Results 9,581-9,600 of 34,832 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Pre-legislative Scrutiny (8 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: I will make one further observation. We had this exact same debate during one of the last items of legislation the Minister, Deputy Howlin, brought through. I recommend that principal officers across the public sector should be in category A. Oireachtas Members are on principal officer level salaries. Public officials on the same salary scale as Oireachtas Members should be in the same...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Pre-legislative Scrutiny (8 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: It may have been within 12 months. I made this point about principal officers and directors of services. They, in truth, have much more decision-making capacity. They may have to clear it up the line but they are the people driving many decisions. I therefore think they should be included on the same basis. I made the same point the last time and I am delighted someone remembers what I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Pre-legislative Scrutiny (8 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: Once a year might be more than enough to depress us - I will put it that way - never mind having to do it three or four times a year. The next question I wish to ask concerns judges. Are they included?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Pre-legislative Scrutiny (8 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: Given a judge made this request and the approach being taken seems to follow Judge Mahon's approach, if it is good enough for a judge to recommend it, it is good enough for judges to be included. Mr. Beausang will say there is the issue of the separation of powers but if judges want to feel they are above it, let them challenge the legislation. That is my view. We are talking about people...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Pre-legislative Scrutiny (8 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: I am sure if he asked many other people whether they should be excluded, they would find a good reason they should be. I do not buy that. Judges should not be excluded and a mechanism is needed to monitor them independently of the Oireachtas but they should not be excluded from the process. A few minutes ago, everybody was covered by the legislation but now we know cross-Border bodies are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Pre-legislative Scrutiny (8 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: I would like to know which other little groups are not covered. In my chit chat with Mr. Beausang, I have found two groups are not covered. Are other groups not included? How have I hit on two groups?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Pre-legislative Scrutiny (8 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: They are cross-Border bodies.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Pre-legislative Scrutiny (8 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: We are teasing this out. Another issue I am interested in is the new statutory board to address potential conflicts of interest of public officials who take up roles in the private sector by merging with the outside appointments board. What about people who leave the public service and move into areas where there is a potential conflict of interest? I am probably unique in the Oireachtas...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Pre-legislative Scrutiny (8 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: The commissioner will have stronger powers of sanction. Will Mr. Beausang explain the sanctions? Are they financial penalties? Has that not to be done through a court? I thought courts were the only fora-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Pre-legislative Scrutiny (8 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: Does it include people who are engaged by the State or State bodies to do a lot of work and who earn most of their income from State fees? They might be self-employed. I am thinking of senior counsel who probably work for the Director of Public Prosecutions for practically their entire career. They work in different circuits. Effectively, all of their income is paid out of the public...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Pre-legislative Scrutiny (8 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: What about one overall system? I would ask the Department to reconsider this issue. Technically, a senior counsel who is prosecuting on behalf of the State every day of the week and earning all his money from State fees is a sole trader but he is very much in the public eye and part of the State mechanism. It is the same with a GP. Most of the income of GP practices comes from the State,...

Other Questions: Accident and Emergency Departments (9 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: 11. To ask the Minister for Health if he will ensure that the emergency department at the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise, County Laois continues to provide a 24-hour service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27571/15]

Other Questions: Accident and Emergency Departments (9 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: Will the Minister ensure that the emergency department in the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise continues to provide a 24-hour service?

Other Questions: Accident and Emergency Departments (9 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: I thank the Minister for that general reply. A number of public representatives met him in his office a few weeks ago and I thank him for meeting a bigger group that he may have thought would arrive on that occasion. He indicated then that he expected to have a report from the HSE within three or four weeks. Can he advise when he expects to receive it? He referred to planning,...

Other Questions: Accident and Emergency Departments (9 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: I understand and appreciate the issues and we all acknowledge the HIQA report. I believe the Minister accepts that people locally welcome the improvements in the maternity services that have flown from the HIQA report. Essentially, we want the same level of determination to be shown to make the accident and emergency service safe. If the HSE and HIQA cannot stand over it being safe, the...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Accident and Emergency Departments (9 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: 37. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to improve services in the emergency department at the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise in County Laois; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27570/15]

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: What is the sequence of speakers today?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: Will you put my name on the list? I must go to the Chamber for 10.30 a.m. so I will be gone for a while, but I will be back.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: Hopefully.

Public Accounts Committee: National Asset Management Agency: Financial Statements 2014 (9 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: I want to come to the big picture about why NAMA decided to sell the portfolio in one lot shortly, because we have not really dealt with that issue but it is where the taxpayer lost out. However, I wish to clarify some issues first. PIMCO made the disclosure to NAMA, and it has made the point that it came to NAMA first. However, NAMA made the point that if PIMCO did not leave...