Results 9,141-9,160 of 26,579 for speaker:John McGuinness

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Sep 2014)

John McGuinness: Deputy Costello, what we are doing here is reflecting within this report what has come out of the hearings the committee has held, as well as the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General. For example, we have not touched on the issue of cross-Border offences because it was not included in the Comptroller and Auditor General's report and did not come up in the course of the hearings....

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Sep 2014)

John McGuinness: Yes, absolutely. We will move on to the next report, which is-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Sep 2014)

John McGuinness: The discretion to which Deputy Ross refers is within the system after that.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Sep 2014)

John McGuinness: The Deputy will write to the clerk.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Sep 2014)

John McGuinness: Deputy Ross will provide us with a note on his views on this issue.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Sep 2014)

John McGuinness: From my point of view on the report, I wished to raise the issue of the internal Garda report. I agree with Deputy Ross that the day of internal reports or secret reports or reports that are kept secret is over. Any reports that are conducted privately and produced on this kind of matter, as well as on the loss of revenue to the State, should be publicised. There is an issue in respect of...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Sep 2014)

John McGuinness: Let us move to the report on medical card eligibility. The findings and recommendations are listed from one to ten on page 15. The first recommendation deals with a comprehensive risk profiling system which should be developed at the PRCS as a matter of top priority. It refers to the information held by the Department of Social Protection that should be of help in building the profile....

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Sep 2014)

John McGuinness: That particular reference is actually a quotation from what the Accounting Officer stated on the day.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Sep 2014)

John McGuinness: It is an issue we should reflect in the report. We move on to the composite reports on four meeting, the first of which deals with Waterford Institute of Technology.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Sep 2014)

John McGuinness: At last week's meeting we noted the audits of different organisations, one of which was the Cork Institute of Technology. It is similar and the same recommendations could be made for CIT. We noted that audit and maybe we should not have noted it because a report was provided through this committee to the Department that raised serious concerns about a range of issues in CIT. There is a...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Sep 2014)

John McGuinness: We might call on Deputy O'Donnell on Saturday.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Sep 2014)

John McGuinness: So the State ended up paying compensation of €31 million for a site that was worth less than €3 million.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Sep 2014)

John McGuinness: We have to accept the fact that the process completely failed.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Sep 2014)

John McGuinness: How many times have we seen similar occurrences, although not the same? One could say the €4 million associated with the hostel in Tipperary is the same. Some €4 million has gone into the building with no return whatsoever.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Sep 2014)

John McGuinness: These are not insignificant amounts of money. When added up, they amount to a colossal loss to the State. Despite this, the State does not seem to learn that there should be a lead authority, as stated. It would be a simple thing. The State does not seem to learn from all the areas of hearings of this committee and recommendations. There is sometimes reluctance on the side of the State...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Sep 2014)

John McGuinness: It is very difficult to explain to a 79 year old who is turning 80 that his €10 is going to prevent him from having a medical card while at the same time the Accounting Officer for the State pathology laboratory can come before us and say he demolished a certain building. People are tired of it, quite frankly. Maybe we should find some way of expressing that in the overall context...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Sep 2014)

John McGuinness: Yes. I would not do it any other way.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Sep 2014)

John McGuinness: Can the clerk set that out in the report?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Sep 2014)

John McGuinness: We will proceed to the appointment of the director of the National Gallery of Ireland, on which three findings and three recommendations have been made. The first finding is that while removal and relocation expenses can be paid in limited circumstances when an appointment of a person based abroad is being contemplated, no guidelines are in place governing when such payments are deemed...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Sep 2014)

John McGuinness: There is no provision in place under which the director of the National Gallery of Ireland must repay moneys if his vouched expenses fall short of the up-front payment of €40,000 made to him in 2012. We have made three recommendations. This is another example of a process involving a Department and an agency that was too loose. It is a straightforward matter.