Results 4,361-4,380 of 19,173 for speaker:Shane Ross

Public Accounts Committee: Oversight of Irish Water: Discussion (15 Jan 2014)

Shane Ross: I know that. There is nothing they can do, in fact. I regard that as the bad old bonus culture returning, where one can give people performance bonuses but can do nothing about it if they do not perform. Who carried out the tender process? Who did the interviews and the questions? What happened? I do not understand it.

Public Accounts Committee: Oversight of Irish Water: Discussion (15 Jan 2014)

Shane Ross: Was it done internally or did an agency do it?

Public Accounts Committee: Oversight of Irish Water: Discussion (15 Jan 2014)

Shane Ross: Did Irish Water interview the people at some stage?

Public Accounts Committee: Oversight of Irish Water: Discussion (15 Jan 2014)

Shane Ross: I will explain what worries me about this. Yesterday I read the document produced on the tender process which stated it was awarded to the most economically advantageous tenderers, whatever this means. It sounds like the cheapest, but it is not necessarily the cheapest, is it? What does economically advantageous mean?

Public Accounts Committee: Oversight of Irish Water: Discussion (15 Jan 2014)

Shane Ross: It is not really against the criterion of the most economically advantageous; it is against lots of criteria.

Public Accounts Committee: Oversight of Irish Water: Discussion (15 Jan 2014)

Shane Ross: So it is not the cheapest.

Public Accounts Committee: Oversight of Irish Water: Discussion (15 Jan 2014)

Shane Ross: What I find so difficult about this tender is that if Irish Water stated it had a certain number of lots and I were asked blind about these consultants and I closed my eyes and thought about whom Irish Water would give the contracts to I would say KPMG, Ernst & Young, PwC, Arthur Cox and A&L Goodbody. Abracadabra - they won the tenders. Will Mr. Barry explain this to me? These...

Public Accounts Committee: Oversight of Irish Water: Discussion (15 Jan 2014)

Shane Ross: The weightings have given us something, but what weighting does Irish Water give to those people who put in utterly disastrous performances for the State in the recent past when they are tendering?

Public Accounts Committee: Oversight of Irish Water: Discussion (15 Jan 2014)

Shane Ross: Did Mr. Barry never consider the fact that PwC, KPMG and Ernst & Young have a heavy responsibility for the state that the State is in at present?

Public Accounts Committee: Oversight of Irish Water: Discussion (15 Jan 2014)

Shane Ross: Is it not part of what he should consider?

Public Accounts Committee: Oversight of Irish Water: Discussion (15 Jan 2014)

Shane Ross: So it does not matter a hoot if they had deplorable record and a lot to answer for regarding the economic state of the country and their past performance in regard to semi-state bodies, the Department of Finance and banks. It does not count.

Public Accounts Committee: Oversight of Irish Water: Discussion (15 Jan 2014)

Shane Ross: Does it not matter that this was what happened?

Public Accounts Committee: Oversight of Irish Water: Discussion (15 Jan 2014)

Shane Ross: One is not discriminating because one is not forbidding them from applying, but one can certainly bear in mind the fact that, for instance, Ernst & Young was removed from the Anglo-Irish Bank audit because it failed to flag the dangers. Irish Water is now employing it and giving it €4.6 million for something that Mr. Barry cannot even explain at present.

Public Accounts Committee: Oversight of Irish Water: Discussion (15 Jan 2014)

Shane Ross: I am not asking Mr. Barry to exclude them; I am asking him to let them put in their applications, then ask them questions about what happened in the past and then eliminate them.

Public Accounts Committee: Oversight of Irish Water: Discussion (15 Jan 2014)

Shane Ross: I know. It is a pity it is not part of the process. That is the problem. I wish to ask questions of Mr. McGowan. A short high-level review of the company's set-up costs was carried out in late October and November at the request of the Minister. Is this correct?

Public Accounts Committee: Oversight of Irish Water: Discussion (15 Jan 2014)

Shane Ross: Did Irish Water make a written report?

Public Accounts Committee: Oversight of Irish Water: Discussion (15 Jan 2014)

Shane Ross: Could we have it?

Public Accounts Committee: Oversight of Irish Water: Discussion (15 Jan 2014)

Shane Ross: What was stated about the consultancy costs of €50 million in the report?

Public Accounts Committee: Oversight of Irish Water: Discussion (15 Jan 2014)

Shane Ross: Why not? Mr. McGowan will state that he did not have time, but €50 million is a figure which would have stood out, and has stood out since it was brought to public attention. Would it not have been sensible to state that it looked high, low or different? It was obviously going to be a very sensitive figure.

Public Accounts Committee: Oversight of Irish Water: Discussion (15 Jan 2014)

Shane Ross: So Irish Water did not think there was any need to single out the figure.