Results 15,301-15,320 of 33,054 for speaker:Catherine Connolly

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Connolly: They have never come before us.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Connolly: I will look at the accounts. The legal question has been answered.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Connolly: The €14.5 million has been collected. It is sitting in an account and is presumably getting interest.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Connolly: That is what I started out by asking and I was told "No". Maybe I put it badly. The €14.5 million is held there. The situation has improved in that it is making a slight amount of interest.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Connolly: We are certainly not being charged by the Central Bank. It becomes more fascinating, the whole banking thing, with the Central Bank charging interest.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Connolly: There is Mr. Tobin's suggestion of putting it in the post office. He did not actually say that but-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Connolly: What is the position with the case? Is there an update?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Connolly: Can we have a note on that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Connolly: The Comptroller and Auditor General did a special report on the EU and he had only one recommendation. I thought it was a very good recommendation, and I do not always agree with him. It was that we would have consolidated accounts on an annual basis.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Connolly: When did the Comptroller and Auditor General do that report?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Connolly: He has had a little while to think about it, he has had consultation on it and he has come back. Will the Department think more about it? Will there be a scoping exercise?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Connolly: It is good if there is progress but I did not get that feeling from the answer. Mr. Moran's answer was that it would involve a considerable administrative undertaking.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Connolly: Has the scoping exercise started and, if so, when did it start?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Connolly: It was said the Department has started an internal scoping exercise. Who is doing that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Connolly: When did it start and when is the completion date? When I read this, it makes utter sense to have a report like this one. We can read it, see the money coming in and see what it is being used for. Has the Department enough staff to do it?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Connolly: It was in the opening statement that recruitment did not progress at the pace anticipated and that, at the year end, staff numbers stood at 310. However, the pay bill estimate was based on a head count. Why is that happening?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Connolly: Is there a breakdown of the grades in that regard?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Connolly: Various bodies appear before us in regard to governance and accountability. It saves money in the end if there are proper procedures and proper openness and accountability in place. It seems the report, which is the one recommendation, would add to openness and accountability, certainly for the public.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Connolly: On climate change, an emergency has been declared, albeit in the Taoiseach's absence on the day, although I am sure he has embraced it since. Again, the report was just noted. It was the amendments that changed it. I am not asking Mr. Moran to comment politically but that was the background. That report was being noted before the Dáil so there seems to be a certain lack of urgency - I...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Connolly: Well, it is not actually because we have one window of opportunity of between ten and 12 years. That is all the time we have left to take action.