Results 2,221-2,240 of 4,093 for speaker:Cormac Devlin

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Cormac Devlin: From my experience, there is a bit of a lacuna here although it is not a policy issue that the RTB can address. If a legal entity is managing or letting properties, there does not seem to be the same ability in the RTB to pursue, monitor or enforce rules. Legal entities may change their names and continue trading under different names but are not in keeping with the spirit of the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Cormac Devlin: I noticed in the RTB's financial statements that there was an excessively large increase in expenditure on High Court appeals. Why is that the case? In 2019, such expenditure amounted to approximately €38,500 but in 2020 it jumped to €264,720. Can Mr. Byrne explain that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Cormac Devlin: Was there a jump in the number of cases or did a particular case cause the jump in expenditure?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Cormac Devlin: It is a significant rise.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Cormac Devlin: I understand that. I ask Mr. Byrne to send us a note on that because it jumped off the page at me.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Cormac Devlin: It is an extremely large increase. Mr. Byrne said in his opening remarks regarding unregistered tenancies or even those that are registered, that if they are not in compliance with the RTB it can take action and pursue them through the courts or by other means. If he does not have the information to hand today, I ask him to send on to the committee data on the number of those types of...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Cormac Devlin: I would appreciate that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Cormac Devlin: I will focus on the financial statements and I have a number of questions about them, the first of which relates to customer contacts. The RTB spent €2.3 million in 2019. That reduced slightly to €2.2 million in 2020. The documentation notes that customer contacts costs relate to a third-party service company which provides customer contact through telephone, web chat and...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Cormac Devlin: Is it an annual contract?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Cormac Devlin: Sorry, I am just conscious of time. If I can, then-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Cormac Devlin: The RTB spent €16,500 on subscriptions. I note it reduced during the pandemic. What are those subscriptions for?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Cormac Devlin: Mr. Kelly might send a note, if he would not mind, please. I note the stenographer and translation headings. I can understand the reduction in costs of the stenographer, given the pandemic. In terms of translation, however, if the RTB's online services continued, why is there a reduction in translation services? Surely, I would have thought that would have roughly been the same, but it...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Cormac Devlin: The RTB had 753 unresolved cases but it made no provision for them. I understand Mr. Kelly said the costs would vary greatly in those, but there is no provision made at all in the financial accounts in 2020. Is that wise given the discrepancy there could be for the RTB's accounts for next year? This is 5(b), section 14 on page 41 of the financial statements. It says the board had 753...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Cormac Devlin: Would they normally be of that magnitude?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Cormac Devlin: I can just foresee as Mr. Kelly sitting here next year - I am sure he is looking forward to it already - accounting for the accounts and realising that perhaps the Comptroller and Auditor General or we might highlight it, given there was no provision at all made for it. I do not think that is right. There should be a given provision for it in light of the number of cases.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (24 Feb 2022)

Cormac Devlin: I wish to ask about the CDETB. The Comptroller and Auditor General mentioned a figure of a little over €2 million as regards non-compliance with the procurement rules. What kind of non-compliance issues did he discover?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (24 Feb 2022)

Cormac Devlin: I see. For example, the €340,000 in respect of acquiring the delivery of school meals from suppliers should probably have been put out to tender, particularly in Dublin because it is a relatively small, self-contained ETB. It is different if we are talking about a large county, where it would not be reasonable to expect one supplier to supply at two ends of the county. There is...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (24 Feb 2022)

Cormac Devlin: Which can happen.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (24 Feb 2022)

Cormac Devlin: That makes sense for the individual centres as well. I thank Mr. McCarthy for that.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (24 Feb 2022)

Cormac Devlin: Noted.