Results 3,281-3,300 of 5,388 for speaker:John Deasy

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 point is that the gap is widening between Dublin and the two other urban areas and the rest of the country. That must be taken into consideration in the drafting of the legislation, and we must examine how and where the money is being spent. I am not so sure anybody in the Department has done that yet.

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: 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: I want to ask about what was characterised as "significant gains" in productivity across the system. As the witness mentioned, people have had new working arrangements imposed on them, including longer working hours, new rosters and standardised arrangements for annual and sick leave. What did Mr. Watt mean by that and where have there been gains in productivity across the sectors?

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 mentioned education, health and policing.

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: Is there any sector where there have not been productivity gains?

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: Let me ask a different question. Where it is easy to measure, is there any sector where Mr. Watt has seen declines?

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 agree. I am playing devil's advocate here.

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 effectively making the case that our public sector needed trimming. It needed to be made more lean-----

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: -----and its outputs are far better as a result of that process across the board. The results are there for everybody to see. That is effectively the case Mr. Watt is making.

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 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: Deputies know plenty of gardaí, nurses and teachers and they might not agree with Mr. Watt. I have a different question.

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 my next question.

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: Can more be squeezed out of this system in Mr. Watt's opinion?

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 the question people would ask. If it has been so successful, and we have seen those gains across the board and measured them, how much more is there to get out of the system?

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 am not questioning that but we have an official governmental counterbalance called the Comptroller and Auditor General. Does he have an opinion on this with regard to the figures he has seen?

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 no area Mr. McCarthy has looked at specifically with regard 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: Yes.

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 all I am asking.

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: Finally, with regard to the legislation, there is a list of five Bills. I must ask a question on the infamous Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill. It arises on the Order of Business every second week at this stage. The Taoiseach says in response that it is "in committee".

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: What are the chances of this Bill ever getting out of the Seanad?