Results 28,701-28,720 of 34,778 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Appointments to the Standards in Public Office Commission: Motions (22 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: I support the proposal to appoint Mr. Justice Daniel O'Keeffe as chairperson of the Standards in Public Office Commission and the former Member, Mr. Jim O'Keeffe from Cork South-Central, as an ordinary member of the commission. I know Mr. Jim O'Keeffe as a man of absolute integrity and I think everybody will be happy with his appointment. I cannot speak personally about Mr. Justice Daniel...

Other Questions: Appointments to State Boards (22 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: 14. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his views on whether all senior appointments to taxpayer-funded positions, including appointment to State boards, should be publicly advertised; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2676/14]

Other Questions: Appointments to State Boards (22 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: There is general agreement there should be more openness about this process. We should agree on it and it is a question of how we go about making this happen. Some positions are referred to Oireachtas committees, for example, chief executive officer posts but we need to be more broad ranging and perhaps more people should be eligible for these posts and should apply through public advertisement.

Other Questions: Appointments to State Boards (22 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: I thank the Minister. We are agreed on the principle but it is not being applied. The Minister mentioned his Department. Following Question Time, we will debate his appointments to the Standards in Public Office Commission, SIPO. I never saw the advertisements seeking people to be appointed as an ordinary member or as the new chairperson in the newspaper. The appointments were made in...

Other Questions: Appointments to State Boards (22 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: I appreciate the Minister received applications. However, members of the public watching these proceedings heard the Minister refer to advertising posts but then he qualified that by stating these are restricted posts under legislation.

Other Questions: Appointments to State Boards (22 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: I acknowledge it is the law.

Other Questions: Appointments to State Boards (22 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: I have no objection to the gentleman and I will have no issue with the appointment. However, the impression the Minister gave is that all these posts are publicly advertised and when I pressed him on a particular post, he replied it was an exception under legislation. The public hear the good news but when the issue is teased out, that transpires not to be the case when one delves into...

Other Questions: Commercial Rates Valuation Process (22 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: On a point of order, as the Deputies who tabled Questions Nos. 18 and 28 are not in the House, we should not take the questions together but should confine the slot to six minutes in order that we can move on to questions tabled by those who are present.

Other Questions: Sale of State Assets (22 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: 9. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his views on whether the State is achieving value for the taxpayer from its privatisation programme; the use to which the funds raised will be put in 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2674/14]

Other Questions: Sale of State Assets (22 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: The purpose of the question is to elicit the Minister's views on whether the State is achieving value for money for taxpayers from the current privatisation programme. I refer to the sale of Bord Gáis Energy, a number of ESB power plants for which payment to the State will be made by way of dividend, and the national lottery licence. I also ask him to outline the use to which the funds...

Other Questions: Sale of State Assets (22 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: Will the Minister provide a timetable for the receipt of €1.2 billion from the privatisation of Bord Gáis Energy, the parent company of Irish Water? The Government has demanded a dividend of €400 million from the ESB, of which €140 million has been achieved through the sale of a plant in the United Kingdom. I understand the company has decided to sell two power...

Other Questions: Sale of State Assets (22 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: The Minister is essentially saying he wants to stage-manage the timing of receipts from the sale of State assets to assist the budgetary process next year. There is an unexplained figure here. Despite the requirement for an adjustment of €3 billion last year, the Government announced an adjustment of €2.4 billion on budget day. Some of the balance of €600 million was...

Other Questions: Freedom of Information Remit (22 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: Is the Minister referring to privatisation?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Reform Implementation (22 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: This question relates to bonus payments in the commercial and non-commercial semi-state sector. The Minister has dealt with the issue of payments to chief executive officers but I ask him to say what approval is given by his Department to the line Ministers to approve schemes in organisations under their remit. I refer in particular to State monopoly companies such as Irish Water,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Reform Implementation (22 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: At the meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts last week it was made very clear that the bonus scheme in Irish Water was part of the Bord Gáis bonus scheme, which was approved by the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Rabbitte, and which had been notified to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. The Minister's Department is in the loop. ...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Reform Implementation (22 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: I did not say they were directly comparable; rather, I think it is incongruous. I understand the differences. Employees of local authorities are subject to FEMPI cuts. If you have now gone on secondment to Irish Water, you can get a bonus and migrate back to your local authority in a year or two depending on your secondment arrangement. There is a difficulty there. We talk about...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Government Pay Policy (22 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: 1. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the actions he is taking to ensure that all top-up payments over and above taxpayer funded salaries paid by agencies contracted by the State are ceased; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2776/14]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Government Pay Policy (22 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: I ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the actions he is taking to ensure all top-up payments over and above taxpayer funded salaries paid by agencies contracted by the State are ceased. The Minister will be aware that ten months ago the HSE produced a report on 44 organisations, which his Department received last July. To date, only eight of the 44 organisations are compliant...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Government Pay Policy (22 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: I thank the Minister for his short reply. Essentially, he has passed the buck. Everybody is responsible and nobody is responsible at the same time is the response of his Department. He has said he sets a policy but that it is not up to him to implement it. There is no point in having a policy if there is no mechanism in place to implement it. It is just words on paper if it is not...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Government Pay Policy (22 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: Every Member of the House agrees that there should not be top-up payments. The policy is not being implemented and it will be a very difficult process to get to the bottom of this issue in every line Department. I know it is not the Minister's job to micro-manage Departments, but it is his job to ensure their Accounting Officers are doing theirs. The Minister has said that in the past...