Results 16,741-16,760 of 26,653 for speaker:John McGuinness

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Procurement Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (1 Jun 2017)

John McGuinness: I invite the programme to Kilkenny.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Procurement Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (1 Jun 2017)

John McGuinness: If the Minister of State wants a Government in two weeks' time then he had better start running it by us.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Procurement Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (1 Jun 2017)

John McGuinness: Is it €50,000 elsewhere in the European Union?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Procurement Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (1 Jun 2017)

John McGuinness: Let us say an SME wins a cleaning contract. The SME must meet certain regulations set down in the contract and separately in terms of health and safety. The SME must train its staff to a high level and then enters the tender process but the company that wins the tender takes all of the SME's staff. The SME will have spent money on training and committed itself to the tender. We must...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Procurement Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (1 Jun 2017)

John McGuinness: It is all obstructionism.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Procurement Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (1 Jun 2017)

John McGuinness: It is all about the entry level for smaller companies as against the other ones.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Procurement Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (1 Jun 2017)

John McGuinness: I shall not labour this point. I have been through an awful lot of the forms and read the feedback given. In many of the forms that I have examined the price is competitive and right but then management structures are measured, for example. The management structure is flat in an SME. When I worked in an SME I swept the floor of the warehouse, drove the van, managed people and gave a good...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Procurement Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (1 Jun 2017)

John McGuinness: This is just-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Procurement Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (1 Jun 2017)

John McGuinness: Is the Minister of State referring to new Members?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Procurement Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (1 Jun 2017)

John McGuinness: They are tenders.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Procurement Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (1 Jun 2017)

John McGuinness: I will conclude with a few points relating to an article on business in which Mr. Peter Brennan, an expert in this area, references that SMEs winning tenders starts to decrease above the value of €60,000. He also references the loss of jobs as a result of an etendering process within a local area and makes the point that the Oireachtas has never carried out a critical review of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Procurement Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (1 Jun 2017)

John McGuinness: We set aside 15 minutes to touch on this issue today.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Procurement Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (1 Jun 2017)

John McGuinness: There is keen interest in it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Procurement Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (1 Jun 2017)

John McGuinness: Perhaps the office of the Minister of State could encourage the Business Committee to take on that-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Procurement Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (1 Jun 2017)

John McGuinness: It influences everything else.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Procurement Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (1 Jun 2017)

John McGuinness: I merely ask the Minister of State is to ask it to facilitate the debate because it is an important issue. I would not worry too much about interference because it is a positive interference. The Minister of State is very much to the fore in the article to which I referred. There is a lovely colour image of him. He is the man now but he may be destined for a higher position.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Procurement Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (1 Jun 2017)

John McGuinness: Whatever happens, I am sure the Minister of State will make a contribution.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Procurement Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (1 Jun 2017)

John McGuinness: It would be worthwhile. In general, SMEs feel they lack a spokesperson on this issue. They want to contribute and are anxious to build a base within communities, and do so at a competitive price. We should facilitate the debate and information sessions. It is something which of is of interest to both Houses.

Trade and Foreign Direct Investment: Motion [Private Members] (20 Jun 2017)

John McGuinness: I congratulate the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, and the Minister of State, Deputy Halligan, and wish them well in their portfolios. There is a considerable amount of work to be done and enterprise is a huge part of the success story in Ireland. We need to enhance that story, enhance the staff around it and ensure that we break into new and different markets in order to create the...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: International Conventions (20 Jun 2017)

John McGuinness: 832. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the steps the Government is taking to ensure that Ireland complies with its international legal responsibilities regarding judicial corruption relative to Article II of the UN convention against corruption; if legislation or regulations will be introduced to prevent an organisation (details supplied) from mandatorily making a...