Results 6,841-6,860 of 28,162 for speaker:Catherine Murphy

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Catherine Murphy: Would the witnesses agree with me that Brown Rudnick would have known why PIMCO withdrew from the process? It seems that Brown Rudnick would almost have to have known because it was advising PIMCO. Is that a fair view?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Catherine Murphy: We have spoken about competitive tension and the Chairman has asked the witnesses about whether the two entities which made bids were told that PIMCO had withdrawn. Even if they were not told that PIMCO had withdrawn, they would have known it because one of the entities engaged Brown Rudnick, and maybe Tughans, and the other entity, Fortress - as the witness has just told the committee -...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Catherine Murphy: It is, however, pretty clear that there were only two in the race and one was late enough to the race. It is pretty difficult to see a great deal of tension in that competitive process.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Catherine Murphy: I want to move onto a couple of other questions. Mr. Ellingham spoke about the attitude in Northern Ireland. Most of us presumed that the political concerns in Northern Ireland were really about the risk to the Northern Ireland economy of a fire sale but Mr. Ellingham has just given the committee a different kind of take on it with regard to what the attitude might have been in Northern...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Catherine Murphy: Would there have been any discussion about the difficulties? Were there any internal political considerations in relation to that and around the culture of an American vulture fund coming in and being preferred in terms of dealing with NAMA?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Catherine Murphy: It is very strange to imagine that a vulture fund would have been preferable. My last question relates to the senior bonds. The rates at the time in 2014 were at practically zero. It is my understanding that there was sufficient space so there would not be a need for a fire sale so why the rush? I cannot figure out why there was a rush to sell. Was NAMA directly engaged with the ECB or...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 Oct 2016)

Catherine Murphy: We believe the establishment of an independent office for the planning regulator is welcome in principle, although we have concerns about it being independent. That is something that is likely to come up on Committee Stage. The Mahon tribunal cost in excess of €160 million, although the currency was in pounds when the tribunal started its work. That demonstrates the length of...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 Oct 2016)

Catherine Murphy: I will deal with it a little later but if another planning authority is making the decision, it erodes the local government system further. The planning regulator will be responsible for looking at the systems and procedures in local authorities. There is not a uniformity in local authorities and there are great variations, for example, in the number of staff available, depending on what...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: A Vision for Public Transport: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Oct 2016)

Catherine Murphy: Public transport is bus based because of the way our population is dispersed but with regard to heavy rail, if we take Dublin and Cork, for example, Dublin has a much wider footprint. The three outer counties, and it is four if we include Louth, would benefit from, say, DART underground, which has been described as the game changer. One of the reasons we got European Union funding for the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: A Vision for Public Transport: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Oct 2016)

Catherine Murphy: I have two questions. One is about the 10%. How sure is the witness that she is comparing like with like in respect of competitiveness? I imagine with the reduction in the subvention that services have been pared back to the minimum. That is part of the reason there were fare increases and so forth. When one looks at back-up services, the quality of transport and wage rates, is it a fair...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: A Vision for Public Transport: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Oct 2016)

Catherine Murphy: It is probably rare that ICTU and IBEC agree on something. They both refer to the lack of capital investment. We can see it, especially because congestion is a significant issue. The committee's initiative aims to chart a course for the future of transport and public transport in particular. The three points about a detailed study are useful. I asked the Oireachtas Library to do a study,...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Wind Energy Guidelines (20 Oct 2016)

Catherine Murphy: 119. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government when he will publish wind energy guidelines; the aspects that those guidelines will address; the reason for the delay in publishing them to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31356/16]

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Catherine Murphy: I would like to ask about the big €60 million investment in the public service card. Was that unique to the Department? Was it from the Department's Vote?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Catherine Murphy: I would also like to ask about a sum of €3 million. There was an additional €3 million relating to some contractual changes.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Catherine Murphy: What specific contractual changes were they?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Catherine Murphy: The Leap card relates to the provisions of public transport. What is the function of the Department of Social Protection in respect of that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Catherine Murphy: In respect of the lack of an overall business case to begin with, I take Ms O'Donoghue's point that this was cross-departmental but was there a cross-department business case in advance of it, is there a plan and has that plan been updated?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Catherine Murphy: I was surprised that the Department did not consider an online function in 2005 if we are talking about future proofing in terms of what the card might be used for in the future. In respect of the tendering process, the company had to build a plant. I would have thought the capacity of the company would have been one of the key issues in awarding the tender.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Catherine Murphy: I asked about the online function.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Catherine Murphy: A total of 3 million cards were due to be issued by 2017. A little over 2 million have been issued but only 1.2 million have been activated.