Results 3,341-3,360 of 7,961 for speaker:Imelda Munster

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 33 - Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Chapter 7 - Oversight of Funding for the European Capital of Culture 2020 (25 Nov 2021)

Imelda Munster: Is RTÉ specifically looking into this issue? It comes back to oversight and public moneys, and how they are spent.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 33 - Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Chapter 7 - Oversight of Funding for the European Capital of Culture 2020 (25 Nov 2021)

Imelda Munster: In that context, and the settlement for the bogus self-employment, a question arises as to who RTÉ is accountable to.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 33 - Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Chapter 7 - Oversight of Funding for the European Capital of Culture 2020 (25 Nov 2021)

Imelda Munster: I accept that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 33 - Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Chapter 7 - Oversight of Funding for the European Capital of Culture 2020 (25 Nov 2021)

Imelda Munster: I accept that, but when serious issues such as those I have outlined arise,-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 33 - Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Chapter 7 - Oversight of Funding for the European Capital of Culture 2020 (25 Nov 2021)

Imelda Munster: -----and these are not minor issues, RTÉ is accountable to the Department in that regard.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 33 - Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Chapter 7 - Oversight of Funding for the European Capital of Culture 2020 (25 Nov 2021)

Imelda Munster: The settlement with Revenue, the ongoing investigation with the Department of Social Protection and the pay disparity were all going on under the Department's nose, if you like, costing the public money and bringing into question the manner in which public money was spent. No action was taken by the Department. That is worrying.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 33 - Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Chapter 7 - Oversight of Funding for the European Capital of Culture 2020 (25 Nov 2021)

Imelda Munster: Was the Department aware of both of those issues? The pay disparity has been going on for two decades. There was also the misclassification of workers. For how many years was the Department aware of those issues?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 33 - Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Chapter 7 - Oversight of Funding for the European Capital of Culture 2020 (25 Nov 2021)

Imelda Munster: I want to ask the Secretary General first about the issues I raised regarding the miscalculation of workers or effective bogus employment at RTÉ and the pay disparity whereby workers are paid less for working through the medium of Irish. Ms Licken said her Department had no knowledge of those issues and that they predated her time in the Department since 2020, but is it not correct to...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 33 - Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Chapter 7 - Oversight of Funding for the European Capital of Culture 2020 (25 Nov 2021)

Imelda Munster: The broadcasting staff came over and the corporate governance staff came over.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 33 - Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Chapter 7 - Oversight of Funding for the European Capital of Culture 2020 (25 Nov 2021)

Imelda Munster: However, the Department has corporate governance staff-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 33 - Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Chapter 7 - Oversight of Funding for the European Capital of Culture 2020 (25 Nov 2021)

Imelda Munster: -----who were transferred.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 33 - Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Chapter 7 - Oversight of Funding for the European Capital of Culture 2020 (25 Nov 2021)

Imelda Munster: They came over.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 33 - Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Chapter 7 - Oversight of Funding for the European Capital of Culture 2020 (25 Nov 2021)

Imelda Munster: Yes. Some of them came over. There is therefore no reason on God's earth that that knowledge would not be there within the Department.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 33 - Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Chapter 7 - Oversight of Funding for the European Capital of Culture 2020 (25 Nov 2021)

Imelda Munster: That is not what Ms Licken said earlier, though. She said that this predated her time and that she had no knowledge of the issues.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 33 - Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Chapter 7 - Oversight of Funding for the European Capital of Culture 2020 (25 Nov 2021)

Imelda Munster: Okay, but that really is not good enough. Until my time for asking questions was up, Ms Licken was more or less saying the Department had no knowledge of it but what about the staff in the broadcasting section and in corporate governance? It all comes back to the point I am making about oversight. I cannot believe Ms Licken said that the Department had no knowledge of it when broadcasting...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 33 - Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Chapter 7 - Oversight of Funding for the European Capital of Culture 2020 (25 Nov 2021)

Imelda Munster: Earlier, Ms Licken said the Department was more than satisfied that there was good governance in place. She said she was aware that RTÉ has made a settlement. I do not think anyone in the country is not aware because it was splattered all over the papers. I am astounded at what Ms Licken said when she knew full well that broadcasting staff and corporate governance staff in the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 33 - Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Chapter 7 - Oversight of Funding for the European Capital of Culture 2020 (25 Nov 2021)

Imelda Munster: It had the staff there. The knowledge and information were there. Is this the extent of the oversight, that after it has been found out RTÉ can just say it has a problem and it will fix it and the Department says that is grand and it will leave it with it.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 33 - Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Chapter 7 - Oversight of Funding for the European Capital of Culture 2020 (25 Nov 2021)

Imelda Munster: I have seen nothing to contradict this. In fairness, I have heard nothing from Ms Licken today that would make me think otherwise.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 33 - Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Chapter 7 - Oversight of Funding for the European Capital of Culture 2020 (25 Nov 2021)

Imelda Munster: I apologise for cutting across Ms Licken but time is of the essence. The Department meets RTÉ on a regular basis and raises issues of concern. What discussions were had in respect of pay disparity?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 33 - Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Chapter 7 - Oversight of Funding for the European Capital of Culture 2020 (25 Nov 2021)

Imelda Munster: What precisely is it doing?