Results 7,901-7,920 of 11,306 for speaker:Colm Burke

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Financial Statements of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland: Discussion (9 Mar 2023)

Colm Burke: Does Mr. Meally believe Departments and State enterprises should be doing more in this area?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 Mar 2023)

Colm Burke: I am happy to hold it over.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 Mar 2023)

Colm Burke: There is the issue of dividing up the HSE into regional areas. Will there be a cost issue to this? As a result, how will tight control be kept on it? When we amalgamated all of the health boards into the HSE there was a huge cost factor. I am concerned that now we are doing the exact opposite and we will have another huge cost factor.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 Mar 2023)

Colm Burke: The Chair knows that when anything is restructured there are costs. I was speaking to someone recently about the reconfiguration of the bands that HSE employees are in. Some people have gone up by two bands. This means their salaries have increased and rightly so. The people who have not move bands are feeling very aggrieved as a result. I am concerned that given what happened previously...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 Mar 2023)

Colm Burke: Perhaps it is.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 Mar 2023)

Colm Burke: I also think it is a good one to deal with.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 Mar 2023)

Colm Burke: We have a problem in the sense that people can go abroad and get treatment and look for reimbursement from the State but if people want to go through the National Treatment Purchase Fund they must wait for someone else to decide whether they can do so. I am not sure we are getting value for money on this. It is worth looking at it to see whether we are getting value for money and could it...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 Mar 2023)

Colm Burke: The problem with the NTPF is someone other than the patient decides what is happening whereas with treatment abroad, the patient decides, in real terms, when he or she gets treatment.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 Mar 2023)

Colm Burke: The difference is the patient can decide whether he or she wants to go abroad but the patient has no say in respect of the NTPF.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 Mar 2023)

Colm Burke: That is the difference. We now have a scenario where people are going abroad who, if we had been operating the NTPF in a correct way, would not be. That is what I am saying. I am now convinced we are not getting value for money because of the fact there are facilities here in the South. People are going to Northern Ireland for a whole lot of treatment. I have no problem with that but...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 Mar 2023)

Colm Burke: That is grand.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 Mar 2023)

Colm Burke: Is Enterprise Ireland in the week after next?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Financial Statements of Enterprise Ireland: Discussion (23 Mar 2023)

Colm Burke: I thank Mr. Clancy for his presentation and the work he and his staff do and deliver on. In real terms, job growth in Ireland has gone up by about 730,000 jobs in the past ten years and much of that has been due to the performance of Mr. Clancy and his staff. I will touch on the issue of the seed and venture capital fund in the IT sector. There has been significant change in the ICT...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Financial Statements of Enterprise Ireland: Discussion (23 Mar 2023)

Colm Burke: I presume Enterprise Ireland is being more careful regarding making moneys available in that area. I presume that would have changed over the past 12 to 18 months.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Financial Statements of Enterprise Ireland: Discussion (23 Mar 2023)

Colm Burke: Looking at the various figures, and this is not just the ICT sector, over the past four years, out of 234 companies, over €44 million was written off. Was there a big change in the write-off in 2022? Obviously, a lot of companies were affected by the Covid lockdown so was there an adverse outcome in 2022 in that regard?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Financial Statements of Enterprise Ireland: Discussion (23 Mar 2023)

Colm Burke: Does Mr. Clancy expect that to change in 2023? In 2022, Enterprise Ireland would have been more careful because companies would have gone through a difficult time for two years. Is there likely to be a greater write-off in 2023, given that some decisions were delayed in 2022?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Financial Statements of Enterprise Ireland: Discussion (23 Mar 2023)

Colm Burke: Regarding the assessment of projects, and checks and balances, I heard of one person who was making a big issue about the innovation fund and how it was administered in the sense that there are no checks and balances. This person had a project and wanted a group to assess it. An innovation voucher was provided and the person alleged that the work was never done but the money was still paid...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Financial Statements of Enterprise Ireland: Discussion (23 Mar 2023)

Colm Burke: Rather than going into that here, I will drop Mr. Clancy a line about it.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Financial Statements of Enterprise Ireland: Discussion (23 Mar 2023)

Colm Burke: On the areas on which Enterprise Ireland is now focusing, we have done very well in terms of jobs coming into this country in the pharmaceutical industry and the ICT area. In view of Brexit, will there be a change in our approach? The UK is no longer a part of the EU. Does that change in any way the approach that will be taken?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Financial Statements of Enterprise Ireland: Discussion (23 Mar 2023)

Colm Burke: Does Mr. Clancy see an opportunity for Irish companies to get more involved in the UK market in view of the fact that they may not be turning towards European countries now? Is there an opportunity for Ireland to use that connection with the UK more?