, and that is what I believe the remit of this committee to be. I believe members need to find out from Rehab whether it intends to garner the information the committee has requested in every respect. Obviously, there is a danger that some people may not wish to appear...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Apr 2014)

John Deasy: I believe the board is well aware of the information.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Apr 2014)

John Deasy: I do not believe the board should be let off the hook with regard to information the committee has sought through people's non-attendance. I am less interested in the individuals. I do not believe for a second that members of the board do not know all the information. At the very least, this committee must make that clear to the board.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John Deasy: I welcome Mr. Watt and his officials. It would appear, as most members have already left the meeting, that they are doing a great job. I would like later to ask Mr. Watt about what he characterised in his opening statement as significant gains in productivity across the system based on the Haddington Road agreement and its previous enabler, the Croke Park agreement. First, I would like to...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John Deasy: Perhaps Mr. Watt would repeat who is involved.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John Deasy: That is fair enough. I understand that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John Deasy: Should there be?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John Deasy: That was the case in the past.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John Deasy: The witness knows the basic figures for foreign direct investment, for example. Dublin, Cork and Galway get approximately 82% of that, which is a huge proportion when considering the country as a whole.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John Deasy: There is an immense disparity between the three urban areas and the rest of the country.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John Deasy: This is something that could amount to approximately €12 billion or €13 billion but nobody has given any thought to any regional aspect. It is a potential deficit.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John Deasy: This has started already.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John Deasy: The Minister for Finance has given the presentations and stated we are open for business, or essentially, to bring it on.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John Deasy: Mr. Watt has been around the financial world long enough and he knows equity funds do not really take public policy into consideration. We have given them the job of finding these commercial investments, and nobody has taken into account the fact we may be looking not only at a two-tier economy but a two-tier recovery, which is what I want to avoid. This legislation should try to avoid that...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John Deasy: That is fair enough.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John Deasy: Mr. Watt is not the first person to which I have thrown this question. I have asked some current and former IDA officials about this and they have argued that money should be earmarked for the regions. Their opinion is based on the fact that there are people within the IDA who do not examine regionalisation the way they should, and as long as we have these figures for the country as a...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John Deasy: Mr. Watt knows from where I am coming.