Results 11,361-11,380 of 26,610 for speaker:David Cullinane

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 5 - Fiscal Transparency (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: The question is if, and when, we will have a consolidated set of accounts for all income in and expenditure out.

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 5 - Fiscal Transparency (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: Finally, paragraph 5.15, on page 72 of the report, states, "The report also noted that there was no uniform set of accounting rules and procedures applying to government departments, extra-budgetary funds, semi-state bodies, local governments and public corporations." It goes on to state that four recommendations have been made to correct or address this. Addressing the Comptroller and...

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 5 - Fiscal Transparency (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: If that is the case, is it not extraordinary then that there are no uniform rules and procedures?

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 5 - Fiscal Transparency (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: That is not so, with respect, if uniform accounting rules and procedures in place are taking best practice across all of the Departments. If one does not have uniformity, it is difficult for those who do not have accounting backgrounds, such as myself and members of the Committee of Public Accounts, to understand what is happening and get an accurate reflection.

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 5 - Fiscal Transparency (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: Notwithstanding my view, the report made four recommendations in this area and it states none of them has been implemented to date. Have any of them been implemented since?

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 5 - Fiscal Transparency (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: My final point is we do not have that central view. We have the report which makes four recommendations. Mr. Moran was not sure whether they were implemented or not. The Comptroller and Auditor General states none of them was implemented.

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 5 - Fiscal Transparency (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: Why not? Whose responsibility is it? Does Mr. Moran have a responsibility to implement any of those recommendations?

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 5 - Fiscal Transparency (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: I thank Mr. Moran for that answer. My question is that I am looking at a report the summary of which states that four recommendations were made to ensure that we have some level of uniformity in terms of accounting rules and procedures. We have heard from the Comptroller and Auditor General the rationale for that. It is a reasonable question and a straightforward answer would be welcome....

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 5 - Fiscal Transparency (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: Sorry, I was putting the question to Mr. Moran.

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 5 - Fiscal Transparency (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: I thank Mr. Beausang.

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 5 - Fiscal Transparency (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: I am not sure I got the answer that I was looking for but I thank Mr. Moran for the response anyway.

Public Accounts Committee: Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2016
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 24 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: I would like clarity on an issue that was touched on regarding Mr. Moran's opening contribution. He referred to total Exchequer expenditure and gross Exchequer expenditure. What is the different between them?

Public Accounts Committee: Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2016
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 24 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: With regard to presentation of expenditure in the accounts, what figure is used?

Public Accounts Committee: Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2016
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 24 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: We might come back to that. I refer to the GDP issue in dealing with Government debt. Mr. Moran correctly said that it is not a reliable indicator for Ireland for various reasons. Mr. John McCarthy said that debt-to-GDP measurements in Ireland are pretty much irrelevant. Is that correct?

Public Accounts Committee: Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2016
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 24 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: But the problem is this measurement is not irrelevant. I will put questions to Mr. Moran first on this. When the fiscal rules are being implemented, what measurements are used?

Public Accounts Committee: Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2016
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 24 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: The legal measurement is GDP, not GNI* or a bespoke arrangement. Debt-to-GDP, therefore, is not irrelevant.

Public Accounts Committee: Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2016
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 24 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: It is the legal requirement that we have to abide by when the rules are being implemented.

Public Accounts Committee: Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2016
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 24 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: What we can agree on, whatever about its relevance, is it is unreliable. Mr. John McCarthy used the word "outlier" in the context of debt. We have a bizarre scenario where our debt-to-GDP ratio is being used to implement the fiscal rules. That is peculiar given it is an unreliable measurement. Are many other member states in a position where GDP is a difficulty?

Public Accounts Committee: Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2016
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 24 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: Why in Ireland?

Public Accounts Committee: Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2016
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 24 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: That is important because the implementation of policy is important and how we work out the fiscal rules. They are, at least, made to appear complicated but one of the measurements used to work out the fiscal space under the fiscal rules is debt-to-GDP ratio. When a state goes above or below a certain threshold relating to the ratio, that has an impact on how the rules are implemented. Is...