Results 4,101-4,120 of 6,653 for speaker:Rose Conway-Walsh

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (27 Jun 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: That is what I am trying to get at, namely, whether the expertise and the capacity is there to test technically, as much as from an accounting perspective. I do not believe it is enough to just allocate funding to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage or to the Department of Transport and then fail to have an oversight mechanism for the State to ensure that those...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Development Plan (27 Jun 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Thank you for letting me in, a Chathaoirligh. Deputy Stanton has asked a vital question. As I said in my previous contribution, the underspend in the Department of Transport last year was €193 million. The N17 project needs only a small allocation to continue its development for such vital infrastructure. It does not make sense at all. I know the Minister will say it is for the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Flood Risk Management (27 Jun 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I appreciate that the Minister of State may not have the details now but it is my understanding that the Crossmolina flood relief scheme is waiting to be signed off in the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. All of the environmental reports have been done and, as I understand it, everything else has been done. We are just waiting for it to be...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Office of Public Works (27 Jun 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I ask the Minister of State about the potential and the capacity within his Department to undertake all-island projects on biodiversity. There is huge potential in this regard particularly with the oncoming PEACEPLUS programme and the elements within that for biodiversity. Is there capacity or is there an intention within the Department to facilitate communities to twin with other...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Construction Industry (27 Jun 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: 42. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to outline progress towards enhancing productivity in the construction sector, including utilising modern methods of construction as committed to in the programme for Government; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30983/23]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Construction Industry (27 Jun 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Will the Minister outline the progress towards enhancing productivity in the construction sector, including the utilisation of modern methods of construction, MMC, as committed to in the programme for Government? The programme states: Work to enhance productivity in the construction sector includes utilising modern methods of construction. This work will be guided by the Department of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Construction Industry (27 Jun 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I thank the Minster. This is the way forward in procurement but I will quote David Browne, a member of the RIAI, last month when the organisation was before the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Modern methods of construction, if adopted at scale in Ireland, can have an important role to play in meeting the targets of the National Development Plan by helping to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Construction Industry (27 Jun 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I am glad we agree on that. I would be interested in the timescale for that. Will the Minister work with the line Departments to implement mandated targets for the use of modern methods of construction in public sector programmes to establish that consistent level of demand? If targets are put in there, that will bring extra focus into what we are trying to achieve here.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Procurement Contracts (27 Jun 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: 44. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to outline the progress made on reforming public procurement in order to improve environmental, economic and social impacts; making particular reference to the objective of including green criteria in all procurements using public funds, to be completed within three years, as committed to in the programme for Government; and if he will...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Procurement Contracts (27 Jun 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Will the Minister outline the progress made on reforming public procurement to improve the environmental, economic and social impacts, making particular reference to the objective of including the green criteria we talked about earlier in all procurement using public funds, which was to be completed within three years as committed in the programme for Government? As I have outlined,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Procurement Contracts (27 Jun 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I thank the Minister of State for all that. He rightly said a circular was published in 2019 promoting the use of environmental and social considerations in public procurement. Then the programme for Government set a specific deadline of this week for the inclusion of the green criteria in all procurement using public funds and nothing like that level of ambition seems to have been...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Procurement Contracts (27 Jun 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: What concerns me is we seem to present lots of guidelines, and rightly so, but if we do not break those down into actual obligations for what the different bodies need to do then we find the outcomes are not what we might have hoped they would be. Thus, we need to look at some other mechanisms and targets to ensure we are getting the outcomes we need.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Spending Code (27 Jun 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: 45. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in relation to recent reform of the public spending code, to outline how said reforms will achieve greater speed and efficiency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30982/23]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Spending Code (27 Jun 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: The public spending code was updated in December 2019. When will the infrastructure guidelines be published on the public spending code? Will the Minister outline how the changes announced so far will increase speed and efficiency in the delivery of capital projects? The key to delivering a project on time and on budget is to get the design and the planning phase right. There are no magic...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Spending Code (27 Jun 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: In that case, it remains unclear to me how the reforms the Minister has outlined will make any substantial difference in terms of the speed of project delivery. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael McGrath, alluded to that when he said that the timelines associated with public spending code compliance are a fraction of the time required for compliance. I need to see how it is going to...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2022 (28 Jun 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I am just stepping in for the Cathaoirleach while he is out of the room. I thank Ms O'Loughlin for her statement. This is a very important document, which I have read with interest. I will ask questions first. The first thing that strikes me is that there is significant variation between the different Departments in terms of the quality of the information that is being produced. There...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2022 (28 Jun 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I welcome the opportunity to discuss this matter and the Department's openness to taking on suggestions. We want to bring this report to a place where it really serves people and we have good information. As Dr. Moran knows, the problem is we have lots of information but having good quality information that allows us to measure is the only way to make progress. What would stop a...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2022 (28 Jun 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: The Department can play a key role here in bringing simplicity to the situation to make it more transparent and to be able to measure. If we are looking at housing, for instance, one could say we have delivered, through a local authority, "X" amount of housing, but that does not tell us if we are making progress with regard to how many are on the housing waiting list and what the unmet need...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2022 (28 Jun 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I am watching the clock and I do not want to go over time. I do not want to pick on the Department of Social Protection, as I think it is one of the few examples in this document of a Department in which genuine performance-based budgeting is taking place. That Department sets a real target for poverty reduction and measures itself against it. However, the Department of the Environment,...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2022 (28 Jun 2023)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Okay, so it is an evolving situation. My time is up. I thank the witnesses for those answers.