Results 661-680 of 1,776 for speaker:Derek Nolan

Public Accounts Committee: 2009 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 37 - SKILL Programme (Resumed)
2010 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 41 - Partnership Arrangements in the Health Service
Special Report No. 80 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Administration of National Health and Local Authority Levy Fund (20 Jun 2013)

Derek Nolan: So the person who sanctioned it was a person who benefited from it. I do not wish to single out this one individual. He is the only person for whom I have paperwork. Again, we are back to the fact that so much paperwork has gone missing and so much documentary evidence has disappeared. I cannot accept that all of this is just one grand governance storm - one perfect storm of corporate...

Public Accounts Committee: 2009 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 37 - SKILL Programme (Resumed)
2010 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 41 - Partnership Arrangements in the Health Service
Special Report No. 80 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Administration of National Health and Local Authority Levy Fund (20 Jun 2013)

Derek Nolan: Taking a step back from the letter from Mr. Carey referenced by me and in respect of the funding from the Department of Health in 2004, I wish to make it clear that I am not being political about this. I just want to inquire. There was a letter from the Minister at the time referring to the request for funding and stating that he was pleased to inform that the initiative was continuing....

Public Accounts Committee: 2009 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 37 - SKILL Programme (Resumed)
2010 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 41 - Partnership Arrangements in the Health Service
Special Report No. 80 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Administration of National Health and Local Authority Levy Fund (20 Jun 2013)

Derek Nolan: I accept that. I should put on the record that an enormous amount of good work was done in terms of upskilling and training people and getting a different approach. I am not criticising that. Let us stick with the catastrophic breakdown in corporate governance. A sum of €250,000 was sanctioned every year. Whose job was it to make sure there was a proper audit and that this money...

Public Accounts Committee: 2009 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 37 - SKILL Programme (Resumed)
2010 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 41 - Partnership Arrangements in the Health Service
Special Report No. 80 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Administration of National Health and Local Authority Levy Fund (20 Jun 2013)

Derek Nolan: Obviously, the Secretary General would not have been working on their own and the chief executive officer of the HSE would not have been the person who was actually dealing with it. Has anybody been sanctioned, been subject to a disciplinary hearing or held to account for this complete lapse in regulation and governance?

Public Accounts Committee: 2009 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 37 - SKILL Programme (Resumed)
2010 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 41 - Partnership Arrangements in the Health Service
Special Report No. 80 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Administration of National Health and Local Authority Levy Fund (20 Jun 2013)

Derek Nolan: Dr. McLoughlin says he cannot find evidence that anybody is involved in wrongdoing. Surely the fact that we are here today to investigate this SIPTU account is evidence that someone did something wrong.

Public Accounts Committee: 2009 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 37 - SKILL Programme (Resumed)
2010 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 41 - Partnership Arrangements in the Health Service
Special Report No. 80 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Administration of National Health and Local Authority Levy Fund (20 Jun 2013)

Derek Nolan: Mr. Tony O'Brien is dealing with the issue of money continuing to go to the fund and the strange occurrence in the partnership forum whereby little distinction was made between the fund and the forum. The same person controlled both. Surely someone in the HSE had the responsibility of ensuring that did not happen. Has anybody in the HSE been sanctioned, disciplined or held to account for...

Public Accounts Committee: 2009 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 37 - SKILL Programme (Resumed)
2010 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 41 - Partnership Arrangements in the Health Service
Special Report No. 80 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Administration of National Health and Local Authority Levy Fund (20 Jun 2013)

Derek Nolan: I am somewhat lost for words. One person retired from SIPTU and one person retired from the HSE. Approximately €1 million was squandered or we do not know what happened, and nobody was held responsible. We have held four hearings, umpteen reports have issued and the investigations are constant, yet there is nobody to blame. It is the perfect crime. If we accept this as being the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2009 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 37 - SKILL Programme (Resumed)
2010 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 41 - Partnership Arrangements in the Health Service
Special Report No. 80 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Administration of National Health and Local Authority Levy Fund (20 Jun 2013)

Derek Nolan: We may need to speak to the individuals who went on the trips, sanctioned the funding or were involved in the partnership forum to get a sense of what they knew or thought about the matter. I accept that Mr. O'Brien and Mr. McLoughlin are telling us exactly what they believe is right to say and what is correct as they know it. They are constrained by employment contracts, all kinds of legal...

