Results 5,381-5,400 of 19,173 for speaker:Shane Ross

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (23 Oct 2014)

Shane Ross: Why are we receiving legal opinions which we have not sought? How did this matter arise?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (23 Oct 2014)

Shane Ross: Are lawyers in the business of sending us legal opinions from time to time or when they feel like doing so? Perhaps the Clerk to the Committee can throw some light on the issue because I do not understand it.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (23 Oct 2014)

Shane Ross: The letter refers to "our earlier conversation". To what does this reference pertain?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (23 Oct 2014)

Shane Ross: Do lawyers pick up every bit of tittle-tattle in the media and issue legal opinions to the committee as a result of it? We had not proposed to have the individuals in question come before us.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (23 Oct 2014)

Shane Ross: I do not know whether the Chairman will agree with me but there appears to be a pattern developing of deliberately trying to muzzle the activities of the Committee of Public Accounts by anticipating its activities and trying to stop or obstruct us. I am very alarmed by this unsolicited legal advice. It is a unique case.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (23 Oct 2014)

Shane Ross: It understands it very well.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (23 Oct 2014)

Shane Ross: I doubt it.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (23 Oct 2014)

Shane Ross: I wish to mention the work programme. An issue has been rumbling along in the background for a long time which has surfaced again in the past 24 hours. I refer to Positive Action, a group funded by the HSE, which has come to the public's attention in a very obvious way for the use of public money in a way which has been found to be utterly unacceptable to an internal audit report...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (23 Oct 2014)

Shane Ross: I think it is a section 39 organisation.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (23 Oct 2014)

Shane Ross: Correct. It was liquidated earlier this year but that does not stop us from bringing them in.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (23 Oct 2014)

Shane Ross: There are directors and officials who could come in and tell us what happened. Do not let the lawyers near this one, please.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (23 Oct 2014)

Shane Ross: Before the Deputy does so, I wish to know whether we have made a decision about Positive Action.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (23 Oct 2014)

Shane Ross: I thank the Chairman.

European Council Meeting: Statements (5 Nov 2014)

Shane Ross: I want to touch briefly on our relationship with the European Union, particularly the fact that we appear to have an inferiority complex. Provided we can abuse the patronage we are given to make appointments to the European Commission, we do pretty much what we are told by the Commission elsewhere. The last time I debated this issue in the House we were about to appoint a Commissioner. It...

Finance Bill 2014: Second Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2014)

Shane Ross: Last week, within ten days or two weeks of the budget being introduced, we saw a major rise in fares on the Luas, the DART and Iarnród Éireann trains. These fare rises were introduced at a time when the Dáil was in recess and while the row over Irish Water was raging. They may not seem relevant to the budget or the Finance Bill, but when we see a semi-State body acting in...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Universal Social Charge Payments (5 Nov 2014)

Shane Ross: 58. To ask the Minister for Finance the reason the self-employed are paying 3% more universal social charge on earnings over €100,000 than a PAYE worker; if he accepts accept that this makes self-employment much more difficult; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42288/14]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Departmental Bodies Data (6 Nov 2014)

Shane Ross: 3. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the current net quango count under this Administration; the numbers compared to the previous Government and the net saving to the State, specifically in view of the Government's commitment to quango reform; the number of reductions in quangos due to merger or abolition and the number of newly created State agencies and semi-State...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Departmental Bodies Data (6 Nov 2014)

Shane Ross: In view of the Irish Water fiasco which has continued for many weeks and in view of the fact that the Minister has rightly set out new parameters for the appointment of directors to semi-State bodies and State agencies, I wonder if the Government has a new policy or a new attitude towards quangos. The point of the question is to try to elicit whether there are statistics available to show...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Departmental Bodies Data (6 Nov 2014)

Shane Ross: Certainly, on the surface it appears as though 169 removals of State bodies mark an improvement. It certainly tells us what an awful state the quangos were in before the Government took office and how they simply had been created willy-nilly. However, when one gets down to assess the figures - I hope I heard the Minister's statement correctly - the savings have been worth €27 million...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Departmental Bodies Data (6 Nov 2014)

Shane Ross: I thank the Minister. I could give him a list for the abolition of at least 500 bodies on top of them.