Results 7,021-7,040 of 7,777 for speaker:Joe Costello

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2013
Chapter 2 - Government Debt and Finance Accounts 2013 (14 May 2015)

Joe Costello: So it is over and done with.

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2013
Chapter 2 - Government Debt and Finance Accounts 2013 (14 May 2015)

Joe Costello: Again, therefore, it is in the same bracket as the Siteserv deal.

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2013
Chapter 2 - Government Debt and Finance Accounts 2013 (14 May 2015)

Joe Costello: In that context, how does the Department explain that the relevant documentation - the minutes of the meeting in which the transaction in regard to Siteserv took place on 15 March - was not forwarded to it despite the fact the documents from all the other weekly meetings in the month of March were forwarded to it?

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2013
Chapter 2 - Government Debt and Finance Accounts 2013 (14 May 2015)

Joe Costello: No, the Department had all of the March documents and it had the documents from 1 April. They came in a package on 7 April. Therefore, the Department had four sets of minutes, but the set that was missing was the set for 15 March, the one in which the transaction for Siteserv was done.

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2013
Chapter 2 - Government Debt and Finance Accounts 2013 (14 May 2015)

Joe Costello: No. You received a batch, but the set relating to Siteserv was missing.

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2013
Chapter 2 - Government Debt and Finance Accounts 2013 (14 May 2015)

Joe Costello: But the Department had the one before it and after it.

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2013
Chapter 2 - Government Debt and Finance Accounts 2013 (14 May 2015)

Joe Costello: Are you sure of that? The information supplied by the Minister the other day - I will have to check it again - indicated that the documents for the rest of March and 1 April, apart from 15 March, were provided in one batch.

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2013
Chapter 2 - Government Debt and Finance Accounts 2013 (14 May 2015)

Joe Costello: The document for 15 March was the second document for March. The document before that was for 8 March. The Department got that one, and got two immediately after 15 March. It sticks out like a sore thumb that the relevant one - 15 March - was not provided to the Department.

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2013
Chapter 2 - Government Debt and Finance Accounts 2013 (14 May 2015)

Joe Costello: We can check that and see for sure. How does the Department explain the fact that they started on 20 March, rather than being provided for the whole of March?

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2013
Chapter 2 - Government Debt and Finance Accounts 2013 (14 May 2015)

Joe Costello: Ms Nolan does not have to be fair. Tell it as it is.

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2013
Chapter 2 - Government Debt and Finance Accounts 2013 (14 May 2015)

Joe Costello: Am I to take it that is the first set of minutes the Department received?

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2013
Chapter 2 - Government Debt and Finance Accounts 2013 (14 May 2015)

Joe Costello: Is it not amazing that the first set of minutes the Department received from the IBRC was from 20 March, a week after the minutes dealing with the approval and signing off of the Siteserv deal? Did the Department ask why it started receiving minutes from 20 March rather than 15 March or 1 March?

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2013
Chapter 2 - Government Debt and Finance Accounts 2013 (14 May 2015)

Joe Costello: That is not my memory of it. The Department got only one set of minutes for April in that pack, for 7 April, or whatever date.

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2013
Chapter 2 - Government Debt and Finance Accounts 2013 (14 May 2015)

Joe Costello: Can I speculate for a moment? The revised framework was put in place and the Department received the first set of minutes following that, for the week after the revised framework was put in place. Would the IBRC have breathed a sigh of relief that it had the deal done and it was okay to send the minutes from then on?

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2013
Chapter 2 - Government Debt and Finance Accounts 2013 (14 May 2015)

Joe Costello: We do not know, but this begs a question regarding the delay that took place. Then, a week after the deal was signed and sealed, the Department suddenly got its full set of minutes from then on.

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2013
Chapter 2 - Government Debt and Finance Accounts 2013 (14 May 2015)

Joe Costello: I will leave it at that. We have not had time to go into the substance of the work the Department has been doing. Reading the report and listening to the presentation, I can see the Department has done fantastic work managing the various difficulties it experienced, in terms of the amount of money and debt involved, to reach a stage at which it was able to save 25% in 2013. That must be one...

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2013
Chapter 2 - Government Debt and Finance Accounts 2013 (14 May 2015)

Joe Costello: I am not sure it is correct to say that the initiative covers every pre-1915 building. I looked at the map drawn up by Dublin City Council on the buildings that are covered by the scheme. The map looks like a puzzle and streets have been cut across even though they are the same housing age. In other words, half a street is included while the remainder is omitted. While it is worthwhile...

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2013
Chapter 2 - Government Debt and Finance Accounts 2013 (14 May 2015)

Joe Costello: The local authorities may have done the designation but they did not provide the definition. Is it not up to the policy to define it? It is not up to a local authority to determine policy.

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2013
Chapter 2 - Government Debt and Finance Accounts 2013 (14 May 2015)

Joe Costello: It is not. It is pick and choose.

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2013
Chapter 2 - Government Debt and Finance Accounts 2013 (14 May 2015)

Joe Costello: There do not seem to be any criteria for picking and choosing. The initiative has two serious defects. The first one is what Deputy Deasy has indicated, that the initiative has a very low threshold of square footage in terms of what it applies to and, therefore, divides buildings. Anyone who lives in a large Georgian building will be unable to avail of the scheme. Second, the initiative...