Results 2,421-2,440 of 7,082 for speaker:John Paul Phelan

Committee on Arrangements for Budgetary Scrutiny: Engagement with Minister for Finance and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (15 Jun 2016)

John Paul Phelan: Does the Minister want to address that now or deal with it in his concluding remarks?

Committee on Arrangements for Budgetary Scrutiny: Engagement with Minister for Finance and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (15 Jun 2016)

John Paul Phelan: Perhaps the Minister would make his concluding remarks.

Committee on Arrangements for Budgetary Scrutiny: Engagement with Minister for Finance and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (15 Jun 2016)

John Paul Phelan: The Minister has five minutes in which to reply.

Committee on Arrangements for Budgetary Scrutiny: Engagement with Minister for Finance and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (15 Jun 2016)

John Paul Phelan: I thank the Minister for his attendance. I thank also the officials from the Department of Finance. I ask members to hold on, if possible. Questions put by Deputies Donnelly, Calleary and Burton are to be answered by the legal adviser in ten minutes. Does Deputy Burton have to be in the Chamber?

Committee on Arrangements for Budgetary Scrutiny: Engagement with Minister for Finance and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (15 Jun 2016)

John Paul Phelan: Yes. This will take only-----

Committee on Arrangements for Budgetary Scrutiny: Engagement with Minister for Finance and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (15 Jun 2016)

John Paul Phelan: We will ask for it.

Rent Certainty Bill 2016: Second Stage [Private Members] (14 Jun 2016)

John Paul Phelan: I welcome the chance to say a few words on the Bill. I find myself agreeing with much of what Opposition speakers, including members of Sinn Féin, have said, but I fundamentally disagree with them on the matter of rent controls by another name, which is contained in the Bill. I will refer to this later. I should declare my interests. I am a landlord, completely by accident. I am...

Committee on Arrangements for Budgetary Scrutiny: Business of Select Committee (8 Jun 2016)

John Paul Phelan: Apologies have been received from Deputies Michael McGrath, Marc MacSharry and Joan Burton. The first item is the minutes of the last meeting. Are they agreed? Agreed. There are a couple of items of correspondence not included on the agenda as they were received late. There is a submission from the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, which we will...

Committee on Arrangements for Budgetary Scrutiny: Business of Select Committee (8 Jun 2016)

John Paul Phelan: Okay. We will begin by recapping what happened last week when we had six or seven items to deal with. The issues raised by members are at various stages of being addressed. We had hoped to have the legal adviser to the Oireachtas present today, but she is required at an ongoing case in the High Court. She intends to be here next week. We also contacted the Departments of Public...

Committee on Arrangements for Budgetary Scrutiny: Business of Select Committee (8 Jun 2016)

John Paul Phelan: I fully agree with the Deputy, which is alarming from my perspective given our politics over the years. The Deputy's points about pushing the boat out are correct. It this committee is to have any real purpose, we need to push out the boundaries in terms of information flow as much as anything else. I also agree with the Deputy on his prioritisation of the points. With regard to point 5...

Committee on Arrangements for Budgetary Scrutiny: Business of Select Committee (8 Jun 2016)

John Paul Phelan: We need to set forward our own outline today as to where we see the committee going. The Government has made an opening statement in, as Deputy Calleary said, not perhaps the most exact language and we hope to have the two Ministers before the committee next week between 11 a.m. and 12.30 p.m. We can question them more at that time and we will also have the legal advice. Today we need to...

Committee on Arrangements for Budgetary Scrutiny: Business of Select Committee (8 Jun 2016)

John Paul Phelan: Yes. It would make more sense to do that.

Committee on Arrangements for Budgetary Scrutiny: Business of Select Committee (8 Jun 2016)

John Paul Phelan: That is what we want to do today.

Committee on Arrangements for Budgetary Scrutiny: Business of Select Committee (8 Jun 2016)

John Paul Phelan: The Deputy is right. Last week's meeting was preliminary and we were feeling our way a bit.

Committee on Arrangements for Budgetary Scrutiny: Business of Select Committee (8 Jun 2016)

John Paul Phelan: However, we have to stick to what our job is for the next fortnight. Deputy Broughan made a submission. Does he want to say anything on the principal points?

Committee on Arrangements for Budgetary Scrutiny: Business of Select Committee (8 Jun 2016)

John Paul Phelan: As I said at that start, a number of factors emerged, not least the Government meeting today but also the case in which the legal adviser is potentially involved in the courts. On Deputy Calleary's point, there is no disagreement. We should try to hear from her first to understand the legal space in which we can operate. I do not have a particular problem if Deputy Eamon Ryan is proposing...

Committee on Arrangements for Budgetary Scrutiny: Business of Select Committee (8 Jun 2016)

John Paul Phelan: Hold on a second.

Committee on Arrangements for Budgetary Scrutiny: Business of Select Committee (8 Jun 2016)

John Paul Phelan: Today, we want to flesh that out ourselves. I would point out that the Government did not draft the terms of reference. It was the Dáil reform group which did that.

Committee on Arrangements for Budgetary Scrutiny: Business of Select Committee (8 Jun 2016)

John Paul Phelan: In his comments, Deputy Eamon Ryan probably struck the nail on the head in relation to the deficiency which I saw in the Department's submission as well. It was very much angled towards examining events after the fact rather than having a sufficient role, which I originally envisaged for this committee, in advance of the preparation of the different stages in the budgetary process. We must...

Committee on Arrangements for Budgetary Scrutiny: Business of Select Committee (8 Jun 2016)

John Paul Phelan: It is an attempt to fill a vacuum that exists in the context of this year's budget.