Results 1,281-1,300 of 6,430 for speaker:Gerald Nash

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (26 Jun 2014)

Gerald Nash: The best approach is probably to start a discussion with the Secretary General.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (26 Jun 2014)

Gerald Nash: I will not detain the committee for too long. I am concerned when an organisation, in the second paragraph of its reply, dismisses a former employee who made a detailed set of claims against it as being someone who is just disgruntled and has a score to settle. Dr. Harrold made some serious claims about the organisation and I would like to know where the matter sits. Has any material on...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (26 Jun 2014)

Gerald Nash: I appreciate that. I am not referencing at all any of the internal reviews undertaken by that organisation. There are some outstanding matters that need to be resolved in terms of the expenditure of public moneys and whether that was appropriate. I accept that we must await the view of the HSE on this matter but I would like it confirmed that this matter is not closed as far as this...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 10 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 11 - Costs of Land Remediation
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (26 Jun 2014)

Gerald Nash: I congratulate Mr. McCarthy on his appointment and I look forward to working with him in his role as Secretary General, I have questions on the land aggregation scheme. Members will be familiar with how the land aggregation scheme operates in their constituencies. I recall that a great many local authorities raised significant finance from the Housing Finance Agency to purchase sites in...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 10 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 11 - Costs of Land Remediation
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (26 Jun 2014)

Gerald Nash: Would it be fair to describe it as a mini-NAMA for local authorities?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 10 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 11 - Costs of Land Remediation
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (26 Jun 2014)

Gerald Nash: I ask Mr. McCarthy to elaborate slightly on the circumstances of local authorities that have been shut out of the scheme, or might not have got into the scheme. He mentioned that the Housing Finance Agency is engaging in bilateral discussions with them. It is clear that the financial positions of many local authorities will not enable them to deal effectively with the capital costs of the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 10 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 11 - Costs of Land Remediation
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (26 Jun 2014)

Gerald Nash: How many local authorities would be outside the scheme because they did not enter it before it was closed down? Do we have any figures for the total liability in this regard?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 10 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 11 - Costs of Land Remediation
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (26 Jun 2014)

Gerald Nash: If I understand Mr. McCarthy correctly, those loans have been repackaged into 25-year annuities.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 10 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 11 - Costs of Land Remediation
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (26 Jun 2014)

Gerald Nash: Okay. I understand. Could I move on to the issue of social and voluntary housing? Mr. McCarthy mentioned earlier that approximately 1,800 refurbished units have been turned over in recent times. What is the breakdown between direct build or local authority build and building by the voluntary sector? I would appreciate it if Mr. McCarthy could furnish us with those figures.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 10 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 11 - Costs of Land Remediation
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (26 Jun 2014)

Gerald Nash: I am asking about new-build units.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 10 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 11 - Costs of Land Remediation
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (26 Jun 2014)

Gerald Nash: How many new units would there have been?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 10 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 11 - Costs of Land Remediation
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (26 Jun 2014)

Gerald Nash: Is Mr. McCarthy satisfied with the Department's level of oversight of the approved housing bodies? I know work is being done at the moment to improve the regulatory framework. Substantial moneys are made available to voluntary housing bodies, some of which operate to the highest standards. In my own experience, other bodies do not operate to those standards, to be perfectly frank. Is Mr....

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 10 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 11 - Costs of Land Remediation
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (26 Jun 2014)

Gerald Nash: My colleague, Deputy Harris, touched on the issue of tribunal costs earlier. Obviously, everybody is concerned about the expenditure of public moneys. We have all expressed eagerness to provide for value for money and a level of control over legal costs. In response to that, the State Claims Agency, SCA, established a legal costs unit, which kept an eye out in terms of intervening in what...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 10 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 11 - Costs of Land Remediation
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (26 Jun 2014)

Gerald Nash: Is the Secretary General prepared to give any metrics on that, in terms of the savings that may have been achieved?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 10 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 11 - Costs of Land Remediation
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (26 Jun 2014)

Gerald Nash: How much was that in real terms - in terms of how much the Department anticipated spending on third party legal costs and what was actually spent?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 10 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 11 - Costs of Land Remediation
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (26 Jun 2014)

Gerald Nash: Now that the SCA has established the legal costs unit, has the Department detected situations in which lawyers are being more realistic in terms of the bill of costs they submit? Are they less greedy?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 10 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 11 - Costs of Land Remediation
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (26 Jun 2014)

Gerald Nash: I have two further questions, one of which relates to the plastic bag levy. I am very interested to know - if Mr. McCarthy has the information - how much has been raised through the plastic bag levy year on year over the past couple of years. Has there been a decline and a change of culture in regard to the purchase of plastic bags? The reason for the introduction of the levy was to try to...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 10 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 11 - Costs of Land Remediation
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (26 Jun 2014)

Gerald Nash: I have one final question relating to expenditure on elections, although this may not be within Mr. McCarthy's ambit in general. Something brought to my attention on a regular basis, particularly in the lead-up to elections, is that one of the significant costs is the employment and engagement of polling staff. We are told consistently by returning officers that the filling of positions is...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 10 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 11 - Costs of Land Remediation
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (26 Jun 2014)

Gerald Nash: I accept that this is a requirement, and those people generally do a good job.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 10 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 11 - Costs of Land Remediation
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (26 Jun 2014)

Gerald Nash: Thank you.