Results 23,041-23,060 of 26,086 for speaker:Kieran O'Donnell

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: I thank Ms Tallon.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: To whom do they report?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: Do they report to the Department in any way?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: The auditors are reporting to the members of the relevant local authority. The Department allocates a significant share of the funding for local authorities. How does the Department get to the point where it is absolutely confident that the taxpayer is getting value for the money that goes into the local authority system? How does it ensure the money is spent efficiently? I assume that...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: Am I clear?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: Enlighten me.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: How does the Department ensure it is getting value for the taxpayer's money?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: Does the local authority manager report to the Department?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: Who is accountable to the Department for the funding provided? Does anybody in the local authority system report to Ms Tallon or one of her colleagues in terms of how the money is spent? The Comptroller and Auditor General plays a different type of role from that of local authority auditors. His role is to investigate Departments to determine how money is spent and whether the taxpayer got...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: Does the Department conduct occasional audits on particular programmes?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: May I make a suggestion to Ms Tallon based on the committee's interest in this area? I ask the Department to investigate the systems it has in place in respect of the €3.5 billion that goes to local authorities. I understand a local government review group was established, with membership from the Departments of Environment, Community and Local Government and Finance. I hope the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: One of the local authorities told me it could only facilitate an instalment up to 31 March because, as far as it was concerned, that was when it expected the household charge to kick in again for the following year, but the household charge is no longer in existence. I ask the Department to contact individual local authorities to advise them that they now have a window of a further three...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: I appreciate that. I do not want to take up time. Will the Department speak to the local authorities, which are under its remit, and tell them that they should be able to give perhaps a further three months for people to have cleared the household charge before the property tax comes in? It would make an enormous difference to people in terms of facilitating the payment. I am conscious of...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: Do the local authorities have the flexibility to take it up to the end of June if they wish? If, for instance, €100 is owing, do they have the flexibility to say to the individual that, as long as he or she clears it before the end of June, they will provide for payment on an instalment basis up to the end of June?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: I will come back to that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: What has it cost the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to date to implement the household charge?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: The Department could give some indication of the split between the administration of collection and the fact of the database coming into being. On the auditing of local authorities by the Department, how many staff are there in the local authority audit section within the Department? Some €3.5 billion was allocated to local authorities in 2011. The Secretary General might give an...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: Of those 33 staff, how many are inspectors who would go out to the individual local authorities to do work?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: How many of those are qualified accountants or auditors?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 16 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities (6 Dec 2012)

Kieran O'Donnell: In what area?