Results 7,161-7,180 of 20,088 for speaker:Brian Stanley

Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) Bill 2021 [Seanad]: Second Stage (26 May 2021)

Brian Stanley: I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. When these measures were last before the House in October 2020, Sinn Féin tabled an amendment to limit the scope of the emergency legislation. We sought for the Government to bring forward less discretionary legislation which did not avoid Dáil scrutiny. The existing legislation is giving far too much discretion and emergency...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 May 2021)

Brian Stanley: Members are welcome to this online meeting. Apologies have been received from Deputy McAuliffe, who had to leave for Dáil business, and Deputy MacSharry. Due to the current situation regarding Covid-19, only the clerk, support staff and I are in the committee room. Members of the committee are attending remotely from within the precincts of Leinster House. This is due to the...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 May 2021)

Brian Stanley: It is important we follow up on this. The State and the taxpayer have taken a big hit in these reparations. It is important this process is completed. We will seek a comprehensive report from the Department regarding the overall position, the remaining transfers and any impediments holding these up.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 May 2021)

Brian Stanley: As I recall, that survivor, along with another, gave permission to Caranua, as it was until a few months ago, to deal with the committee in respect of their case. I will ask the clerk to make that request but I suggest we do so in writing. A phone call is a phone call, but we should keep a record of our communications with the person. If the Deputy is agreeable, I will suggest that the...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 May 2021)

Brian Stanley: We will of course. It is important in a case of this sort. The next item is No. 551 from Mr. Robert Watt, Secretary General of the Department of Health, dated 4 May, providing a response to the committee's query as to whether any expenditure was associated with the dossiers brought to light in a protected disclosure that was the subject of a recent episode of the "RTÉ Investigates"...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 May 2021)

Brian Stanley: We will seek clarification from the Department of Health on those issues. The letter does appear to be contradictory and we need an explanation in regard to this. We will ask the clerk to request that information from the Department. The next item of correspondence is again from Mr. Robert Watt, Secretary General of the Department of Health, dated 4 May, providing information requested...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 May 2021)

Brian Stanley: The protection of people who make protected disclosures is important. With regard to the responses, it is important that we highlight that protected disclosures should be reported on separately in the annual reports. We will request that. The clerk to the committee will follow through on that for us.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 May 2021)

Brian Stanley: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 May 2021)

Brian Stanley: I have not seen the media report the Deputy is referring to but it is most likely based on confidential information from a source. We can only speculate on that. Could the Deputy clarify his proposal, bearing in mind that OLAF is saying it is not in a position to provide additional information concerning the results of the investigation so as not to prejudice any potential follow-up at...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 May 2021)

Brian Stanley: We discussed that we should have them in again. I hope the regulations will be such that we can have both parties in the room on the same day. It is welcome. I referred to further related correspondence. Note 17 asks that we be kept updated on the matter. We should write to the IHRB as it is the contracting authority. The board said its intention is that all systems will be installed....

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 May 2021)

Brian Stanley: We will seek that further information. The next piece of correspondence is No. 567 from Dr. Alan Wall, chief executive of the Higher Education Authority, HEA, dated 7 May. It provides further clarification as to the total number of employees, including occasional and hourly staff, in each of the three higher education sectors. At our meeting last week, we agreed to note and publish this...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 May 2021)

Brian Stanley: The HEA confirmed we needed further analysis and that it "has brought to light anomalies and inconsistencies", in its words. The anomalies around how staff are defined is concerning. There seem to be many “if and when we need you”-type working arrangements, contracts or lack of contracts.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 May 2021)

Brian Stanley: In the correspondence, the chief executive says: Given the complexity and challenges in reporting the above occasional/hourly staff data, the HEA is planning to meet the HEI Representative bodies in order to agree a definition of occasional staff with a view to collecting same in Q2/3 2021 and sharing this information to the committee[.] We need to see the outcome of that and hopefully we...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 May 2021)

Brian Stanley: I think we agreed to do that at a previous committee meeting, so we will seek it. No. 589B follows on from our recent engagement with RTÉ. It is from Ms Dee Forbes, director general of RTÉ, dated 14 May, and provides information requested by the committee arising from the meeting of 27 April. On foot of the committee's meeting of 11 May, an additional six questions were issued...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 May 2021)

Brian Stanley: One of the ways it will be disclosed, and we should not have to wait that long, will be in RTÉ's annual financial report next year. If there was a settlement made, the figure should show up in that.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 May 2021)

Brian Stanley: Absolutely. That is my point.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 May 2021)

Brian Stanley: We can do that. I certainly do not want to wait until next year for it.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 May 2021)

Brian Stanley: We are not sure of the year because the only answer we got, which came at the eleventh hour, was that RTÉ had made a settlement. It is interesting that there is a parallel audit under way by the Department of Social Protection and Revenue regarding the proper classification of employees as well. That is happening. We will look for that from Revenue.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 May 2021)

Brian Stanley: To draw the pieces together on this matter, No. 588 from Séamus Dooley, the Irish secretary of the National Union of Journalists, NUJ, is related to this matter. It is brief, but Mr. Dooley states in his letter that he welcomes the interest of the Committee of Public Accounts in the issue of bogus self-employment which has long been of concern to the NUJ, the RTÉ trade union group,...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 May 2021)

Brian Stanley: The secretariat will correspond on the matter with RTÉ. Separate from that, I will ask the clerk to correspond with Revenue inquiring if it has any problem around the disclosure of settlements similar to this settlement. Revenue will not want to publish the details, but we will ask if it has any problem with a body, company or entity which makes a settlement with it - in this case...