Results 17,321-17,340 of 20,245 for speaker:Brian Stanley

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Tusla-Child and Family Agency (29 Feb 2024)

Brian Stanley: How much was it?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Tusla-Child and Family Agency (29 Feb 2024)

Brian Stanley: The figure looks a bit higher on the graph that is before me.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Tusla-Child and Family Agency (29 Feb 2024)

Brian Stanley: These are for legal expenses and guardian ad litem costs. If you go back to 2018, the figure was approximately €26 million or €27 million.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Tusla-Child and Family Agency (29 Feb 2024)

Brian Stanley: Then it runs up to in excess of €40 million in 2022.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Tusla-Child and Family Agency (29 Feb 2024)

Brian Stanley: Thank you.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Tusla-Child and Family Agency (29 Feb 2024)

Brian Stanley: That is welcome progress. I thank the witnesses and staff of Tusla and the Department for attending and for supplying information in advance of today's meeting. I also thank the Comptroller and Auditor General, and Mr. John Crean from his office, for attending and supporting the committee. I take it as agreed that the clerk to the committee will seek any follow-up information and carry out...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Feb 2024)

Brian Stanley: The public business before us this afternoon is as follows: minutes, accounts and financial statements, correspondence, work programme and any other business. The first business is the minutes of our meeting of 22 February 2024, which have been circulated to members. Do members wish to raise any matters in relation to the minutes? No. Are the minutes agreed? Agreed. As usual, the...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Feb 2024)

Brian Stanley: I have a question about the Food Safety Promotion Board. It had a total budget of €9.4 million in 2022.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Feb 2024)

Brian Stanley: Six North-South bodies were set up under the Good Friday Agreement and this is one of them.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Feb 2024)

Brian Stanley: I am open to correction but I do not think I have ever seen the Comptroller and Auditor General raising any issue regarding any of them in terms of accounts and financial statements.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Feb 2024)

Brian Stanley: In general they seem to have their processes-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Feb 2024)

Brian Stanley: Irish Lights is an example.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Feb 2024)

Brian Stanley: Is the Comptroller and Auditor General's counterpart in the North involved?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Feb 2024)

Brian Stanley: Do members want to raise any issues?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Feb 2024)

Brian Stanley: Is the listing of accounts and financial statements agreed? Agreed. As usual, the accounts and financial statements will be published as part of our minutes. We will move on to correspondence. As previously agreed, items that were not flagged for discussion for this meeting will be dealt with in accordance with the proposed actions that have been circulated, and decisions taken by the...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Feb 2024)

Brian Stanley: I think there are two issues with that. First, when the legal people from RTÉ were before the committee, they said they had to retain a level of independence because they were governed by the rules of the Law Society and the Bar Council. The other question the Deputy raises is legitimate. I do not know the full extent of the resources RTÉ has in the legal office - whether it is...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Feb 2024)

Brian Stanley: That would be workload, speciality and getting an outside view.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Feb 2024)

Brian Stanley: They should be doing that from here on out. The criteria around exit packages or goodbye money should be clear, the same as it should be for redundancies. If that were clear and were abided by, you would not be getting into all of this stuff relating to legalities, legal advice, public accounts committee hearings and investigations of one kind or another. It highlights one of the things...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Feb 2024)

Brian Stanley: What about deviating from the criteria? Was that covered in the report?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Feb 2024)

Brian Stanley: I refer to deviating from criteria around exit packages. In a lot of cases there is deviation from the criteria. Should there be a clear set of criteria in that regard?