Results 4,241-4,260 of 4,810 for speaker:Liam Twomey
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report - November 2014: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (4 Dec 2014)
Liam Twomey: Yes.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report - November 2014: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (4 Dec 2014)
Liam Twomey: I will have to postpone a response to the question.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report - November 2014: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (4 Dec 2014)
Liam Twomey: I thank Professor McHale. Is Deputy Tóibín a member of the committee?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report - November 2014: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (4 Dec 2014)
Liam Twomey: Okay. I call Senator Barrett.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report - November 2014: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (4 Dec 2014)
Liam Twomey: Do the witnesses mind if I proceed to Deputy Mulherin? I will return to Dr. Donovan. I want to keep to the schedule.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report - November 2014: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (4 Dec 2014)
Liam Twomey: Has the council done much work on the comprehensive review of expenditure?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report - November 2014: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (4 Dec 2014)
Liam Twomey: Has the council done work on this? We hear much lip-service being paid to the comprehensive expenditure but is it relatively new?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report - November 2014: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (4 Dec 2014)
Liam Twomey: Moneys can be allocated in the budget for a certain area but may never be spent on it and go somewhere else. When this is raised, the response is usually a shrug of the shoulders. Is there a concern that the administrative capacity is not in place to carry out these types of reviews? When one goes to certain conferences and meets top-level administrators, they often talk about the deficit...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report - November 2014: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (4 Dec 2014)
Liam Twomey: Does our system have the capacity? I presume the council has made a comparison with the UK system.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report - November 2014: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (4 Dec 2014)
Liam Twomey: Is Sweden the best comparison?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report - November 2014: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (4 Dec 2014)
Liam Twomey: If the council has any material on this, will it send it on to the committee for its consideration? Some members tried to give the impression that the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council is unloved by the Government. I can assure the council that if some of the Opposition parties were in government, then it would be even more unloved. If there is a change in Europe and a move towards a stimulus...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report - November 2014: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (4 Dec 2014)
Liam Twomey: Does the council believe the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland could help improve the economy?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report - November 2014: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (4 Dec 2014)
Liam Twomey: I believe the council’s work is good. It speaks about fiscal stability but we have to keep an eye on the political aspects of it. We find it terrible to think we might lose the general election in 2016 and the council was wrong because the economy was better than it said.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report - November 2014: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (4 Dec 2014)
Liam Twomey: When we look at this comprehensive review of expenditure, this will obviously be seen as a very political issue and no doubt, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council will be referenced in respect of it. If the council has any background work, we would really appreciate it and it would really help make it a very good debate because we will also be requesting the same background work from the...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report - November 2014: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (4 Dec 2014)
Liam Twomey: That is everybody's role here. When these meetings started a few years ago, it used to be impossible to get out of here. Things have improved slightly from that point of view. Does Senator Barrett wish to make another comment?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report - November 2014: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (4 Dec 2014)
Liam Twomey: That is outside Professor McHale's remit.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report - November 2014: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (4 Dec 2014)
Liam Twomey: The Senator mentioned my own interest as I am a GP. Primary care gives a massive return for every €1 invested in it and yet year after year, it has remained the Cinderella of the service. It is almost impossible to get the HSE or the Department of Health to make significant transfers of funds to primary care. That is not something the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council really does.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report - November 2014: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (4 Dec 2014)
Liam Twomey: Professor McHale has enough on his plate. We will have to give him another 30 people. I thank Professor McHale and all of the members of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and its secretariat who have come here today. It has been very informative, as usual.
- Palestine: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (10 Dec 2014)
Liam Twomey: The next speaker is Deputy Tóibín, who is sharing time with Deputies Ó Caoláin and Adams.
- Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2014)
Liam Twomey: The Garda Síochána.