Results 5,481-5,500 of 26,032 for speaker:Kieran O'Donnell

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Kieran O'Donnell: The then Minister and officials from the Department are not present today. By when was the Department advised directly by the Department that vacant possession would be achieved? Was this other site on Kevin Street? Where was the new Garda station to be built?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Kieran O'Donnell: Harcourt Street?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Kieran O'Donnell: Once the contract was signed by the Department with the developer, the genie was out of the bottle. Did anyone look to see if the dominos were lined up? Was the Department under pressure to push ahead with this site and get it over the line? I do not fully understand why such pressure was applied at the peak of the market to push for this particular site.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Kieran O'Donnell: Whatever way one looks at that site, the timeframe on getting vacant possession was extremely tight. The Department was hoping to get vacant possession by 2008. Am I correct?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Kieran O'Donnell: We are talking about a year. There were problems with the site. I refer to the terms of the sale contract, or the agreement with the developers. Who were the developers?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Kieran O'Donnell: Why was a contract not negotiated that would have included vacant possession or, if vacant possession was not possible, a lease agreement, as the Department sought to achieve in 2010? Why was that not examined? Did the OPW regard the timeframe to get vacant possession as optimistic?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Kieran O'Donnell: Why did those discussions break down?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Kieran O'Donnell: The developer at that time already had a contract in his possession which stated that he was entitled to get vacant possession of the site by 2008.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Kieran O'Donnell: He was basically playing with all of the aces in that situation. The OPW was caught because he always had that fall back position. Would that be a fair comment?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Kieran O'Donnell: Looking back at it again, would the Department and the OPW have done anything differently? I know that hindsight provides 20/20 vision but the bottom line is that we are talking here about €31.5 million of taxpayers' money. The market was at its peak and one would question the risk assessment carried out in the context of the timeframe. If confronted with the same situation now,...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Kieran O'Donnell: The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, the housing agency, the OPW and the Department of Justice and Equality were all involved.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Kieran O'Donnell: There was also the Department of the Taoiseach and the Chief State Solicitor's office.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Kieran O'Donnell: Who fell down on the job?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Kieran O'Donnell: When the contracts were being negotiated, it should have been implicit that the developers were accepting that the balance of moneys they were owed, outside of the sale of the houses themselves, should have been related to the valuation of the site. Is that a fair comment? The developer gained in the sense that he would be getting a site with vacant possession which increased its value. He...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Kieran O'Donnell: Ultimately, it is the taxpayer who ended up picking up the tab. Looking back, does Ms McGrath think things could have been done differently?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Kieran O'Donnell: Was it the case that turf wars between the various agencies got in the way ---

Topical Issue Debate: Flood Relief Schemes Funding (4 Feb 2014)

Kieran O'Donnell: The flooding in Limerick is unprecedented. I have visited the areas affected and the spirit shown by the people living there is nothing short of phenomenal. They rallied and worked with the services. Outside of Saint Mary's Park and Lee Estate, areas such as Athlunkard Street, Corbally Road, the Mill Road in Corbally and areas in Thomondgate were badly affected. People should never have...

Topical Issue Debate: Flood Relief Schemes Funding (4 Feb 2014)

Kieran O'Donnell: There is an enormous sense of urgency in terms of Limerick because many people are out of their homes. Up to 300 homes are affected. The questions are simple. On an immediate issue, first, when does the Minister anticipate the Government will be in a position to do an overall assessment of the level of humanitarian aid that is needed in Limerick? Second, insurance is an enormously urgent...

County Enterprise Boards (Dissolution) Bill 2013 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (6 Feb 2014)

Kieran O'Donnell: I am delighted to contribute to the debate. The county enterprise boards are being assimilated into local authorities under the auspices of Enterprise Ireland. I will speak about Limerick as it is the area I represent. The Limerick city and county enterprise boards will come together in the amalgamated Limerick local authority under the manager Conn Murray. A one-stop shop will be...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Feb 2014)

Kieran O'Donnell: Are the minutes of the meetings of 28 January and 30 January 2014 agreed? Agreed. The minutes of our private meeting on 30 January will be considered at next week's meeting. No. 2 relates to matters arising from minutes. I am advised that late yesterday evening, the committee received a submission from SOLAS on funding allocated to Rehab, and we are now in a position to undertake an...