Results 1,581-1,600 of 45,510 for speaker:Simon Harris

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 10 - Office of Public Works (23 May 2013)

Simon Harris: Yes, well if Ms McGrath can do that as well-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 10 - Office of Public Works (23 May 2013)

Simon Harris: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 10 - Office of Public Works (23 May 2013)

Simon Harris: I appreciate that and am not being pedantic in this regard. We are the spending watchdog. Obviously, we have to be seen to be above reproach on this. We have an issue involving our Chairman and we must get to the bottom of it. The entire narrative in Ms McGrath's correspondence has been that there were significant additional costs, additional time and additional resources because it is a...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 10 - Office of Public Works (23 May 2013)

Simon Harris: I presume there are lower and higher ends of benchmarks as well. Clearly, this is a higher-end project. Ms McGrath should feel free to correct me. She has told the committee that accommodation for a member of Cabinet was provided for €70,000 in Hawkins House. I understand that the circumstances were different and it was part of a larger projects. There were savings made there. I...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 10 - Office of Public Works (23 May 2013)

Simon Harris: The other comparator table that Ms McGrath sent in to us on 22 May relates to the refurbishment of offices for the Minister and his staff in the Department of Transport, the refurbishment for the Minister of State and his staff in the Department of Transport and the office refurbishment for the former Taoiseach, Mr. Bertie Ahern, and his staff. Were those all stand-alone projects, or were...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 10 - Office of Public Works (23 May 2013)

Simon Harris: While we are on it, because this is a broader issue than any one individual, from where would the brief have come for the refurbishment of the offices for the former Taoiseach? Would that brief have come from the Department of the Taoiseach?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 10 - Office of Public Works (23 May 2013)

Simon Harris: What is happening with that office today?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 10 - Office of Public Works (23 May 2013)

Simon Harris: The last page of Ms McGrath's letter of 16 May states, in the third paragraph, that, in order to provide for acoustic insulation and fire protection in the Minister's room, the OPW used timber-veneered panelling because it was an appropriate option to deliver within the restricted timeframe available. Would Ms McGrath explain the restricted timeframe, in other words, were there additional...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 10 - Office of Public Works (23 May 2013)

Simon Harris: The issue about which there has been significant debate - if Ms McGrath is not the person to answer, she should feel free to say so - is that of ministerial involvement in these works. There have been media reports that it involved ministerial sign-off. What is Ms McGrath's understanding of the link between the then Minister of State and the OPW and the Department in carrying out these...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 10 - Office of Public Works (23 May 2013)

Simon Harris: I thank Ms McGrath.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (28 May 2013)

Simon Harris: 273. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the plans he has in place to ensure that adequate school places are now available in a town (details supplied) for the forthcoming school year commencing in September; the further plans he has to address the need for school places in the town for the following school year starting in September 2014; the methods used by his Department to...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Energy Conservation (28 May 2013)

Simon Harris: 443. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources in the context of Delivering Our Green Potential, published in 2012, the progress that has been made towards the commitment to achieve a 33% reduction in public sector energy use by 2020; if he will outline the steps being taken to achieve the required 3-4% reduction this year; and if he will make a statement on the...

Topical Issue Debate: Crèche Inspections (29 May 2013)

Simon Harris: This is a rapid fire round. Parents in my constituency of Wicklow, and parents throughout the country, are upset, worried, disturbed and shocked at what they witnessed in last night's "Prime Time" programme into what the Minister correctly described this morning on national radio as incidents of emotional abuse in some crèches, including one in my county. It is widely accepted that the...

Topical Issue Debate: Crèche Inspections (29 May 2013)

Simon Harris: If ever the limitations of this House were to be seen, this is it where one has 30 seconds to speak about a major issue.

Topical Issue Debate: Crèche Inspections (29 May 2013)

Simon Harris: It is pathetic. It is not the Minister's fault. I am pleased that there is a thorough Garda investigation. I would ask the Minister to give consideration to the use of the Health Information and Quality Authority. HIQA is carrying out inspections of nursing homes. It will start carrying out inspections in residential homes for persons with disabilities. It is the independent regulator....

Confidence in the Minister for Justice and Equality: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (29 May 2013)

Simon Harris: I am pleased to express my full confidence in the Minister, Deputy Shatter, to thank him for his work to date and to look forward to the continuation of his ambitious programme of legislative reform. At 9 p.m. we will put this piece of political opportunism behind us in order to allow him to return to dealing with issues such as the Mental Capacity Bill, which will make a difference to the...

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (30 May 2013)

Simon Harris: I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013. I agree with the comments by Deputies Calleary and Spring in regard to the self-employed and welcome the first step the Bill takes to rectifying the anomaly whereby those who take a chance and try to establish a business are left without a safety net if they fall on difficult times. I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Non-Disclosure Provisions Under the Freedom of Information Act: Discussion with Information Commissioner (5 Jun 2013)

Simon Harris: I have four questions. I refer Ms O'Reilly to her opening statement on her last review and the report to the committee in 2006. I want to tease this out a little. There is clearly a procedural issue or, to use Deputy McDonald's phrase, a cultural issue. If there were 150 occasions on which the Office of the Information Commissioner disagreed with the Department's interpretation, it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Non-Disclosure Provisions Under the Freedom of Information Act: Discussion with Information Commissioner (5 Jun 2013)

Simon Harris: I want to take Ms O'Reilly to her current report in order to educate me on it. I find it astonishing, in relation to health, for example, that there are 28 issues the Department is seeking to exclude. Of those, Ms O'Reilly disagrees with the Department on 22. That works out at approximately 80% of cases in respect of which she has a different view from the Department. With regard to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Non-Disclosure Provisions Under the Freedom of Information Act: Discussion with Information Commissioner (5 Jun 2013)

Simon Harris: By implication, is Ms O'Reilly expressing concern that lobbying by professional bodies, which she recognises is their right, is skewing the view of Departments in their interpretation of the Freedom of Information Act?