Results 1,021-1,040 of 15,555 for speaker:Eoghan Murphy

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Eoghan Murphy: I take it that met on a formal basis because the project executive board did not.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Eoghan Murphy: Does Ms Tallon understand the concern I am raising about where accountability lies? She mentioned a process under way in Dublin City Council but the councillors have been trying to stop this project since it began.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Eoghan Murphy: Yes, it is, but who takes responsibility for the problems laid out in the audit report?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Eoghan Murphy: It is the city manager's responsibility but, ultimately, he is responsible to somebody.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Eoghan Murphy: The city manager?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Eoghan Murphy: Who is the city manager elected by?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Eoghan Murphy: But Dublin City Council members have no responsibility for waste management. That has always been the problem. Even though the councillors voted against the incinerator ever getting off the ground, it still went ahead because the city manager and his officials wanted it to and, therefore, he was not held accountable or responsible to the city councillors. Ms Tallon called him into her...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Eoghan Murphy: But some €8 million or €9 million of Exchequer money has gone into it from the Department.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Eoghan Murphy: It is Exchequer-funded, therefore, in part.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Eoghan Murphy: There is because the money that has been spent is taxpayers' money. Exchequer money did come in from the Department initially. It is tied up in the more than €80 million that has been spent.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Eoghan Murphy: Which was a part of the incinerator project. It is part of the breakdown of costs Ms Tallon provided to me herself. Of course the client representative cost is part of the project and that is Exchequer funding, which came from her Department. She, therefore, has a responsibility for that money. In addition, because the LGAS is under the aegis of the Department and it carried out the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Eoghan Murphy: I am not saying it is not.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Eoghan Murphy: This is not any other particular project - it has been a political hot potato since it began and we have discussed it in committee before. It has been an issue for previous Ministers and is an issue for this Minister. Again I am not talking about policy; I am talking about the actual project implementation on which we have committed money from the Exchequer both from the Department and...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Eoghan Murphy: That is interesting and that is not the way I understood it. I always understood-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Chairman. I always understood that waste management was an executive function and it did not fall to the members, including how the money was spent on waste management. I do not understand-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Chairman.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Eoghan Murphy: Absolutely. Does Ms Tallon accept it is also a matter for us?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Eoghan Murphy: Who commissions the Local Government Audit Service? It is the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. This is an appendix to that report so the Department must have a responsibility for this. Apart from the fact that the Department has spent money on it, it has also commissioned an audit which is pretty damning. The Department has also called in the city manager....

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Eoghan Murphy: However it is not a matter for the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Eoghan Murphy: When the Comptroller and Auditor General does that with Accounting Officers here, it is a matter for us and we discuss it. When the Local Government Audit Service does it for the Department with what is happening in local government spend, it is a matter for the Department.