Results 981-1,000 of 2,792 for speaker:Colm Brophy

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance and for Public Expenditure and Reform (18 Apr 2019)

Colm Brophy: I thank members and the Minister. I thank the Minister and his officials for attending. It is particularly appreciated given the scheduling conflicts there were, notwithstanding which the Minister made himself available. I acknowledge the members of the committee who stayed to contribute and involve themselves in our meeting.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Business of Select Committee (8 May 2019)

Colm Brophy: No apologies have been received so far. Today the select committee will meet representatives of the National Competitiveness Council to discuss its latest published report entitled, Cost of Doing Business in Ireland, April 2019. Before doing so, we will go into private session to deal with some housekeeping matters.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: National Competitiveness Council (8 May 2019)

Colm Brophy: Before we begin, I remind members and witnesses to turn off their mobile phones as interference affects the sound quality of the recording. I welcome Professor Peter Clinch, Chair, Dr. Marie Bourke, principal officer and Mr. Manus O'Donnell, assistant principal officer. I thank them for making themselves available to the committee today. We are meeting the representatives of the National...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: National Competitiveness Council (8 May 2019)

Colm Brophy: That was a very interesting opening presentation, on which I am sure there will be a number of questions.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: National Competitiveness Council (8 May 2019)

Colm Brophy: The Deputy has enough time if he wants to go ahead.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: National Competitiveness Council (8 May 2019)

Colm Brophy: I am interested in the comparison of price rise points between countries. Professor Clinch has said we are not doing too badly in overall price inflation. However, we have marginal small increases in an embedded high-cost economy. I do not know if this falls into something the National Competitiveness Council considers. We went through a substantial bad period but have now come out of it...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: National Competitiveness Council (8 May 2019)

Colm Brophy: That is an interesting answer. Maybe because of the economic size of our country or because of a number of factors coming together, many sectors in the Irish economy do not seem to realise the damage of high costs. I cannot understand it within industry sectors. It is interesting. My background was primarily in the hospitality industry prior to becoming a Senator. At one point prior to...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: National Competitiveness Council (8 May 2019)

Colm Brophy: I thank the witnesses for coming before us and for their answers today.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Business of Select Committee (14 May 2019)

Colm Brophy: Apologies have been received from Deputies Lisa Chambers and Bailey. In our first session we will meet representatives of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to consider the public sector performance report and receive an update on the Department's equality budgeting pilot programme. In our second session we will meet representatives of the Disability Federation of Ireland...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2018: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (14 May 2019)

Colm Brophy: I remind members and delegates to turn off their mobile phones as interference caused by them affects the transmission and recording of the proceedings. From the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform I welcome Mr. Ronnie Downes, assistant secretary; Mr. John Burke, principal officer; and Ms Caroline O'Loughlin, assistant principal. We are considering the public service performance...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2018: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (14 May 2019)

Colm Brophy: I thank Mr. Downes for his interesting opening statement and his analysis of the report. There is a great deal of information in it and we appreciate that. It will form part of our work as a committee. I thank the witnesses for coming before us. I think they will get off early. I particularly welcome the developments in equality budgeting and the broadening of that programme. Gender...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Annual Budget Disability Proofing: Disability Federation of Ireland (14 May 2019)

Colm Brophy: I welcome Dr. Joanne McCarthy, senior executive officer, policy and research; Ms Joan O'Donnell, development manager; and Ms Fiona O'Donovan, policy and research assistant, Disability Federation of Ireland, DFI. I thank them for making themselves available to the committee. We are meeting them to discuss the approach to disability proofing in the budget. It is a useful opportunity at this...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Annual Budget Disability Proofing: Disability Federation of Ireland (14 May 2019)

Colm Brophy: I thank our witnesses collectively for those opening statements. They were very interesting.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Annual Budget Disability Proofing: Disability Federation of Ireland (14 May 2019)

Colm Brophy: May I interrupt Deputy Lahart for a second? I apologise to him for this but I would like to ask Deputy Heydon whether he has a particular question because he must leave within ten minutes.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Annual Budget Disability Proofing: Disability Federation of Ireland (14 May 2019)

Colm Brophy: Is the Deputy sure?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Annual Budget Disability Proofing: Disability Federation of Ireland (14 May 2019)

Colm Brophy: Who would like to respond initially? The representatives can work away in whatever order they wish.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Annual Budget Disability Proofing: Disability Federation of Ireland (14 May 2019)

Colm Brophy: I call Deputy Heydon. I know he has to attend another meeting that is due to start about now.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Annual Budget Disability Proofing: Disability Federation of Ireland (14 May 2019)

Colm Brophy: Deputy Lahart has covered much already. I will focus on one or two matters specific to us. Has Disability Federation Ireland received any assessment of the impact of last year's budget on people living with disability? Have any of its member organisations done any such analysis for 2019? That would obviously be critical in helping us with this year. The second issue links to that and...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Annual Budget Disability Proofing: Disability Federation of Ireland (14 May 2019)

Colm Brophy: I was going to conclude but we have enjoyed the exchange so does Deputy Broughan want to ask anything in particular?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Annual Budget Disability Proofing: Disability Federation of Ireland (14 May 2019)

Colm Brophy: I thank the witnesses for their information. It was an interesting exchange and set of questions. I would ask the witnesses to make any additional information they are supplying to any Deputy available to the secretariat to the committee so that we can ensure that all Deputies can access it. I thank Dr. McCarthy, Ms O'Donovan and Ms O'Donnell for their contributions today.