Results 22,381-22,400 of 26,081 for speaker:Kieran O'Donnell

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Does the Department expect the premises to be adequate for the probationary services that need to be provided?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: How would one explain to the taxpayer that the Department has incurred expenses on the premises of €2 million so far? Is the rent €300,000 per annum?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: How can that be nearly seven times the rent paid for the building currently being used? How did such circumstances arise in a relatively short period?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Would the services provided at Wolfe Tone Street have differed from the services being provided on Parnell Street?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: We must question - that is our role. A building on Wolfe Tone Street was costing €300,000 to rent. Fitting it out and putting the lease in place cost a further €2 million. Did a building on Parnell Street in relatively the same area - I do not know Dublin inner city, but I assume that they are side by side - suddenly become available for one seventh of the rent? Beyond the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Am I correct in believing that the Parnell Street building was an OPW building?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: It would also have been available in 2008.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: I assume that its rent would have been considerably lower than €300,000.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: This is a question of value for the taxpayer. The witnesses will appreciate that it is not personal. In hindsight and taking all of the factors into account, was value provided for the taxpayer?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: At a cost of €255,000 extra per annum, which is a significant amount of money, plus the incremental value. That speaks for itself. The fit-out cost €1 million. What was the professional fee of €169,000 for? I note that the VAT on creation of the lease was a straightforward fund of €61,000, while the rent management fees and service charge are €536,000....

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: I will take a slightly different approach to looking at chapter 15 and getting some engagement on the issue. It is taxpayers' money. This is the committee's role - the witnesses will appreciate that it is not personal. We have a job to do. Given the fact that legal proceedings were initiated yesterday, we are duty-bound to ask why. Have changes been made to leasing procedures within the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: In respect of chapter 15, Ms Creedon made reference to the fact that correspondence had issued. Was the Comptroller and Auditor General aware at that time that correspondence in respect of this matter had issued from the Chief State Solicitor's office?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Can we take it that when the Comptroller and Auditor General was completing chapter 15, he did not see that as in any way making it difficult for him to complete his report? The point I am making is that these matters were ongoing so effectively the Comptroller and Auditor General still felt he was able to complete his report. In that context, there is nothing that has now come into the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor
Vote 19 - Justice and Equality
Chapter 15: Lease of Accommodation for a Probation Service Project (21 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: So we could pursue a line of questioning in that particular area which is already in the public domain?

Other Questions: Hospital Acquired Infections (20 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: To ask the Minister for Health the measures that have been taken to tackle MRSA in Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Dooradoyle, County Limerick; the impact of these measures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14281/13]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Waiting Lists (20 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: To ask the Minister for Health the measures that have been taken to tackle in-patient and day case waiting lists in Mid Western Regional Hospital, Limerick; the impact of these measures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14282/13]

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: My question to Ms O'Donoghue as Secretary General of the Department is not on a policy issue. Does she have an observation on demographics of her own as distinct from setting out a Government policy?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: To reiterate my observation, it is a grave mistake that community welfare officers are not involved in that area.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Ms O'Donoghue is missing my point. There have been 90 staff in SIU for the last number of years. Clearly, it is not having the necessary impact if the levels of fraud detection are at 0.44% of overall spend. I am on the public record on this point. Given the set of skills they have, there was an opportunity to adopt a strategic direction when community welfare officers transferred as a...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: This is not personal. I make my point purely on the basis that ordinary people, including genuine social welfare recipients who are the majority of all recipients, and the general public consider the fraud detection rate of 0.44% to be too low.