Results 11,261-11,280 of 26,610 for speaker:David Cullinane

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Brexit Negotiations (28 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: Why are we still quarrelling about the backstop then?

European Council Meeting: Statements (28 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: As the Taoiseach and the leader of Fianna Fáil will know, Sinn Féin has given the Irish Government and the European negotiators a qualified support on Brexit. We do so not because we support the Government or the European negotiators, but because we support what we see as an Irish approach and an Irish solution to Brexit. Every single political party on the island of Ireland...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Brexit Issues (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: 83. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the elements of the December 2017 joint report (details supplied) that relate to trade and regulations with regard to cross-Border trade on the island of Ireland have been fully agreed by Britain to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14559/18]

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: I apologise for being late. I got stuck in traffic.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: There seems to be an over-reliance on the voluntary code of practice. I agree with my colleague that there is no sanction on any of this. At what point do we advocate that there should be sanction? We had a periodic report and we dealt with some of this. It is not our role to sanction. All we can do is hold public bodies to account. I imagine we can in future reports advocate there...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: I would not want to appear before the committee anyway and that is for sure. In respect of the last paragraph of Mr. Watt's letter, I suppose we could be helpful to him because we do like to help out Accounting Officers. He states, "Notwithstanding the above, I will give consideration as to whether it might be appropriate to develop specific guidelines in terms of expenditure on staff...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: If we are going to hold it over, perhaps the Comptroller and Auditor General could do a note for us for the next meeting. The Secretary General has now given an instruction that the post reviews be published and we should welcome that because that is a positive that came from our hearings and putting a spotlight on it. In respect of the post-project reviews, does Mr. McCarthy know now who...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: First of all, there is no guarantee it will be wound down or closed so let us not fall for the spin. We will have to wait and see exactly what is announced. However, there are still questions about money that was spent, which is the reason we were asking him to appear before the Committee of Public Accounts. It was not about future spend; it was about past spend so that invitation should...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: Is the Comptroller and Auditor General saying that no clear objective was set before this unit was set up?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: I have one point because I was somewhat critical, or at least I was asking questions around why some of the merger models were incurring more of a cost. When I examined this a bit closer, some of the institutes that are merging are at a more advanced stage, so there is a process. Some of them are behind. I know that in the case of Waterford and Carlow, they are way behind the Munster one,...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: I refer to that issue because there was correspondence earlier on procurement guidelines in regard to DIT. I am sorry I missed the correspondence, which we have probably published, that came from the Higher Education Authority, HEA, on the review it carried out in 2017. It sits with this because it comes up an awful lot, not just in the education sector, but in the health sector and other...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: It strikes me that it is quite weak in terms of enforcement. That is the key issue in many of these issues; it is just a lack of enforcement. There is potential for improvements on the enforcement side.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: I agree with that proposition. I also wish to make suggestion for the days it might free up. We have a provisional date scheduled for RTE's appearance. Is that to be confirmed?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: We should follow it up with RTE because that was part of our report yesterday as well. I also propose that we have a meeting with the Higher Education Authority, HEA. There are many issues that need to be pursued. For example, we still have to follow up on the education and training boards, ETBs, public procurement-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: Okay. Then it would be the Department of Education and Skills and the HEA, if necessary. That can be done on one day. There are the ETBs, the public procurement issue in the higher level institutes and foundations, which we discussed earlier. We still have the HEA's report on intellectual property. It did a global report so that needs to be examined with the authority. Can the...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: Okay.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: We have the global report that was done by the HEA. On a separate issue, we have scheduled a session on 14 June for the Comptroller and Auditor General's special report on the University of Limerick. That is obviously separate from the Thorn report. Are we going to deal with both of those on the same day?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: I am suggesting that if we are going to have a session on the Comptroller and Auditor General's report-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: My suggestion is that we deal with both the Thorn report and the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on the same day.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: I am talking about the report on the University of Limerick.