Results 5,461-5,480 of 6,653 for speaker:Rose Conway-Walsh

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Private Partnerships (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Under this Government we have seen the expanded use of controversial public private partnership, PPP, contracts in housing, in health, education and other areas. I have previously raised my concern about value for money on these contracts. Today I will focus on the privatisation of services that comes with such contracts. Will the Minister outline the typical services that are privatised...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Private Partnerships (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I thank the Minister. I know what PPPs are. The average PPP contract is procured by the National Development Finance Agency. One third of the cost of the contract is to pay for services that would normally be delivered by the public sector. That could be cleaners in schools, security in technological universities or maintenance of public housing that should be managed by the local...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Private Partnerships (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: There is no transparency around these contracts, even long after the deals have been signed, so we have to ask where the oversight and accountability are. When the Minister had this portfolio in 2017, the IMF recommended Ireland reduce the sums Departments could spend on PPP contracts. Departments are not supposed to spend more than 10% of the capital budget, as the Minister knows, on...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Flood Relief Schemes (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I wish the Minister of State well in his new job. I am really pleased to hear him talk about the Crossmolina flood relief scheme. He will know that the town of Crossmolina has been waiting for that for almost ten years now. Could he give me an update as to its exact status and when it is going to start?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Spending Code (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: 57. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform when the infrastructure guidelines will lead to reform within individual Departments in the context of capital projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17727/24]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Spending Code (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: The infrastructure guidelines replace the public spending code. Changes to the public sector spending code were announced early last year. It took until the end of the year before the infrastructure guidelines were published. How long will it be before we see the reforms adopted by the Departments? Most importantly, how will the Minister's Department measure the effectiveness of this change?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Spending Code (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: On page 2 of those guidelines, it is stated that it is the responsibility of the Accounting Officer of a Department to ensure that the guidelines are adopted. As the Minister has said, we may not see the changes until next year. With regard to the procedure for delivering capital projects, what flexibilities do Departments have under the new infrastructure guidelines? For instance, can the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Spending Code (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Do local authorities have to continue to put forward business cases as to why they need to build, for example, social and affordable housing? The infrastructure guidelines state, "Where programmes of investment are composed of a high number of similar" schemes, as in the case of housing, a strategic assessment can be done all at once. Can local authorities such as Mayo County Council do a...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: 58. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the projected expenditure on capital projects for 2025 and 2026 in terms of GNI*; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17726/24]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I thank the Minister for his reply to Question No. 57. I am very interested to see whether what he outlined can be done. We have to do everything we possibly can to increase the number of houses being built and to meet even the low targets that are already there. I raised the underspend on capital investments since 2021 up to this year. I will now focus on the projected underspend over...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: That is concerning. It comes back to the levels of inflation we have seen. The Minister is saying the Government will continue its capital expenditure, but the answer indicates that will fall short of the level of ambition outlined in the national development plan in 2021. Even with the increase of €2.25 billion over three years that has finally been announced, the underspend will...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: The concern I have, which I referred to, is that projects throughout the State are either being delayed or quietly shelved. Communities that have campaigned and waited for years are being left in the dark wondering why projects they thought were agreed and progressing are now not progressing. The only possible conclusion they can come to is that we have not accounted for inflation. People...

Support for Carers: Motion [Private Members] (24 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I wish the Minister of State well in her new job. It is a really important role, particularly when it comes to carers. She knows that carers, and family carers in particular, comprise one of the most neglected groups of people in the State. They save us hundreds of millions of euro, and we pay lip service to their efforts. There are many things we can do. There is not a TD in this House...

Weather-Related Supports for Farmers: Statements (Resumed) (24 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I welcome this opportunity to discuss some of the issues impacting on farming. I thank the Minister for his statement. In particular, I welcome his remarks around the well-being of farmers. There is not much we can do about the weather in the short term, but there are many actions we can take to serve the financial stability and viability of farms and to alleviate the financial stress that...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: State Properties (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: 73. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if there is a plan or strategy in place for the Office of Public Works to reduce the reliance on leased properties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17730/24]

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: 80. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he has engaged with the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the potential of extending his remit to cover commercial public bodies in a dual-audit capacity in order to ensure greater oversight and accountability; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17729/24]

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Risk Management (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: 91. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the impact construction inflation has had on the cost of delivering flood protection projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17728/24]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: State Claims Agency (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: 210. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide the claims on, and settlements made by, the State Claims Agency in each year since 2011, broken down by category; the amount and percentage of total cost of settlements spent on legal fees, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17748/24]

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 1 - President's Establishment (Revised)
Vote 2 - Department of the Taoiseach (Revised)
Vote 3 - Office of the Attorney General (Revised)
Vote 5 - Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Revised)
Vote 6 - Chief State Solicitor's Office (Revised) (24 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I appreciate that, Taoiseach. Obviously I gave the document to the Taoiseach last week after the meeting in Mayo. As we speak, one of the longest-serving members of the Mayo Pyrite Action Group in Erris, where the pyrite defective block was first noticed, on the Atlantic Ocean, is having her house demolished. She has the saddest of stories and I know she will not mind me saying that her...