Results 2,881-2,900 of 5,580 for speaker:Paul McAuliffe

Finance Bill 2022: Second Stage (25 Oct 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: I may take advantage of the time. I listened to much of the debate and I think it is important for us to remember what happened on budget day. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, and the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, put forward an €11 billion package to try to alleviate what we know to be an incredibly difficult period for people in...

Finance Bill 2022: Second Stage (25 Oct 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: Okay, excellent. I could go on but we will discuss it on Committee Stage. I want to talk about housing. I wish many of the Deputies who talk about housing actually attended the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage because when they say there is nothing in this budget for housing, they are ignoring a €4 billion and a €20 billion package. They are...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes (25 Oct 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: 480. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to increase the salaries for community employment supervisors; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53371/22]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementation of Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (25 Oct 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: I thank both local authorities for being with us today. We want to try to capture how Housing for All is being implemented and what some of the roadblocks might be at a practical level that we can feed back to the Department. I am conscious that much of the legislation is very new. The Affordable Housing Act, for example, is just over 12 months old so I accept some of this is planning for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementation of Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (25 Oct 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: Ms Farrelly pre-empted my next question. Has the council outlined that yet because there was funding from the European Regional Development Fund for potential housing on the Dunsink lands. Has the council any idea of what quantity could be delivered there and at what point is the council at in terms of that project?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementation of Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (25 Oct 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: A similar expansion on the Dublin city map was the Meakstown area. As Ms Farrelly knows, it took quite a while for Fingal County Council to catch up with delivering some of the community services needed in that area. It was a largely private development but Fingal County Council is only now trying to retrofit some of those community facilities. I would hope that with the Dunsink...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementation of Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (25 Oct 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: Does Mr. McLoughlin have any comments on capacity?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementation of Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (25 Oct 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: Mr. McLoughlin is right to broaden it out beyond land alone. That raises the question of resources, both budgetary, available through the Housing for All multi-annual budget, and staffing. Do the witnesses think both local authorities have the numbers of people and finances needed, using Ms Farrelly's phrase, " to exceed those targets"?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementation of Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (25 Oct 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: I might come back on the affordability issue as there a lot of questions on that area. What is the opinion on the broader issue of staffing and resources?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 3 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Chapter 4 - Reallocation of Voted Funding (20 Oct 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: I thank the witnesses for coming in. I want to turn to the Department's role in establishing remote policy across the Civil Service. Remarkable things were done during the Covid pandemic with regard to seeing what was possible to do through remote working. Thousands of social welfare payments were processed in a manner and from places which we would probably never have sanctioned or...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 3 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Chapter 4 - Reallocation of Voted Funding (20 Oct 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: In Mr. Moloney's experience, how is that embedding in each Department?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 3 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Chapter 4 - Reallocation of Voted Funding (20 Oct 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: Is Mr. Moloney satisfied that each Department is putting in place blended working options for public servants?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 3 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Chapter 4 - Reallocation of Voted Funding (20 Oct 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: Is there any data collection in terms of percentages?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 3 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Chapter 4 - Reallocation of Voted Funding (20 Oct 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: Mr. Moloney is correct that there are trade-offs with it as well. If we are really to analyse its success, does he envisage a role for the Department, given its central role in public service and reform, in reviewing how those policies have been implemented? Does he have plans to do that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 3 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Chapter 4 - Reallocation of Voted Funding (20 Oct 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: One of the scenarios in the current sort of war-time situation is that large users of energy may be asked not to operate at peak times. Does Mr. Moloney have contingency plans in terms of civil servants being asked to work from home during potential high usage periods or any period where we are not able to match supply with demand?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 3 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Chapter 4 - Reallocation of Voted Funding (20 Oct 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: I was not recommending it, but it is a suggestion that has been floated in media debate and so on. At this point, there are no contingency plans in that regard.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 3 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Chapter 4 - Reallocation of Voted Funding (20 Oct 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: I will move on to the value for money elements that were touched on by Deputy Dillon. I specifically refer to the value for money process in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, particularly with regard to the value for money sought for the procurement of housing. Does Mr. Moloney believe that model is sufficiently broad to balance also the spending in the Department of...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 3 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Chapter 4 - Reallocation of Voted Funding (20 Oct 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: An issue flagged many times when I was a member of Dublin City Council was that, in essence, the Department of Social Protection saved millions of euro when the rent supplement scheme started to be phased out, but that burden was transferred, often to the local authorities in many ways, which were doing long-term leasing and other schemes. That holistic approach to housing is important. In...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 3 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Chapter 4 - Reallocation of Voted Funding (20 Oct 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: Mr. Moloney accepts that the value for money is clear in terms of the provision of housing when it is considered that the alternative is the procurement of hotel beds. The value for money is evident regardless of what the house costs. I am not saying we should pay any amount, but the cost of it is dwarfed by comparison with the cost the State is incurring in the context of emergency...