Results 1,361-1,380 of 3,444 for speaker:Shane Cassells

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 14 - Control of Ireland's Bilateral Assistance Programme
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade (21 Jun 2018)

Shane Cassells: Can Ms Penollar categorise those contacts in terms of emails, phone calls, person to person contact and so on?

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 14 - Control of Ireland's Bilateral Assistance Programme
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade (21 Jun 2018)

Shane Cassells: At the micro level, in terms of resolving and working through people's queries, is it simply a case of acknowledgement or is it more substantive in respect of the communication that is actually happening? That is the biggest issue. It is one thing acknowledging a representation, phone call or email. How is it panning out in terms of actually following that through to an end result?

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 14 - Control of Ireland's Bilateral Assistance Programme
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade (21 Jun 2018)

Shane Cassells: I have a final question. With regard to elections, there has been much talk of extending the franchise to Irish citizens abroad. I sit on the Seanad electoral reform group myself. That has been spoken about with regard to elections too. Many other countries use their embassies abroad to facilitate that with elections. What opinion do the witnesses have about replicating that? Would we...

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 14 - Control of Ireland's Bilateral Assistance Programme
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade (21 Jun 2018)

Shane Cassells: Is that because of the number of citizens abroad or that we do not have enough of a presence in certain areas? What practicality issues would there be?

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 14 - Control of Ireland's Bilateral Assistance Programme
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade (21 Jun 2018)

Shane Cassells: I thank the Department for that response. I raised the issue of online voting with the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government yesterday, stressing that point. We have seen it in smaller nations which have increased their franchise, even in domestic parliamentary elections. There is a big distinction between electronic voting and online voting. Online voting allows one to...

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 14 - Control of Ireland's Bilateral Assistance Programme
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade (21 Jun 2018)

Shane Cassells: Sorry to cut across Deputy Farrell. The late Simon Cumbers was from Navan and I know his parents very well. I pay tribute to that fund and the journalistic work.

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (27 Jun 2018)

Shane Cassells: I wish to comment on that particular petition. I realise the committee has dealt with the Prince Albert discussion previously. This arises against the backdrop of the removal of statues in the United States, an issue that has caused much division, consternation and debate. That is a healthy thing. The point made in the response from Dublin City Council is good in the sense that it is not...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (27 Jun 2018)

Shane Cassells: I wish to comment on this particular issue. It is something that is of significant importance from a financial point of view. This issue has come before the Committee of Public Accounts. Only yesterday, we were finalising our periodic report. There is an entire chapter in the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on this issue because of the impact on public finances. The...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (27 Jun 2018)

Shane Cassells: Another thing is happening in that section as well. Obviously it is being done to promote online registration or payment of motor tax. That is perfectly fine. Anyway, those who are making payments on a quarterly basis are being penalised to the tune of €120. In contrast, those using a one-payment system can do so on the basis of €20. The Committee of Public Accounts will...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (27 Jun 2018)

Shane Cassells: No, I am simply flagging it because it is a big issue.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Waiting Lists Action Plans (28 Jun 2018)

Shane Cassells: 30. To ask the Minister for Health the initiatives that will be taken to reduce long waiting times for an outpatient appointment in Our Lady’s Hospital, Navan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28292/18]

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Jun 2018)

Shane Cassells: I refer to a Department of Justice and Equality-led scheme and to chambers of commerce. There are two parts to this. One is that it is not working. There are only four drawdowns on this. I asked a parliamentary question about this. It is not working from a practicality point of view because many of the community groups cannot find the 40% balance that is required for the implementation...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Jun 2018)

Shane Cassells: Facetious.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Jun 2018)

Shane Cassells: If we are writing to the Department of Justice and Equality, perhaps we could ask about how successful its previous scheme was.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Jun 2018)

Shane Cassells: Yes, but we accessed it-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Jun 2018)

Shane Cassells: No.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Jun 2018)

Shane Cassells: No. We operate the scheme in Navan, not the Garda. The Garda has a live feed from it, but the Garda is not the data controller.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Jun 2018)

Shane Cassells: A number of us met the person involved. Deputy Ó Caoláin-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Jun 2018)

Shane Cassells: -----indicated that.

Public Accounts Committee: Chapter 21 - Tax Debt and Write Outs
Chapter 22 - Dormant Accounts Fund
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners
2016 and 2017 Revenue Accounts (28 Jun 2018)

Shane Cassells: I thank Mr. Cody and his team for the presentation and for being here today. This morning, the Tax Appeals Commission, TAC, appeared before us, and to say that we were shocked by some of the things it said to us is putting it mildly. It said there is no external phone system, that nobody can ring out or ring in, and that the computers of directors have blown up. It reminded me of Manuel...