Results 7,341-7,360 of 8,015 for speaker:Jonathan O'Brien

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: If it is not spent does it just roll over?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: There have been no increases in rates. Ms Maguire is correct that rates were increased in Cork City Council, but they were ring-fenced for tourism promotion and for selling the city, which would benefit businesses in general. It was very successful. One of the difficulties I see in Cork is that the rate base has narrowed in the city centre. It may have expanded when one looks at the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: Is it the case that there is no scope to provide a rate break for the businesses taking up leases on vacant properties?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: The rates are based on square footage and location, rather than the profitability of a business.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: Do the witnesses believe that is a good scheme? There might be two identical buildings next door to each other which have the same rates. One might be occupied by a multinational and the other by a local small business, but there might be a huge difference in terms of profitability.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: I do not want to make a presumption, but I imagine if one is a business owner with a number of overheads and who might be struggling, the rates bill might be one of the last things to be paid. Utilities and goods have to be paid for as businesses cannot operate without them. The level of rate collection is pretty high, which I believe is down to each individual local authority working with...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: If a business goes bust and owes rates, what happens to those rates? I presume the landlord does not take on that debt or pass it on to any new tenant. What happens that debt?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: Is it the case that the local authorities will not chase the landlord or any new tenants for rates?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: It was the case that a new tenant could receive a rates bill for a period in which it was not a tenant.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Procurement Tenders (5 Mar 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: 40. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the extent to which he has issued guidance notes or oversight of the regulation of abnormally low tenders since 2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10673/19]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Procurement Tenders (5 Mar 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: How many guidance notes or oversight documents in respect of abnormally low contract tenders have been published by the Minister or his predecessor since 2011?

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Procurement Tenders (5 Mar 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: In fairness, I know the law. It is contained in SI 284/2016, which deals with abnormally low contracts, but that is not the question I asked. Rather, I asked whether any guidance notes on the matter had been issued by the Department since 2011. While we are on the subject of abnormally low contracts and how they are meant to be addressed by the contracting authority, will the Minister of...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Procurement Tenders (5 Mar 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: The derogation was to move away from the standard contracting practice to a two-phase practice, not to deal with the abnormally low contract price that came in. Why was the guidance and law related to the statutory instrument not adhered to and implemented with regard to this project when there was an abnormally low contracting price compared with the other prices tendered for? One of the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Flood Relief Schemes Status (5 Mar 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: 42. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the flood relief schemes or capital projects that will be affected by the re-profiling of €3 million worth of investment under the flood risk management programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10674/19]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Flood Relief Schemes Status (5 Mar 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: Are there flood relief schemes or projects which have been affected by the re-profiling of €3 million worth of investment as recently discussed in the debate on the Revised Estimates?

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Flood Relief Schemes Status (5 Mar 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: I am not doubting or questioning that they will be delivered. What I am asking is whether there will be delays in meeting some of the completion dates previously outlined or whether the start dates of some projects will be put back. There may be reasons for putting them back, including planning reasons or whatever else, and if that is the case, I am sure the Minister of State will tell me,...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Flood Relief Schemes Status (5 Mar 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: I want to clarify that none of the schemes is being delayed as a result of the re-profiling but because of other external factors which freed up the money within the budget to be reallocated. If that is the case, I welcome it, but there has been some confusion. However, if that is the answer, I accept it fully. Will the Minister of State clarify that no projects have been delayed as a...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (5 Mar 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: 48. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the capital projects to be delayed or deferred in 2019 to 2022 as a result of the cost overruns in the national children’s hospital; when the details of these deferrals will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10630/19]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (5 Mar 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: I acknowledge that even with the cut, there is an increase in the Government's capital spend. The Minister has listed the items, some of which include the rescheduling of payments. I think only two are related to the subject we have just discussed - the flood relief scheme and the re-profiling of payments in the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. Everything else...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (5 Mar 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: Will the same process need to be undertaken next year to find savings within the Department to meet the ongoing overrun or is this a once-off €99 million in 2019 and that is it? As the Minister knows the overrun on the paediatric hospital is €450 million, leaving another €351 million. Is he saying this process will continue for a number of years or is this the only...