Results 18,501-18,520 of 27,945 for speaker:Michael McGrath

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach (5 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: Moving on to the matter of the children's hospital, the Minister is the guardian of the public purse when the Cabinet is sitting around the table. In April 2017, the Cabinet signed off on a tender of €983 million for the build cost of the national children's hospital. It would appear that, at some point around June 2018, the statutory board set up with responsibility for delivering...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach (5 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: I will cut to the chase. Should the Minister not have been told much earlier that this cost overrun was emerging and would have real implications for the Exchequer?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach (5 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: Is the Minister telling this committee that, as the Minister with responsibility for public expenditure, he has no problem with not being told, for several months, of an overrun, let alone one of hundreds of millions of euro? The Minister introduced a budget last October with no knowledge of an overrun of the order of €450 million, while his Cabinet colleague, sitting at the same...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach (5 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: No one is saying the challenge would have changed but the Minister was the one writing the cheque. I would be furious, if I was sitting in his seat, that it took months to be told of this overrun. Perhaps the full scale of it was not known in June or July but it was serious enough to be brought to the attention of the Department of Health, the Minister, and the HSE in August. Issues are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach (5 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: The Minister said that a few times but would he not have wanted to have known earlier on that there was an emerging issue even if it was not possible to quantify it precisely?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach (5 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: With respect to the Minister, I know he is not going to throw his colleague under the bus, but it was also his job to keep him informed and to let him know of this emerging issue. The Minister brought a budget into the House without any information in his Department of a very significant escalation in the cost of the national children's hospital. The Minister was in the dark.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach (5 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: I will leave it there for the moment in order to be fair to colleagues.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: I do not think the Government should underestimate the level of public anger at the spectacular cost overrun in the development of the national children's hospital. We learned today from TheIrish Timesthat senior officials from the HSE and the Department of Health discussed potential cost overruns almost a year before the date on which the Minister, Deputy Harris, says he was informed of...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: The Minister has not dealt with the elephant in the room, which is the lack of any political oversight over the single largest capital project in the history of the Department of Health and the HSE. Why is it that officials representing the Minister, Deputy Harris, knew for up to a year that the cost of this project was spiralling through the roof before it was even brought to his attention?...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: When will we have clarity on the consequences for other projects in health, education and transport throughout the country that depend on capital funding? When will we have that clarity?

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (6 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: As the Minister for Education and Skills will be aware, two staff members in the University of Limerick became whistleblowers. They are in dispute with the university. They raised issues relating to wrongful expenditure of public moneys. Their views were upheld by a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General and a report by Professor Richard Thorn who was appointed to report...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Disabilities Assessments (6 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: 119. To ask the Minister for Health when a child (details supplied) in County Cork will have their assessment of need carried out; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5855/19]

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pensions Data (6 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: 197. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to introduce a pension traceability system to ensure that on retirement persons are able to benefit from different pension schemes they paid into over the course of their working life; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5790/19]

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pensions Data (6 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: 198. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated amount of private pension funds that remain unclaimed for a variety of reasons (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5791/19]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Brexit Issues (7 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: 72. To ask the Minister for Finance the position regarding insurance policies held with insurance companies prudentially regulated in the UK or Gibraltar but operating here under freedom of services in the event of a no-deal Brexit; if such policies will be still valid; if new policies will be possible; if the issue will be fully dealt with in the miscellaneous provisions (withdrawal of the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Brexit Issues (7 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: 74. To ask the Minister for Finance the nature of temporary run-off regime in the event the UK leaving the EU on 29 March 2019; the way in which the regime interacts with EU law on insurance; if it will be possible for new business to be written by UK companies not prudentially regulated here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6177/19]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Brexit Preparations (7 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: 73. To ask the Minister for Finance the consultation or engagement that has taken place between him and the insurance industry; the number of times in the past six months he has met with organisations (details supplied) on Brexit; the details of the meetings; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6176/19]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Insurance Industry (7 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: 75. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of insurance companies operating here under freedom of services which are prudentially regulated in the UK or Gibraltar by the type of insurance sold and the number of applications with the Central Bank from insurance companies wishing to be prudentially regulated here, respectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6178/19]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Insurance Compensation Fund (7 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: 76. To ask the Minister for Finance the compensation mechanisms in place if after the UK leaves the EU an insurance company operating here under freedom of services but prudentially regulated in the UK or Gibraltar goes into liquidation; the way in which the Insurance (Amendment) Act 2018 applies in this scenario; if claimants in this instance would be entitled to 100% compensation; and if he...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Deduction Systems (7 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: 77. To ask the Minister for Finance the status of the review on tax treatment of flat rate expenses; if these changes will come into force in 2020; if there are changes from the original proposal announced in 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6180/19]