Results 9,801-9,820 of 20,156 for speaker:Brian Stanley

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of Government Chief Information Officer
2020 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management (19 May 2022)

Brian Stanley: I thank Deputy Murphy and call Deputy Munster, who has ten minutes. Following that, we will have a short break. As she is online, I will give her a reminder when she has two minutes left.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of Government Chief Information Officer
2020 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management (19 May 2022)

Brian Stanley: The Deputy asked for a note regarding the spend on long-term leases on HAP, etc., and the value for money part of it. Could we have included in that, as part of the assessment at the end of the ten-year lease - it is mostly a ten-year lease for the long-term ones - the fact that the State does not have an asset? I will explain properly what I am asking. If the money is invested in social...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of Government Chief Information Officer
2020 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management (19 May 2022)

Brian Stanley: Many people would feel there is an important differentiation between the money that is spent on renting and leasing, and the direct investment in social and affordable housing. I thank Mr. Moloney. We will suspend for ten minutes. We will resume at 11.10 a.m. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of Government Chief Information Officer
2020 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management (19 May 2022)

Brian Stanley: I call Deputy Colm Burke.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of Government Chief Information Officer
2020 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management (19 May 2022)

Brian Stanley: The Deputy has just gone over time.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of Government Chief Information Officer
2020 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management (19 May 2022)

Brian Stanley: I will let Deputy Colm Burke back in during the second round. A couple of other members may be along later. I will ask Mr. Moloney to clarify a matter relating to the CEOs and Accounting Officers of State bodies. Does the Department require their salaries to be disclosed and published? Is that available?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of Government Chief Information Officer
2020 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management (19 May 2022)

Brian Stanley: I will return to the matter of the Accounting Officers. Why is there a difficulty around their salaries?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of Government Chief Information Officer
2020 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management (19 May 2022)

Brian Stanley: Mr. Moloney said State bodies that are funded by Departments are at one remove, to some extent, from a level of accountability to Ministers and so on, and are not the same as Departments. Why is there a different set of criteria for those bodies?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of Government Chief Information Officer
2020 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management (19 May 2022)

Brian Stanley: Has the view of the Data Protection Commissioner been sought on that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of Government Chief Information Officer
2020 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management (19 May 2022)

Brian Stanley: Mr. Moloney mentioned taxation and Revenue a number of times in his replies to members. In my case, if I gave back so much to the State by personal choice in respect of the pay rises over the past 11 years, I would have evidence of it. I would have a photograph of it on my phone because we sometimes get asked about these things by journalists and so on. If a senior civil servant is gifting...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of Government Chief Information Officer
2020 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management (19 May 2022)

Brian Stanley: Sorry. My understanding of it is this. If a senior civil servant, in general, says he or she is gifting back €50,000 or €80,000 of his or her gross salary to the State, why can there not be some paper trail of that or evidence to show it is happening? I am not asking a question and, in my memory, this committee or any member of it has never asked a question, about the net...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of Government Chief Information Officer
2020 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management (19 May 2022)

Brian Stanley: I understand that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of Government Chief Information Officer
2020 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management (19 May 2022)

Brian Stanley: That is being conflated though. Nobody is inquiring into the personal tax affairs of any senior civil servant, Accounting Officer or politician. We are simply asking what if somebody says they are gifting back to the State? In my own case, there is a document because I signed it. I sign it each year. Is that document there in the case of a senior civil servant? That is what I am asking....

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of Government Chief Information Officer
2020 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management (19 May 2022)

Brian Stanley: Yes. The one-stop shop gives it to you every year.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of Government Chief Information Officer
2020 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management (19 May 2022)

Brian Stanley: Okay. There is a document. I wanted to clarify that. I will deal with the issue of construction inflation. Last week, the Government announced a fund in excess of €500 million to meet more than 70% of construction costs that are related to inflation. As I understand it, the scheme is not time-bound. It is retrospective and goes back to 1 January this year. It covers increased...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of Government Chief Information Officer
2020 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management (19 May 2022)

Brian Stanley: We are obviously dealing with private companies. I understand that. They have shareholders and have to have profit margins and so on. This could become an area of contention with Government Departments. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform's role in terms of oversight is not just about authorising the signing of cheques. It must take an interest in this, which it has done over...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of Government Chief Information Officer
2020 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management (19 May 2022)

Brian Stanley: That is their feedback. What I am asking-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of Government Chief Information Officer
2020 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management (19 May 2022)

Brian Stanley: I am aware of the pull factor in terms of them having other work. That is certainly the situation at the moment. It is with that in mind that I am asking the question. In terms of the oversight role of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, there is potentially a big grey area there, where the public purse and the commercial world meets. I understand that. That is the business...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of Government Chief Information Officer
2020 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management (19 May 2022)

Brian Stanley: I want to move on to the HSE. As referred to earlier, the budget for this year is over €21 billion. I have no argument with that but there is a sense that even if we filled a tipper lorry with money and tipped it up outside the HSE's headquarters, the services at the other end would not materialise. I do not want to rhyme it all off here because I have taken this up with the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of Government Chief Information Officer
2020 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management (19 May 2022)

Brian Stanley: They were told they needed an integrated financial management system eight years ago. Imagine the chairperson of a board or someone in middle management coming back to a body like this committee, eight years later, and saying that nothing will happen until the back end of 2025. I am open to correction, but I think that was the last date we got from them. That means it will be over 11 years...