Results 8,021-8,040 of 26,579 for speaker:John McGuinness

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Apr 2014)

John McGuinness: There were others. I agree with that.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Apr 2014)

John McGuinness: Yes. It is a matter of how we schedule them into the meeting.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Apr 2014)

John McGuinness: We are going to do it. We will ask for the details on that matter.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Apr 2014)

John McGuinness: It is on the list here.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Apr 2014)

John McGuinness: We will do that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John McGuinness: Before we begin I remind witnesses, members and those in the Gallery to turn off their mobile telephones because they interfere with the sound quality and transmission of the meeting. I advise witnesses that they are protected by absolute privilege in respect of the evidence they are to give to this committee. If they are directed by the committee to cease giving evidence on a particular...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John McGuinness: I ask the Comptroller and Auditor General to give his opening statement.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John McGuinness: I thank Mr. Watt. Can we publish his statement?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John McGuinness: Deputy O'Donnell is next but he will be annoyed because I want to ask a question arising from what Deputies Deasy and Connaughton went into. I have listened to Mr. Quinn's description of the procurement process and to Mr. Watt who spoke about improvements and so on. Have I missed something? I think that we live in two different zones. I shall put the matter to Mr. Quinn first. When did...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John McGuinness: His section or whoever.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John McGuinness: I shall cut to the chase. The reason I asked him the question is that on 2 April it produced a document which it gave to each member of the Committee of Public Accounts. I have listened to what he had to say and was left with the impression that everything is hunky dory but there is room for change. As Mr. Watt always says, the section is moving on in a positive direction. The delegation...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John McGuinness: We will give the Department a copy and then it can give us a response.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John McGuinness: Is it not all about governance? If proper governance and proper procurement practice were in place, some of the serious questions which have come up at the Committee of Public Accounts in the recent past may not have come up at all. I do not expect Mr. Watt to comment on the specifics I have raised but I am asking him to comment on the message he is delivering and how it is being heard....

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John McGuinness: Is Mr. Watt satisfied that the governance required across the board, through Departments and agencies and into third level institutions, is being adhered to? Is he satisfied that the message he is sending, in terms of governance, accountability and saving money, is actually being listened to by all and sundry within the service? That is a pretty straightforward question. I do not accept he...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John McGuinness: Is Mr. Watt happy to proceed?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John McGuinness: I have a number of issues that I wish to clear up and I will address my questions to Mr. Paul Quinn. We questioned the OPW commissioners on procurement related issues when they came before the committee some time ago. They suggested that some of the staff would go across to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, having finished the procurement work in the OPW, and would continue...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John McGuinness: I will now deal in general terms with other issues. Officials from the Department of Finance attend the Committee of Public Accounts every week, and I presume they report to the Department on the issues that were raised. I have raised with the HSE the question of purchasing a proper financial management system. The HSE's response is that it has made the submission to the Department of...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John McGuinness: We were told at a previous hearing with the HSE that the proposal is with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for sanction.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John McGuinness: The HSE has made a proposal about what it believes is the right system and the right approach. I have raised this issue a number of times because we have been told there has been a process in place in which they are pursuing the provision of a new financial system of management and that it is with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Chapter 3 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 5 - Vote Budget Management (3 Apr 2014)

John McGuinness: I am not characterising it like that, I am trying to establish exactly at what stage the proposal is at because the HSE has told us one story -----