Results 3,321-3,340 of 5,949 for speaker:Paul McAuliffe

Organised Crime: Statements (20 Apr 2023)

Paul McAuliffe: I am sure the Minister will disagree with some of the points made by Deputy Tóibín, particularly with regard to the numbers. Facts are sometimes inconvenient, however. I will let the Minister correct some of those points.

Organised Crime: Statements (20 Apr 2023)

Paul McAuliffe: The key point is that the Deputy referred to figures for a certain period. One can be selective in picking particular periods. I agree with Deputies Tóibín and Shanahan that drugs seem to be the engine of the organised crime industry. That is because there is huge money to be made on the sale of drugs. We have seen infiltration by the drugs industry in many different...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Chapter 14 - Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies (Resumed)
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021 (Resumed)
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (Resumed) (20 Apr 2023)

Paul McAuliffe: I thank Deputy Devlin. I have a meeting at 11 a.m. and I have to attend for voting. Let me focus on the point that Mr. McGrath made about us not being a party to the case. I want to focus on the transfer of €29 million from the insurance compensation fund and its use and security of costs in a case which involved no State parties, essentially, private parties, and the governance...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Chapter 14 - Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies (Resumed)
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021 (Resumed)
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (Resumed) (20 Apr 2023)

Paul McAuliffe: I am somewhat familiar with it.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Chapter 14 - Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies (Resumed)
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021 (Resumed)
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (Resumed) (20 Apr 2023)

Paul McAuliffe: My question was: which section of the Act did they use to release the money?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Chapter 14 - Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies (Resumed)
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021 (Resumed)
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (Resumed) (20 Apr 2023)

Paul McAuliffe: I have read section 3. I am not a legal expert but I struggled to find that basis. The difficulty we have is that the President of the High Court is a member of the Judiciary and, as a Member of the Dáil, I am precluded from second-guessing the decisions of the President of the High Court. Would Mr. McGrath accept that is a significant governance gap where no public body can question...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Chapter 14 - Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies (Resumed)
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021 (Resumed)
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (Resumed) (20 Apr 2023)

Paul McAuliffe: Equally, it would be unwise of me to do it too.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Chapter 14 - Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies (Resumed)
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021 (Resumed)
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (Resumed) (20 Apr 2023)

Paul McAuliffe: But does that not show the governance gap that neither of us, despite being responsible for public finances, administrating the fund and holding public bodies to account, can examine or seek transparency around the distribution of public funds?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Chapter 14 - Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies (Resumed)
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021 (Resumed)
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (Resumed) (20 Apr 2023)

Paul McAuliffe: I accept it is the separation of powers.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Chapter 14 - Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies (Resumed)
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021 (Resumed)
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (Resumed) (20 Apr 2023)

Paul McAuliffe: So the Department of Finance cannot assist the Committee of Public Accounts in how we might have greater transparency of a fund which the Oireachtas established.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Chapter 14 - Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies (Resumed)
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021 (Resumed)
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (Resumed) (20 Apr 2023)

Paul McAuliffe: Of course, there are.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Chapter 14 - Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies (Resumed)
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021 (Resumed)
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (Resumed) (20 Apr 2023)

Paul McAuliffe: Would it be correct that if, in regard to the other duties and responsibilities which the Department had, the Department allocated public funding to any particular source, the Department would be subject to it being examined here before the Committee of Public Accounts?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Chapter 14 - Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies (Resumed)
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021 (Resumed)
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (Resumed) (20 Apr 2023)

Paul McAuliffe: Every Department is.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Chapter 14 - Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies (Resumed)
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021 (Resumed)
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (Resumed) (20 Apr 2023)

Paul McAuliffe: Even those bodies that receive partial funding from the State are examinable by this committee and by other auditing bodies, such as the local government auditor.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Chapter 14 - Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies (Resumed)
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021 (Resumed)
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (Resumed) (20 Apr 2023)

Paul McAuliffe: Of course, except the difficulty here is that public money is being gathered for the purposes of the insurance compensation fund and decisions are being made about how that is disbursed. There is a governance gap. I am not blaming the Department. I am not blaming the Central Bank here. I am asking them to assist me in identifying a clear governance gap here where it is not possible to...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Chapter 14 - Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies (Resumed)
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021 (Resumed)
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (Resumed) (20 Apr 2023)

Paul McAuliffe: Whether it did or did not-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Chapter 14 - Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies (Resumed)
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021 (Resumed)
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (Resumed) (20 Apr 2023)

Paul McAuliffe: Whether it did or did not, that is not the discussion I am having. The discussion I am having is that a decision was made to allocate public money. In every other normal course of events, it is possible to have a discussion about that. In this forum, it is not possible for me to discuss the decision made by the President of the High Court because of the separation of power. Does Mr....

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Chapter 14 - Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies (Resumed)
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021 (Resumed)
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (Resumed) (20 Apr 2023)

Paul McAuliffe: As a public servant, is Mr. McGrath concerned about it?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Chapter 14 - Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies (Resumed)
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021 (Resumed)
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (Resumed) (20 Apr 2023)

Paul McAuliffe: If I were-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Chapter 14 - Assessment and Collection of Insurance Compensation Fund Levies (Resumed)
Report on Administration and Movement of the Insurance Compensation Fund for the year ended 31 December 2021 (Resumed)
Comptroller and Auditor General Section 2 Report on Unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund of the Exchequer (Resumed) (20 Apr 2023)

Paul McAuliffe: I accept Mr. Hogan's position. I do not know why he is being defensive about it.