Results 221-240 of 1,065,961 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:John McGuinness OR speaker:Michael Healy-Rae OR speaker:Pearse Doherty)
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)
Pearse Doherty: Given that it did not achieve value for money, is it a waste? Mr. Conlon is the Accounting Officer for this agency. He is accountable. Was taxpayers' money wasted, in his view?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)
Pearse Doherty: Would he have continued with the project, given everything he knows now?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)
Pearse Doherty: Exactly, and I am giving Mr. Conlon the benefit of hindsight. I want to know if lessons are being learned. Would he have continued with the project, or would he have stopped this project?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)
Pearse Doherty: The Houses of the Oireachtas Commission is important in this, but the OPW is the most important party. It spent the money, designed the bike shed, issued the contract and decided not to go to tender. It is the OPW that signed off on this and handed out taxpayers' money. Because Mr. Conlon has now reviewed all of this process and talked to the principal parties, I would like to know,...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)
Pearse Doherty: As the boss, would he have stopped it?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)
Pearse Doherty: Mr. Conlon would question it in the context of asking if they could get this any cheaper, and he would be told it had been put out to tender and they were going with the lowest price and all that. They would have informed him of all that information we see in his review. What would he have done then?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)
Pearse Doherty: I understand. In his view, were the appropriate processes and procedures followed?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)
Pearse Doherty: Mr. Conlon said, "had regard to the processes and procedures." He is now asking for an independent auditor to pass judgment on whether the appropriate processes and procedures were followed. In his view, did they just have regard to them, or did they follow them?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)
Pearse Doherty: What does that mean? I do not want to split hairs, but I do not understand. Will he answer my question? Did they follow the procedures or not? The question he is asking the independent auditor, which more taxpayers' money is being spent on to find out how this went wrong, is if the appropriate processes and procedures were followed. I am asking Mr. Conlon. He has reviewed all of the...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)
Pearse Doherty: Okay, that is just basically telling people what OPW is doing, the upfront part of it. We would expect that if the OPW were to tell the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission that it was planning to build a bike shed for €336,000 - I will come to that number again because the OPW actually expected it to cost a good deal more than that - the commission would ask those in the OPW if they...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)
Pearse Doherty: Mr. Conlon says the assessment by the OPW should have placed greater emphasis on the value for money aspects of the project. Was there any emphasis or concern about value for money? When this assessment was carried out, the "simple assessment" as Mr. Conlon describes it, was value for money on the radar at all? Was there a box that had to be ticked? I will give Mr. Conlon an example. I...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)
Pearse Doherty: Mr. Conlon also said in his opening statement that the value for money aspect should have been more front and centre. I am asking whether it was on the page at all. This is the review. I expected something completely different from Mr. Conlon in the review. I want the documentation. This will either be through a freedom of information request or Mr. Conlon will give all of the...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)
Pearse Doherty: Will Mr. Conlon explain that to the committee?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)
Pearse Doherty: The cost assessment at that point was that the project could cost €397,250.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)
Pearse Doherty: That is €397,250. That is what Mr. Conlon's officials estimated this bike shed would cost at that time.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)
Pearse Doherty: Exactly.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)
Pearse Doherty: We have got that. We have got the request from the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission for a covered bike shelter. We have now got the cost estimated by Mr. Conlon's officials that this will cost €397,250-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)
Pearse Doherty: What was the next step? Was there somewhere in that document which says this is value for money, this is not value for money, or this is off-your-head stuff? Was there any reference in this simple assessment, as Mr. Conlon calls it, to value for money?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)
Pearse Doherty: Okay. There was something there, was there?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)
Pearse Doherty: What did it say?