Results 7,961-7,980 of 20,099 for speaker:Brian Stanley

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
Chapter 9 - Remediation of Landfill Sites (14 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: Yes, I understand that but they are the same laws of economics.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
Chapter 9 - Remediation of Landfill Sites (14 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: I want to move on.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
Chapter 9 - Remediation of Landfill Sites (14 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: There are no financial penalties.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
Chapter 9 - Remediation of Landfill Sites (14 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: Mr. Mulligan is one of the main people overseeing this in the Department. He and I discussed this matter a couple of years ago, along with Mr. Ó hÓbáin. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, on 3 April 2019, issued observations and memos for the Minister's attention. I have copies in front of me. The Department set out its concerns. The document I have to hand,...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
Chapter 9 - Remediation of Landfill Sites (14 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: The question I have for Mr. Griffin-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
Chapter 9 - Remediation of Landfill Sites (14 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: I understand that the Government signed off on it at the time but the concerns raised by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, including professional people working in that Department, made many of us nervous about the whole process at the time. Those of us who were on the communications committee at the time were very concerned about it.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
Chapter 9 - Remediation of Landfill Sites (14 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: I take that on board but there are great concerns. It is a big contract. It is legitimate that I raised the matter. I still have concerns about it; I have to say that to Mr. Griffin.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
Chapter 9 - Remediation of Landfill Sites (14 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: On Mr. Griffin's reply to the committee on 22 January, he said he thought we were in good shape meeting those targets. We were fairly well into the wave of Covid at the time. Mr. Griffin went on to say, "After year 1 ... there has been significant progress on the contract. In short, there are no targets that have not been met".

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
Chapter 9 - Remediation of Landfill Sites (14 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: I have to put it to Mr. Griffin that we are still coming in at just about half of the original target – 115,000 for the year. Half the year was not missed because of Covid. My final question is on the board of National Broadband Ireland. Right from the beginning, there was an issue with the fact that there are nine members on the board. Eight of those represent the private...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
Chapter 9 - Remediation of Landfill Sites (14 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: I am not doubting that or her ability, but the fact is that at a board meeting where a matter is to be contested, particularly where a difficult decision has to be made, the person representing where nearly 90% of the money comes from is but one of nine members. Anybody who has ever sat at a board meeting or committee meeting will know that the power balance is not just tilted but loaded...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
Chapter 9 - Remediation of Landfill Sites (14 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: I hear what Mr. Griffin said about expecting members of the board to perform and to have robust exchanges,. The reality is, however, that when an issue arises in the context of the interests of the taxpayer and the interests of the State, it is the private entity that holds an awful lot of cards. We cannot just stop in the middle of the contract and move that entity off the pitch, no more...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
Chapter 9 - Remediation of Landfill Sites (14 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: I will let members back in for a second round of five minutes each.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
Chapter 9 - Remediation of Landfill Sites (14 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: Will Mr. Griffin send to the committee a list of those 45 projects?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
Chapter 9 - Remediation of Landfill Sites (14 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: I do not expect him to have a list of them with him today but perhaps he could send one to us in the next week or two.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
Chapter 9 - Remediation of Landfill Sites (14 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: If other members want to come in there, they should use the raise hand feature. I will revert to the national broadband plan for a moment. This is a huge project and we all know it is badly needed. Everybody wants to see it, no one more than I, as a representative of a rural constituency with many commuters. There are a lot of people involved in small businesses around the midlands and...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
Chapter 9 - Remediation of Landfill Sites (14 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: There was talk at the time, just after the contract being signed, that the fee would be roughly €20 per pole per annum. Somebody gave an answer to this question previously and I am just seeking clarity. Is that figure correct?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
Chapter 9 - Remediation of Landfill Sites (14 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: Is that per pole?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
Chapter 9 - Remediation of Landfill Sites (14 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: Okay, that is if Eir is still using it. Presumably, there is a corresponding charge where the ducting used is owned by the private consortium that owns Eir. We owned Eir; it was a semi-State company. I do not expect Mr. Mulligan to answer that because it will depend on the size of the ducting, the number of cables going through it and the amount of infrastructure in it. A lot of this...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
Chapter 9 - Remediation of Landfill Sites (14 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: I accept that there has been some upgrading works, particularly since the contract has been signed. We can see that some of the poles that had fallen down, were broken or whatever are being replaced. In some cases, the cables were just lying along bushes and trees where poles had been damaged or had fallen over the years. I accept that and I thank Mr. Mulligan for his reply. I do not...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
Chapter 9 - Remediation of Landfill Sites (14 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: I am referring to the household schemes. The national retrofit scheme is the one for the more extensive wraparound, with heat pumps, etc. It is for deeper retrofit.