Results 2,961-2,980 of 28,162 for speaker:Catherine Murphy

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (16 Nov 2023)

Catherine Murphy: The Council of Europe's Congress of Local and Regional Authorities completed a review of local government, the report of which was adopted on 25 October. It was absolutely scathing of Ireland. It ranked Ireland just above Hungary, the Russian Federation and Moldova. We were poor right across the board. The review described our system as being more akin to local administration as opposed...

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 5: Vote Accounting and Budget Management (16 Nov 2023)

Catherine Murphy: Good morning. To start with the issue of staff, Mr. Moloney mentioned recruitment challenges. What grades are we talking about, what is the complement of staff at the moment and what are the numbers the Department is funded for?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 5: Vote Accounting and Budget Management (16 Nov 2023)

Catherine Murphy: Are there particular grades or disciplines where the Department is struggling to recruit?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 5: Vote Accounting and Budget Management (16 Nov 2023)

Catherine Murphy: Mr. Moloney is saying it is overall rather than specific.

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 5: Vote Accounting and Budget Management (16 Nov 2023)

Catherine Murphy: There is a table in the accounts concerning the remuneration of Accounting Officers. First, it would be useful if the Department could send us the 2023 amounts because there was a variation in 2022. For example, we had the Secretary General of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage before the committee. The amount that is stated here is €225,000, whereas newspaper...

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 5: Vote Accounting and Budget Management (16 Nov 2023)

Catherine Murphy: Okay, but there is a variety of different amounts. I want to focus in on one, which is the one in the Department of Health. I remember the discussions going on about Army pay and how we could not look at one group of people separately, yet that seems to happen when it comes to higher grades. Would the Department have been asked to approve a sizeable difference, for example, in respect of...

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 5: Vote Accounting and Budget Management (16 Nov 2023)

Catherine Murphy: When Mr. Moloney says “Government”, was it a political decision?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 5: Vote Accounting and Budget Management (16 Nov 2023)

Catherine Murphy: What role does the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform have in this?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 5: Vote Accounting and Budget Management (16 Nov 2023)

Catherine Murphy: Has the Department produced notes in regard to its advice?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 5: Vote Accounting and Budget Management (16 Nov 2023)

Catherine Murphy: Presumably, the same would be the case with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 5: Vote Accounting and Budget Management (16 Nov 2023)

Catherine Murphy: Can we have a note on that, please?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 5: Vote Accounting and Budget Management (16 Nov 2023)

Catherine Murphy: In regard to public private partnership, PPP, projects in 2021 and 2022, housing, local government and heritage are included as bundle 1 and bundle 2, and there is an amount listed. Increasingly, we have been hearing about social housing becoming a product, which is very difficult to get your head around. I have certainly seen some local authorities opting for a long lease arrangement as...

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 5: Vote Accounting and Budget Management (16 Nov 2023)

Catherine Murphy: I am struggling to identify the role of the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform regarding value for money in things like this. I would have thought it would have something to say in respect of value for money.

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 5: Vote Accounting and Budget Management (16 Nov 2023)

Catherine Murphy: But the Department had no hand, act or part in advising in regard to long leases for social housing.

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 5: Vote Accounting and Budget Management (16 Nov 2023)

Catherine Murphy: We are not seeing that.

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 5: Vote Accounting and Budget Management (16 Nov 2023)

Catherine Murphy: I take issue with some of that. I am seeing this in my area. It emerged last week that not one social house was directly built in my area last year. The output in Kildare is actually very high but it is all turnkey and long lease. I fail to see where the value for money is in that.

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 5: Vote Accounting and Budget Management (16 Nov 2023)

Catherine Murphy: To move on to the public spending code, for example, the process has been changed from a five-stage process to a three-stage process. I am thinking, for example, about project relating to the new national maternity hospital and the review. Has that review happened at this stage? There is an external assurance process. Is that under way?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 5: Vote Accounting and Budget Management (16 Nov 2023)

Catherine Murphy: Would that include a figure? Originally, we were told that the estimate was €350 million and figures of up to €1 billion have been talked about. The national paediatric hospital is routinely discussed here. We have to learn lessons. How firm is the process?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 5: Vote Accounting and Budget Management (16 Nov 2023)

Catherine Murphy: When it comes to the public spending code, I am just trying to see whether there are blockages to successful delivery. There is a practical example in my constituency. The OPW negotiated a deal for the purchase of land at Castletown House in 2021. It told us that the cost would be somewhere in the region of €5 million. Essentially, there was either a blockage in the Department of...

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 5: Vote Accounting and Budget Management (16 Nov 2023)

Catherine Murphy: I am just using it as an example. I have no doubt that there is a need for a rigorous assessment; however, by virtue of the fact that the land was not purchased by the OPW, it will now cost a lot more, even in terms of access. I am just using this as an example. Are there blockages that cause a problem in terms of value for money?