Results 24,281-24,300 of 33,581 for speaker:Catherine Connolly

Affordable Housing: Statements (Resumed) (29 Mar 2018)

Catherine Connolly: The Minister is the third in the role since I was elected and I have only been elected for two years and three months. We have continuously made the same speeches, and here we are again, two years and three months after I was elected, making the same speeches begging and imploring the Minister to declare a national emergency. At a conference well before I was elected, Fr. Peter McVerry...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

Catherine Connolly: I agree with that. It is an area we should look at with guidance from the Comptroller and Auditor General. I come from a city where the city council ended up in the High Court and the manager was very nearly jailed for contempt of court. We have a history in that regard. I also come from a city that learned to do it right and had a fantastic recycling system. I know it from both ends....

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

Catherine Connolly: We asked for the business case and we got it.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

Catherine Connolly: I know. I welcome that. If there was a business case for this unit and it was a solid business case, why is the unit being wound up? I am delighted it is being wound up but if we are looking at value for money and there is a solid business case that initiated-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

Catherine Connolly: Does he no longer stand over the business case?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

Catherine Connolly: I refer to the non-consolidation of the foundation accounts. I understand that this came to the attention of the committee inadvertently through the Comptroller and Auditor General's reports, where we discovered that various universities, not all of them, had foundations. Mr. McCarthy pointed out that they were not consolidated. The universities' explanation was that they do not control...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

Catherine Connolly: Did that happen in relation to UCC?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

Catherine Connolly: I thank Mr. McCarthy very much for that clarification. It is important because one gets confused. According to the accounting rules, it is not necessary.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

Catherine Connolly: It is not obligatory. The committee and the HEA feel it is necessary, and that is where it rests. Notwithstanding that, this university has not even given the accounts parallel with its own accounts. The issue of foundations and who controls what is huge. When NUI Galway, NUIG, appeared before us, it very proudly told the committee it had no control over it, so therefore there was no need...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

Catherine Connolly: The committee should ask it for its accounts in relation to it. NUIG, which has a lot more money in the foundation, gave the committee the accounts, so I do not know why UCC is not giving them, or indeed any other college that has a foundation.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

Catherine Connolly: That is what we are asking for.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

Catherine Connolly: Will the Chairman clarify what he wrote? I missed it.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

Catherine Connolly: That was in December and 75% replied.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

Catherine Connolly: However, 25% did not acknowledge it.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

Catherine Connolly: It is shocking that 25% did not acknowledge the letter.

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 15 - Galway Art House Cinema
Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (29 Mar 2018)

Catherine Connolly: Cuirim fáilte roimh na finnéithe, go háirithe Katherine Licken Uasal. Go n-éirí léi ina post nua. Ní post nua atá ann anois, tá sí ann le cúpla mí anois.

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 15 - Galway Art House Cinema
Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (29 Mar 2018)

Catherine Connolly: Gabhaim míle buíochas as ucht na gcáipéisí uilig a bheith ar fáil i nGaeilge. Is é an chéad uair a bhfuair mé cáipéisí i nGaeilge d'aon choiste. Tá siad léite agam. Gabhaim míle buíochas leis na finnéithe as sin. Tá a fhios agam go raibh an t-uafás oibre i gceist chun an méid sin a chur os...

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 15 - Galway Art House Cinema
Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (29 Mar 2018)

Catherine Connolly: Let me be clear. According to a note from the Comptroller and Auditor General, the auditor of Solas resigned in October 2016 due to concerns regarding corporate governance, and in the following year, 2017, Solas went into liquidation, although I was gone at that point. Does Ms Licken know now why the auditor left?

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 15 - Galway Art House Cinema
Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (29 Mar 2018)

Catherine Connolly: We will stick with this for a minute. The witness will excuse me if I am a bit direct. I am impressed by Ms Licken's statement and her open declaration that the Department will learn from mistakes. I realise the witness has inherited this issue, and she has taken the two very serious recommendations on board. What has the Department learned from the auditor leaving? Has anybody followed...

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 15 - Galway Art House Cinema
Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (29 Mar 2018)

Catherine Connolly: No. The auditor finally left. Has anybody in Ms Licken's Department followed up on that in order to learn from it, or to find out about the nature of his concerns?