Public Accounts Committee: 2009 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 37 - SKILL Programme (Resumed)
2010 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 41 - Partnership Arrangements in the Health Service
Special Report No. 80 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Administration of National Health and Local Authority Levy Fund (20 Jun 2013)

Derek Nolan: It was suggested at the last meeting that the audit unit had a bad relationship with SIPTU during the investigation. Can Dr. Smith comment on that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2009 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 37 - SKILL Programme (Resumed)
2010 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 41 - Partnership Arrangements in the Health Service
Special Report No. 80 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Administration of National Health and Local Authority Levy Fund (20 Jun 2013)

Derek Nolan: Two issues arise that are particularly contentious. The first is that all this information was coming into the media and SIPTU was being hammered in the public mind. After listening to SIPTU's representatives this morning and reading the report, it appears it had nothing to do with the operation of this account. The representatives stated that they asked for a copy of the HSE's internal...

Public Accounts Committee: 2009 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 37 - SKILL Programme (Resumed)
2010 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 41 - Partnership Arrangements in the Health Service
Special Report No. 80 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Administration of National Health and Local Authority Levy Fund (20 Jun 2013)

Derek Nolan: It is true that much information was going out to the press at the time.

Public Accounts Committee: 2009 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 37 - SKILL Programme (Resumed)
2010 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 41 - Partnership Arrangements in the Health Service
Special Report No. 80 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Administration of National Health and Local Authority Levy Fund (20 Jun 2013)

Derek Nolan: I was not suggesting that. Could Dr. Smith confirm a figure from appendix 7 of a document I have from the last time she was before the committee? It is receipts and payments compiled by the HSE internal audit using various sources of information. The amount of money refunded to the account for spouse flights was €139,896.

Public Accounts Committee: 2009 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 37 - SKILL Programme (Resumed)
2010 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 41 - Partnership Arrangements in the Health Service
Special Report No. 80 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Administration of National Health and Local Authority Levy Fund (20 Jun 2013)

Derek Nolan: Was this done before or after the trips took place?

Public Accounts Committee: 2009 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 37 - SKILL Programme (Resumed)
2010 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 41 - Partnership Arrangements in the Health Service
Special Report No. 80 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Administration of National Health and Local Authority Levy Fund (20 Jun 2013)

Derek Nolan: In 2009 and 2010, much money began to go back into the account, an average of €6,000 or €7,000 per year until this hit the media and suddenly we had €90,000 in refunds to the account. We are still to take the view that people did not think they had done anything wrong even though there was this sudden refund of money that people suddenly realised they may have owed to...

Public Accounts Committee: 2009 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 37 - SKILL Programme (Resumed)
2010 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 41 - Partnership Arrangements in the Health Service
Special Report No. 80 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Administration of National Health and Local Authority Levy Fund (20 Jun 2013)

Derek Nolan: Does the Comptroller and Auditor General concur with Mr. O'Brien's view that SIPTU must have been aware of the existence of the account?

Public Accounts Committee: 2009 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 37 - SKILL Programme (Resumed)
2010 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 41 - Partnership Arrangements in the Health Service
Special Report No. 80 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Administration of National Health and Local Authority Levy Fund (20 Jun 2013)

Derek Nolan: His bona fides when he said that were largely accepted by everybody on the committee.

Public Accounts Committee: 2009 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 37 - SKILL Programme (Resumed)
2010 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 41 - Partnership Arrangements in the Health Service
Special Report No. 80 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Administration of National Health and Local Authority Levy Fund (20 Jun 2013)

Derek Nolan: I want to pick up on what Mr. O'Brien said about people getting a phone call. It makes sense that a phone call was made advising people of a trip, asking them if they would like to go on it and, if they did, the tickets would be left for them at the airport. That should have set off serious alarm bells for officials. They would have known that SIPTU was not paying for it. It was the SIPTU...

Public Accounts Committee: 2009 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 37 - SKILL Programme (Resumed)
2010 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 41 - Partnership Arrangements in the Health Service
Special Report No. 80 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Administration of National Health and Local Authority Levy Fund (20 Jun 2013)

Derek Nolan: Did the Office of Health Management give either the inspection team or the Comptroller and Auditor General any explanation for the reason its records disappeared?

Public Accounts Committee: 2009 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 37 - SKILL Programme (Resumed)
2010 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 41 - Partnership Arrangements in the Health Service
Special Report No. 80 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Administration of National Health and Local Authority Levy Fund (20 Jun 2013)

Derek Nolan: Does the HSE have any explanation as to the reason those documents disappeared?

Public Accounts Committee: 2009 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 37 - SKILL Programme (Resumed)
2010 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 41 - Partnership Arrangements in the Health Service
Special Report No. 80 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Administration of National Health and Local Authority Levy Fund (20 Jun 2013)

Derek Nolan: If I may make one point before we conclude, we have talked a lot about the foreign trips, which are an example of what went wrong. However, issues such as grants without oversight, money being given without knowing the purpose for which it is being used and money transferring into an account at the year-end to avoid the necessity of surrendering it back are just as big and important as are...