Results 14,661-14,680 of 26,718 for speaker:David Cullinane

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (9 May 2019)

David Cullinane: I wish to raise the Government's commitment in the programme for Government to higher levels of transparency and accountability in An Garda Síochána. Two issues arose in recent days that are of concern in that regard. The first is the view of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, that full accountability and transparency and its ability to do its job and hold...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 May 2019)

David Cullinane: I will cover the two issues. On the housing report, I do not think we should be too precious about the timing of elections because our report was not planned in that way. Having said that, the timing is coincidental; we are not ready to publish it. Will we have one more sitting to clear the report?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 May 2019)

David Cullinane: We need a timeline for when we will discuss it. Most likely the discussion will take place after the local elections simply because we have not done any work on it. On the broadband report, for a number of reasons it was correct not to proceed with the meeting yesterday. Obviously, we have the letter from Mr. Robert Watt, that is, the memo that was published yesterday. Given that we now...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 May 2019)

David Cullinane: Let me add one point to what the Chairman said because it is very rare for memos and reports of these types to be published. It is good that there is robust engagement between that Department and others. Then there is the response of the Secretary General of the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, which is a welcome development. The Comptroller and Auditor General...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 May 2019)

David Cullinane: Or not.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 May 2019)

David Cullinane: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 May 2019)

David Cullinane: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 May 2019)

David Cullinane: Are you going on a picket now or later?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 May 2019)

David Cullinane: I agree with that recommendation. I welcome that Mr. Beausang's letter responds to the concerns in our letter. We ended up in a situation where we had the draft report, which was redacted with all the conclusions left out. Essentially, all we got was the context, the terms of reference and so on. We did not get any of the conclusions or recommendations that would have formed part of that...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 May 2019)

David Cullinane: That was in response to the Comptroller and Auditor General's report.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 May 2019)

David Cullinane: From your report.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 May 2019)

David Cullinane: They separate them out. In fairness to Mr. Beausang's letter, the Department accepts that the Comptroller and Auditor General's report was a very narrow focus and that the McCloone report was a much wider review. Notwithstanding whatever response the Department gets back in response to the Comptroller and Auditor General's report the other issues stand. One of the last things that Dr....

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 May 2019)

David Cullinane: I am recommending it. This benefits everybody. It will benefit the research institutes, the governing body, the president of the institute and all those people who came forward. I stress again that 50 people engaged in that report but different opinions were expressed as part of that engagement. There were different views on what was happening within the institute so for everybody's...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 May 2019)

David Cullinane: An investigator.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 May 2019)

David Cullinane: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 May 2019)

David Cullinane: The review arose out of our deliberations on this issue. The Eversheds Sutherland report states that there may be issues of bogus self-employment and that RTÉ must engage with the individuals involved. It is only last week that the process of meeting some of those staff members began, which is frustrating for the people involved. There are issues still to be resolved in this matter....

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 May 2019)

David Cullinane: My concern is that RTÉ could accept on a non-prejudice basis that there was an issue and simply move people onto new contracts, sidestepping the fact this was potentially done intentionally and there was a practice within the organisation to have people on bogus self-employment contracts. If that was the case, it was an illegal practice and, second, there are taxation and Revenue...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 May 2019)

David Cullinane: However, I understand Revenue undertook a review into the tax affairs of certain consultants.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 May 2019)

David Cullinane: To protect the committee, I wish to clarify that we are not saying there was such practice taking place in RTÉ, but there are allegations from several staff members that there was and that it was done deliberately, which is what led to this examination. We want the facts to be established. If it is established that there was intentional practice to that effect, there are consequences...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána
Chapter 7 - Management of Overtime Expenditure in An Garda Síochána (9 May 2019)

David Cullinane: Go raibh maith agat. I welcome Mr. Harris and wish him well in his role. Unfortunately, we have had a high turnover of Garda Commissioners and Ministers for Justice and Equality, and much of that was down to cultural and organisational issues we had in an Garda Síochána, as I am sure Mr. Harris is aware. We are hoping the changes that were promised are being delivered, and some...