Results 2,481-2,500 of 20,049 for speaker:Brian Stanley

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2024)

Brian Stanley: That is certainly my feeling about it.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2024)

Brian Stanley: It is a publicly funded body here with turnover of hundreds of millions of euro per year. As I said, it has a direct line of accountability to the Committee of Public Accounts and there is a clear means for us to ensure there is transparency here. I think we are on the one page in this regard.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2024)

Brian Stanley: I do not know.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2024)

Brian Stanley: We can do that. Is the date of 9 May agreed? Agreed. We will deal with the work programme later on. The public business before the committee this afternoon is minutes, accounts, financial statements, correspondence, work programme and any other business. As for the minutes, there are minutes from 21 March. They have been circulated to members. Do any members wish to raise anything...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2024)

Brian Stanley: I will ask a question about No. 5, Horse Racing Ireland, HRI. This issue has come up before with regard to the investment of public funds in the redevelopment of the Curragh racetrack. There is an expectation that the Curragh would be a premier racecourse. There has been huge development there in recent years. As I understand it, Horse Racing Ireland has a 35% share in that. Is that correct?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2024)

Brian Stanley: Here we are again with another €1.4 million loss and a cumulative loss of more than €9 million.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2024)

Brian Stanley: There is a short note on the investment in an associate. I am trying to understand what exactly is happening that this money has been lost. Is HRI taking corrective action to try to address that?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2024)

Brian Stanley: Is Mr. McCarthy referring to the 2020 convertible loan of up to €9 million?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2024)

Brian Stanley: Horse Racing Ireland will appear before the committee in the coming weeks.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2024)

Brian Stanley: I think we should request more information about this case because what jumped out at me was that €661,000 was spent on what was only a renovation project.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2024)

Brian Stanley: It is not as though it was a new build project that would have a big design and planning element to it. It was a building renovation project. I propose that we write to Údarás na Gaeltachta and ask for details on what exactly the building is, where it is, what would be the nature of the renovation and what was the budget.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2024)

Brian Stanley: Yes. It seems daft that €661,000 could be spent on an application that failed. There needs to be an explanation of what was going on there.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2024)

Brian Stanley: It should not take €661,000 to get to the point where you know whether something is a good idea or not. That is the problem here. If it is agreed, we will send a letter to them asking for an explanation on the building - what building it is, where it is and its purpose and why they ratcheted up so much expenditure by the time they decided it was not a runner.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2024)

Brian Stanley: What was the figure for the Ráth Chairn project, roughly?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2024)

Brian Stanley: Was that the projected cost of the development?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2024)

Brian Stanley: Okay.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2024)

Brian Stanley: Are the financial statements agreed? Agreed. As usual, the accounts and financial statements will be published as part of our minutes. Moving on to No. 3, correspondence, as previously agreed, items that were not flagged for discussion for this meeting will be dealt with in accordance with the proposed actions that have been circulated and decisions taken by the committee in relation to...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2024)

Brian Stanley: There was just one issue in the letter. In relation to appendix 5, on rent tax credit claims, I am not sure about the explanation for this. I would have thought it would have increased. For 2022, there were 265,715 claims for the rent tax credit but for 2023, that fell by 54,000 to just over 211,365 claims. That was a significant drop. The letter states that as outlined, certain tax...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2024)

Brian Stanley: Yes. And that information was coming out last year.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2024)

Brian Stanley: You would imagine with the awareness being up it would be higher. I propose we send a note to the Revenue Commissioners asking about that. The next item is No. 2436B from Mr. Feargal Ó Coigligh, Secretary General of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, dated 28 February 2024, which provides an update on the work of the expert advisory committees...