Results 1,021-1,040 of 4,168 for speaker:Susan O'Keeffe
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Role and Functions: Pensions Ombudsman (24 Sep 2014)
Susan O'Keeffe: What is the estimated cost saving to the Exchequer of this proposal? Does Mr. Kenny believe the figure will be reached?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Role and Functions: Pensions Ombudsman (24 Sep 2014)
Susan O'Keeffe: Is it part of Mr. Kenny's sub-committee activity that some-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Role and Functions: Pensions Ombudsman (24 Sep 2014)
Susan O'Keeffe: The deliberations, yes.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Role and Functions: Pensions Ombudsman (24 Sep 2014)
Susan O'Keeffe: I bet.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Role and Functions: Pensions Ombudsman (24 Sep 2014)
Susan O'Keeffe: Would the new office, whenever it emerges, benefit from having a mix of civil or public servants and others from outside the Civil Service who have never-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Role and Functions: Pensions Ombudsman (24 Sep 2014)
Susan O'Keeffe: Deputy Harrington raised the issue of appeals taken by arms of the State. To clarify, is Mr. Kenny saying that where he makes a ruling, arms of the State can appeal that decision and take his office to court?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Role and Functions: Pensions Ombudsman (24 Sep 2014)
Susan O'Keeffe: I understand. To be clear, then, the delegates are suggesting that whenever they have found themselves in court in recent times, it has been at the hands of the State?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Role and Functions: Pensions Ombudsman (24 Sep 2014)
Susan O'Keeffe: Are we allowed to know which Departments are involved? Is that a matter of public record?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Role and Functions: Pensions Ombudsman (24 Sep 2014)
Susan O'Keeffe: Nobody would dispute the principle of a right to appeal. However, recourse to the courts seems to be an incredibly slow and expensive process. Given Mr. Kenny's experience over years, might he be in a position to recommend another method that could be employed? As it stands, the process seems tantamount to throwing money away.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Role and Functions: Pensions Ombudsman (24 Sep 2014)
Susan O'Keeffe: Have these appeals had an impact on the budget of Mr. Kenny's office? As he said himself, it is taxpayers' money that is being spent.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Role and Functions: Pensions Ombudsman (24 Sep 2014)
Susan O'Keeffe: In other words, public moneys are effectively being shuffled from one point to another and then back again?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Role and Functions: Pensions Ombudsman (24 Sep 2014)
Susan O'Keeffe: Mr. Kenny indicated that his office has been successful in recovering moneys from public bodies.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Role and Functions: Pensions Ombudsman (24 Sep 2014)
Susan O'Keeffe: It is essentially a case of shuffling money about.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Role and Functions: Pensions Ombudsman (24 Sep 2014)
Susan O'Keeffe: Yes; there are certainly people taking their share of it. In the brave new world following the amalgamation of the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman and the Financial Services Ombudsman, there should be an opportunity for all kinds of things to change. Might there be an opportunity within that space to address this and other issues?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Role and Functions: Pensions Ombudsman (24 Sep 2014)
Susan O'Keeffe: I thank Mr. Kenny for his patience; I have only a couple of questions remaining. Given that we have a variety of ombudsmen operating across a range of different areas in the State, does he see a benefit in establishing some type of unified structure? Of course, the Ombudsman for Children, for instance, is different from the Pensions Ombudsman and so on. Nevertheless, would it be Mr....
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Role and Functions: Pensions Ombudsman (24 Sep 2014)
Susan O'Keeffe: Mr. Kenny referred briefly to freedom of information. Is he saying that, in his view, the documentation that is currently exempt should remain exempt?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Role and Functions: Pensions Ombudsman (24 Sep 2014)
Susan O'Keeffe: There would be nothing left to issue. Is Mr. Kenny concurrently of the view that there might be a problem with data protection?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Role and Functions: Pensions Ombudsman (24 Sep 2014)
Susan O'Keeffe: Is Mr. Kenny recommending a change?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Role and Functions: Pensions Ombudsman (24 Sep 2014)
Susan O'Keeffe: If the deadline for the legislation is next year, is Mr. Kenny on target to reach that? Before Mr. Kenny came in, the committee was talking about all of the ombudsmen's offices. When a report is presented by an ombudsman to the Houses, the Whip can be applied and the report can be rejected. Should there be a different way to deal with all of the ombudsmen's offices? They are all supposed...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Role and Functions: Pensions Ombudsman (24 Sep 2014)
Susan O'Keeffe: It is a shame, when we might be able to make it stick through a clearer and quicker route.