Results 20,861-20,880 of 28,162 for speaker:Catherine Murphy

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (19 Jan 2017)

Catherine Murphy: I am happy to send it to that committee

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (19 Jan 2017)

Catherine Murphy: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (19 Jan 2017)

Catherine Murphy: I presume that will not include looking at the national procurement policy because there is plenty of evidence that we apply a very rigid standard here, unlike other European member states. In fact, the proportion of contracts that go out of the country is something like 28%.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (19 Jan 2017)

Catherine Murphy: That merits some discussion. I do not know if it is a matter for the Committee on Public Accounts, but a recent case was brought to my attention where Irish companies lost out. I may well bring it in terms of whether it was a fair contract. They were making the point that 28% of contracts go out of the country where it is 1% to 1.5% in the case of France and Germany. There was a...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (19 Jan 2017)

Catherine Murphy: This is a separate topic.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (19 Jan 2017)

Catherine Murphy: Yes. It relates the issue of wards of court and where that might fall. We talked about a number of things. Are they always captured? Is a list of these things kept? Can I ask that this be done as early as possible in the work programme?

Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017)

Catherine Murphy: Very often incentives influence behaviour. Have the witnesses done any kind of analysis on the extent to which the system is losing child protection workers to the guardian ad litemservice?

Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017)

Catherine Murphy: Is Tusla likely to look at that in the context of retention of people?

Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017)

Catherine Murphy: It could end up being counterproductive in that the whole preventative side could be weakened.

Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017)

Catherine Murphy: We have established that it is an hourly rate as opposed to a salaried position. Who dictates the hourly rate? Is it the GAL individually or is it the Department? How is it determined?

Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017)

Catherine Murphy: With individual GALs.

Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017)

Catherine Murphy: A GAL is needed for as long as a GAL is needed. Having said that, the system as designed appears almost to incentivise the prolonging of the engagement. How is that going to change or is it? That really comes back to institutional design. Is that being put into the scenarios even in terms of the new legislation?

Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017)

Catherine Murphy: In addition to the design of the service, Mr. Lynch said the Child Care Act 1991 was where the service originated. Was it designed? Was it thought about? What was envisaged when it was introduced under that Act? What led up to it?

Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017)

Catherine Murphy: Obviously, there is a significant lesson to be learned from the way this has been handled from 1991 to date. The absence, according to the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General, of access to key data means the demand for the service cannot be estimated. We are talking about extending it to a wider group as part of the legislation. We compare unfavourably to other jurisdictions. If...

Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017)

Catherine Murphy: I have just a last few questions. I know that most people working within this system will be very well meaning and will want the best outcome for the people that they look after or represent. It does look a bit like a cartel, however, and it is very hard then to design an institutional framework coming from that scenario. Has this been looked at in relation to the challenge that will pose?

Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017)

Catherine Murphy: Did the €15.2 million, the total cost of the GAL service in 2016, include a supervisory cost in terms of billing, etc.?

Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017)

Catherine Murphy: It becomes almost a business conversation when we talk about procurement. I could envisage a situation where there would be very large operations from outside the State that have experience of this kind of thing. The Chairman alluded to this earlier, but if we are going to encourage a group of people to tender, establish an office and employ people, it then almost becomes a self-fulfilling...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Banking Operations (19 Jan 2017)

Catherine Murphy: 79. To ask the Minister for Finance if he and-or his officials consulted with any parties connected with a legal action against a bank (details supplied) by persons connected with a group of hedge funds; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2257/17]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Banking Operations (19 Jan 2017)

Catherine Murphy: 80. To ask the Minister for Finance if he and-or his officials consulted with any parties connected with a legal action against a bank (details supplied) by persons connected with a group of hedge funds; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2258/17]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Rural Transport Programme Funding (19 Jan 2017)

Catherine Murphy: 277. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans to meet with a group (details supplied); his further plans to increase funding to the rural transport sector in 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2264/17]