Results 15,561-15,580 of 26,766 for speaker:David Cullinane

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (24 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: What is interesting as well is the Cathaoirleach's point, which is that the guidelines themselves may need to be looked at, because if that is the case with ICT, we could be unfair in some respects in pointing non-compliance when in fact it is just not practical for them. It is a case of separating out where the problems are and where they are not. If it is a matter that the guidelines need...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (24 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: I will make one point.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (24 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: What is extraordinary is the response to whether the accountants or barristers are working for the public. These are public contracts on public works but they are not working for the public.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (24 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: That is a bit strange.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (24 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: The statement is extraordinary.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (24 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: I appreciate that the SBCI gave us a very detailed response but it did not answer all the questions we asked. We asked for a county-by-county breakdown of jobs that have been created. What we got was a breakdown of loans by county. When the SBCI wrote to us several months ago, it stated that it supported 148,000 jobs. This letter states: "it is difficult to make a direct link between an...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (24 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: I thank the Department for the good work it does but we are also here to probe its failure to reach targets in certain areas and areas where it might not have stood up to scrutiny. The first area I want to focus on is non-compliance with procurement rules. Page 4 of the appropriation accounts refers to 47 contracts with a spend of €3.9 million. We have put all Accounting Officers on...

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: That is a positive and that is exactly what we want Departments to do so I commend the Department on that. Is it a self-reporting system the Department has for non-compliance?

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: I want to move on to the carbon emissions targets for the Department. Mr. Gleeson will have seen the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, report which is out today. Unfortunately, it does not make good reading for the Department. Agriculture emissions have increased by 1.9% in 2018. We are all in a situation now whereby we must reach the targets that were set for 2030 and 2050. We are...

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: I will get to the national herd in a moment. Does the Department have an obligation to ensure that agricultural emissions are reduced? Is that now one of the clear remits of the Department given that we are being told there is an all-of-government approach and a special committee of the Oireachtas to hold Secretaries General and Ministers to account? I accept it might be the case that...

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: Does the Department have an obligation to make sure that the figures go in the opposite direction?

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: Does Mr. Gleeson expect that next year we will be looking at a decrease or will there be a further increase?

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: I sit on the Joint Committee on Climate Action. I think Mr. Gleeson came before it recently.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: Scientists and environmental experts have come before us and they say the ship must turn around very quickly. We do not have a choice.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: It is not something that we can have an à la carteor relaxed approach to, we must reach the targets. I have not heard a sense of urgency in the Department's response to being challenged on the issue. There is almost an acceptance that it is a big challenge and it is a big ship that we must turn around. It is Mr. Gleeson's job to turn the ship around, however challenging it is. Mr....

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: What is that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: It is not broken down by year. The target just has to be achieved by 2030. That is the problem with such targets. When one says one must do something by 2030 it is very hard to hold anybody to account. Every year it can be said the target is a ten-year one. For accountability purposes, it would be much better if there were yearly targets on which we could then hold the Department to...

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: I am sorry, but there would have been an anticipation that the Department would have reduced the emissions in 2018 because the State signed up to international targets and obligations, not yesterday or last year but many years ago. For many years we have had targets, following on from the agreement at Kyoto and other European Union targets as well. Targets have been set for this country....

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: I am only giving Mr. Gleeson the facts, what we have is increased agricultural emissions, an increase in dairy production and I will move on to an underspend in forestry. Mr. Gleeson answered some questions in that regard asked by Deputy Aylward. Mr. Gleeson is in one of the key Departments that must play a leading role in reducing carbon emissions and our carbon footprint. One of the...