Results 6,401-6,420 of 6,455 for speaker:Gerald Nash

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Gerald Nash: I have a couple of questions to ask in the limited time available. On Vote 18, the National Shared Services Office, I have some questions relating to the pensions deduction issue and how that matter has been handled. The Minister announced on 4 June that he had an update, having originally been informed of an issue in the NSSO and the discovery that there have been issues around pensions...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Gerald Nash: Yes. The Minister went on to say that the likelihood was that the number might be smaller. Has the Minister an update with regard to the scoping exercise and where we are at in terms of the number of individuals the Department believes at this point in time to have been affected? How does the Minister anticipate this process being rolled out over the next period?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Gerald Nash: Can the Minister elaborate a little more? This is the first time he has had the opportunity to appear before the committee. Can he elaborate on how the issue was identified? He was at pains to say, of course, that no individuals who are affected are themselves at fault. Was this identified by an outside audit or by a number of individuals in a certain section of the NSSO? We see here in...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Gerald Nash: The contact was made with the NSSO a number of months ago or last year, and this then prompted a wider investigation or an audit, for want of a better description, by an individual in the NSSO to see if there were other people who were similarly affected. Is that it?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Gerald Nash: There was a seven-year gap between the issue first coming to the attention of the NSSO by way of that particular appeal and somebody deciding in the NSSO that this is a bigger issue that warrants further investigation. Now, we are where we are and there are potentially, at the upper end, 13,000 retired civil and public servants and, potentially, officeholders who are affected by this. Who...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Gerald Nash: Yes, it is for the Minister to deal with. I do not hold him personally accountable. That is what I am saying.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Gerald Nash: Accountability should not begin and end with the Committee of Public Accounts. We need to do accountability better in this country, and I hope the Minister will accept that. Bringing a public servant or two in front of the Committee of Public Accounts to have them interrogated is not where accountability should begin and end. Certainly, that is not where it should end. Moving beyond the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Sustainable Development Goals (26 Jun 2025)

Gerald Nash: 217. To ask the Minister for Finance the specific steps his Department is taking to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals into the preparation of Budget 2026; how alignment with the 2030 Agenda is being assessed during the budgetary process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35065/25]

Nursing Homes: Motion [Private Members] (2 Jul 2025)

Gerald Nash: The failures of care exposed by the media in recent weeks are not just a failure of one private nursing home operator. This is a failure by our State, a failure of public policy, a failure of regulation, and an abject failure to uphold the dignity of those who have no option but to put their care into others' hands. It would be naive of us to think that we have seen is anything other than...

All-Island Strategic Rail Review: Statements (Resumed) (2 Jul 2025)

Gerald Nash: I will cut to the chase. North Drogheda objectively needs a train station. It should already be in place. I was on Louth County Council more than 20 years ago when we masterplanned the provision of 5,000 new homes. Half of those homes have been or are in the process of being built. These plans included a site for a train station, but then came the crash. Up to half of those homes, as I...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Complaints Procedures (1 Jul 2025)

Gerald Nash: 682. To ask the Minister for Health to request that the HSE revisits the way in which a complaint was addressed at a hospital (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35278/25]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (2 Jul 2025)

Gerald Nash: 270. To ask the Minister for Health if the HSE will implement the terms of a recent Labour Court recommendation to extend the temporary special scheme of paid leave for public health service employees unfit for work post-Covid-19 infection; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36595/25]

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2025.
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Jul 2025)

Gerald Nash: The Minister of State is very welcome, as are his officials. I plan to discuss only the REVs under the various headings. My first question relates to the administration budget. This is section IV on operational services, supplies and sundry equipment. I note that, last year, the outturn was €1.335 million. That means this year's Estimate represents a decrease of 34%, which is a...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2025.
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Jul 2025)

Gerald Nash: This is on page 1 of the REVs. It is section IV on the administration side. There is programme expenditure and then the overall administration side. The heading relates to operational services, supplies and sundry equipment. On the current side, last year, it was €1.335 million. It is estimated to be down to €876,000 this year, which is a reduction of 34%. That is a...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2025.
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Jul 2025)

Gerald Nash: Similarly, under that heading - this is section VII, policy reviews, consultancy services and research - there was an allocation of €264,000 last year. It is down to €150,000 this year. That is a 43% decrease. Is that an aberration? Is it normal to spend €264,000 or thereabouts or is €150,000 more normal? What explains that difference year on year?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2025.
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Jul 2025)

Gerald Nash: Does that relate to the cost of the Deloitte initiative?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2025.
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Jul 2025)

Gerald Nash: I see. Moving on further down the Vote, under estate management, subhead B5, the purchase of sites and buildings was €3.78 million last year. That is up. The Estimate this year is €13.323 million. What explains the difference there? That is quite a jump in one year.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2025.
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Jul 2025)

Gerald Nash: I understand that the Minister of State will not be in a position, because of commercial sensitivity, to identify the buildings, but, in general terms, what would the purpose of these buildings be?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2025.
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Jul 2025)

Gerald Nash: I understand that.