Results 9,661-9,680 of 15,510 for speaker:Brendan Griffin

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Skills Shortages (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: As the economy improves and we approach full employment, my Department continues to experience a high volume of employment permit applications which has led to some delays in processing applications. The current level of demand is due to our economic success, growing labour market and reduced labour surplus. Employment Permits Section is working to further reduce the current waiting...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Sports Capital Programme Data (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: The most recent (2018) round of the Sports Capital Programme attracted a record 2,337 applications. Allocations were announced in January, May and November of this year with a total of over €56 million awarded to 1,648 different projects. All applicants have now been notified of the outcome of the assessment process and all unsuccessful applicants have been invited...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Household Benefits Scheme (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: 441. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if a household benefits package will be transferred to a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53472/19]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: I am grateful for the opportunity to speak to the committee today, though it gives me no joy that we are once again discussing the difficult situation of soccer in Ireland. This should be a time for optimism, given the recent positive performances from our men’s and women’s national teams and the exciting prospect of hosting EURO 2020 matches at the Aviva Stadium next year....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: On Euro 2020, our level of preparedness is among the best of all host cities. The Department has assigned a principal officer who is dedicated to working on it. On everything in our control, we are well on top of hosting those four games and we are confident that those games will not be at risk. It would be a massive blow to the country, from the Exchequer point of view and otherwise.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: I do not quite get where the Deputy is coming from.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: We are looking for a new chief executive without connections to the past.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: I was referring to the chief executive in particular.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: We want a new, fresh chief executive who does not have past ties to the organisation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: No. The great tragedy in this is that there are some excellent employees in the FAI.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: That is why I referred to not tarring everyone with the one brush. There are people whose jobs are at risk now. They are facing into terrible uncertainty going into Christmas. It is important to state that some excellent people are working in the organisation as well.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: We need a fresh chief executive without connections to the past regime and a clean board that is able to come in an help us. However, there are also many other things that need to happen to get restored.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: That is certainly where it needs to start. There may be others but that is certainly-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: It is the chief executive officer in particular for now.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: No, we cannot say that because there are other things that need to happen. We need to be fully confident, if we are directing money directly to the FAI, that that money will not disappear into a black hole of debt, for example, or it will not go into overdrafts. We need to ensure that public moneys are protected and that is why we have looked for the alternative media to channel the funding...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: That is a possibility. We are dealing with a hypothetical situation here. At the moment, from what we know now, what we are saying is that we need a new chief executive.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: There is more in the KOSI report. An implementation group has been set up between Sport Ireland and the FAI and is pursuing the KOSI recommendations.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: No. I am in a similar position to Mr. Mulvey in that I got a full briefing on the report. I do not have a copy either and I did not take one. That is how serious this matter is.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: I know it is frustrating for everybody. We want the public to know all the relevant details, but for obvious reasons it is in the overall public interest that we tread very carefully when talking about any of the contents of the report. We all want as much information as possible to be public. The committee must understand that this is particularly difficult and it is dangerous even to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Governance and Funding of Football Association of Ireland: Discussion (18 Dec 2019)

Brendan Griffin: The €55 million liabilities figure is in the public domain but on top of that there is also funding owed to UEFA through loans. The total figure is closer to €70 million when the UEFA funding that was lent to the FAI is factored in.