Results 8,661-8,680 of 21,498 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald
- Public Accounts Committee: Procurement Issues: Small Firms Association and Irish Schools Arts Supply Federation (5 Mar 2015)
Mary Lou McDonald: I ask Ms Fleming to remind us of the numbers currently employed in her sector.
- Public Accounts Committee: Procurement Issues: Small Firms Association and Irish Schools Arts Supply Federation (5 Mar 2015)
Mary Lou McDonald: Can Ms Fleming quantify that loss for us?
- Public Accounts Committee: Procurement Issues: Small Firms Association and Irish Schools Arts Supply Federation (5 Mar 2015)
Mary Lou McDonald: I will finish on this point to allow others to come in. Ms Fleming said that the aggregate contract model is so dangerous to the sector that if it is applied, it will wipe it out.
- Public Accounts Committee: Procurement Issues: Small Firms Association and Irish Schools Arts Supply Federation (5 Mar 2015)
Mary Lou McDonald: I will speak very directly. In the absence of a change of policy and approach, if we do not go for a regionalised, unbundled, disaggregated model that does not set price as the be-all and end-all but factors in things like quality, service and so on, is Ms Fleming saying that we are facing inevitable large-scale job losses?
- Public Accounts Committee: Procurement Issues: Small Firms Association and Irish Schools Arts Supply Federation (5 Mar 2015)
Mary Lou McDonald: Do we take that as an ask from the organisations that we pursue this matter with the office-----
- Public Accounts Committee: Procurement Issues: Small Firms Association and Irish Schools Arts Supply Federation (5 Mar 2015)
Mary Lou McDonald: -----and consider what the committee can do by way of assessment and analysis?
- Public Accounts Committee: Procurement Issues: Small Firms Association and Irish Schools Arts Supply Federation (5 Mar 2015)
Mary Lou McDonald: Was the contract which gave only ten days to tender a Government contract?
- Public Accounts Committee: Procurement Issues: Small Firms Association and Irish Schools Arts Supply Federation (5 Mar 2015)
Mary Lou McDonald: A ten-day timeframe is astonishing.
- Public Accounts Committee: Procurement Issues: Small Firms Association and Irish Schools Arts Supply Federation (5 Mar 2015)
Mary Lou McDonald: That is fairly stark, when Mr. Noonan puts it in those terms. Given the volume of State spend and given that one has the latitude under the EU directives, which tie all of this together, to take account of the best overall economic value, it is an inexcusable fault at this stage. It is not as if the system does not know about this. They are well aware of it. I wanted to get back to the...
- Public Accounts Committee: Procurement Issues: Small Firms Association and Irish Schools Arts Supply Federation (5 Mar 2015)
Mary Lou McDonald: Absolutely. More interestingly, they have gathered some data. There is a recent report of €3.791 billion spent, with €2.74 billion being tracked across 35,000 suppliers involving 3.8 million payment transactions from 64 public service bodies, for instance, in health. All of that sounds impressive, but one has to drill into all of this to see what it means. What we can know...
- Public Accounts Committee: Procurement Issues: Small Firms Association and Irish Schools Arts Supply Federation (5 Mar 2015)
Mary Lou McDonald: I thank the Comptroller and Auditor General. I am conscious of that as well but, following today's hearing, I am doubly convinced that one issue is the model upon which the OGP bases its work, that is, price only, versus the most economically advantageous, but another that is important is how the OGP analyses its own target and performance. If we do not get a piece of work done fairly...
- Public Accounts Committee: Procurement Issues: Small Firms Association and Irish Schools Arts Supply Federation (5 Mar 2015)
Mary Lou McDonald: That is fine.
- Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 18 - Shared Services
Special Report No. 87 - Effectiveness of Audit Committees in State Bodies
Issues with Public Procurement (5 Mar 2015) Mary Lou McDonald: Ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur romhaibh go léir. Mr. Watt said in respect of the audit committees in State bodies that the Department will circulate an updated code of practice in coming weeks. When does he expect it to be in place?
- Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 18 - Shared Services
Special Report No. 87 - Effectiveness of Audit Committees in State Bodies
Issues with Public Procurement (5 Mar 2015) Mary Lou McDonald: How long will that be?
- Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 18 - Shared Services
Special Report No. 87 - Effectiveness of Audit Committees in State Bodies
Issues with Public Procurement (5 Mar 2015) Mary Lou McDonald: I thank Mr. Watt. Presumably, the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General is the basis on which the code will be drafted. I appreciate the need for consultation but the outside audit was done by his office.
- Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 18 - Shared Services
Special Report No. 87 - Effectiveness of Audit Committees in State Bodies
Issues with Public Procurement (5 Mar 2015) Mary Lou McDonald: I hope it will incorporate all of them. What about the recommendation for a self-assessment checklist? Will the Department adopt that?
- Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 18 - Shared Services
Special Report No. 87 - Effectiveness of Audit Committees in State Bodies
Issues with Public Procurement (5 Mar 2015) Mary Lou McDonald: It seems to be sensible. Will that be done in conjunction with the drafting of the new code?
- Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 18 - Shared Services
Special Report No. 87 - Effectiveness of Audit Committees in State Bodies
Issues with Public Procurement (5 Mar 2015) Mary Lou McDonald: Value for money reviews and so on are now a standard part of the vocabulary and I will come to procurement issues shortly, which is where the focus of my questioning will be. I have a separate question, however, which may be more appropriate to the Minister. We debated in committee the Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2015-2017. It struck me in parts as a work of fiction. For instance,...
- Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 18 - Shared Services
Special Report No. 87 - Effectiveness of Audit Committees in State Bodies
Issues with Public Procurement (5 Mar 2015) Mary Lou McDonald: I understand the thinking, which I think is really smart.
- Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 18 - Shared Services
Special Report No. 87 - Effectiveness of Audit Committees in State Bodies
Issues with Public Procurement (5 Mar 2015) Mary Lou McDonald: That is interesting but it was not my question.