Results 321-340 of 5,573 for speaker:Paul McAuliffe

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (17 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: I want to raise with the Tánaiste the policy of the National Transport Authority, NTA, which, for the past ten years, has been trying to remove the number 11 bus. It was successfully resisted in 2014 but was unfortunately put back on the table again in 2017. Despite multiple changes and the addition of Wadelai Park and Home Farm back on the route, but only on an hourly basis, and then...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (17 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: This was in 2014.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: I thank the witnesses for being here this morning and the Comptroller and Auditor General for putting in the work on the report. I agree with Deputy Cannon that it is a very complex landscape and that we are dealing with charities of different capacities and sizes. I think roughly 11,000 charities are registered. Has their turnover been categorised in any way? How many fall into the very...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: Does Ms Delaney have a breakdown for the number of charities that have incomes of less than €10,000 or €5,000 per year?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: If a charity has less than €10,000, it is an incredibly small operation. It more than likely does not have any paid staff and is mostly volunteer run. Equally, the auditing requirements are very onerous. Regarding audit fees in some cases, I know of one group with a total income of €2,500 and the cost of auditing is just north of €1,000. Has any consideration been...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: I find it very frustrating, as does the group itself, which I will not name, that to carry out charitable work, and it inherited a legacy structure, 50% of its fundraising is to satisfy the Charities Regulator. While that is necessary, and I cannot see any other way around it, there is scope to have a more agile approach for smaller charities, as Ms Delaney mentioned. I will leave that with...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: They are identified as chief executive No. 2 in the report.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: That is the first concern. Had the cash flow or the financial operational management not become an issue, it is likely that we might not have discovered the many other areas such as the co-mingling of donations, restricted and unrestricted funds, and issues of poor governance decisions by the board and so on. For the Charities Regulator, that must be a lesson in the sense that had the...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: Does Ms Delaney accept that the relationship between CEO and chair is key? The governance issues or the protection of the public interest really rely on the board. When there is an entirely voluntary board and chairperson, however, without the independent resources of the staffing of the organisation, the board can be in a very weak position to monitor what is happening in the organisation.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: I agree, but does Ms Delaney accept the resourcing of the board is the issue there? I am not speaking about a particular case here, but if there was any attempt by a senior staff member, the CEO or staff in general to mislead the board, it could be incredibly difficult for a board that may meet once a month, whose members perhaps do not know each other very well as board members and who do...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: Ms Delaney is outlining the obligations of the directors and the board and I do not take from those. My point is that many directors find it very difficult to fulfil that because they are entirely dependent for resourcing and expertise and information on the people who work within the organisation. Where it goes wrong, that is often the challenge.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: In some cases in community structures, for example, the people involved are very well meaning but perhaps do not have the experience and so on. That is the weakness of corporate governance in Ireland. It is the reason we will have other instances. We are not resourcing the boards. That brings me to my second point, which is the recruitment and retention of board members. Why in God's...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: We can look at youth centres and community structures across the country. This is the spending of public money and it is governed by volunteers we are not providing sufficient resources to. These are the charities Ms Delaney and her colleagues regulate.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: It is welcome to see additional money being spent in this area, given the commitment of everybody in the room to the issue. I have a number of questions. The Minister can choose to answer those that he wishes. The first relates to housing projections. The Estimates relate to spending this year. Obviously there is a budget provision for next year. We intend to publish new housing...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: The Minister might touch on an issue, although I do not expect him to have a solution to it. I refer to clarity on funding for local authorities, in particular to assist councillors and local authority members to understand how much money is coming in from central government and how much is disappearing in one fund and reappearing in another. Councillors really struggle to have a line of...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: I am directing my question to the Minister's officials as much as I am to him. From my experience of sitting on a finance group in a local authority, it can be very challenging not to know the details. For example, it can be very difficult to keep track of the cash in Dublin city, because of the very significant proportion of our budget required for emergency accommodation to deal with...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: Will the Chair allow me one last question? The Minister mentioned the tenant in situ scheme. From my experience in my clinic, it is transformative for people coming to us with an eviction notice who are then able to secure housing. I cannot underscore how important the scheme is. The level of openness and ambition that seems to have been available to the scheme in recent years should not...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: I suggest to the Minister that the Housing Agency must have as much openness and flexibility as the local authorities, because it is responsible for the cost-rental element of it. It takes that little bit longer with the Housing Agency. I will leave it with the Minister.

Social Welfare Bill 2024: Second Stage (15 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: I start by talking about the progress of Ireland over the past 20 years. There has been a lot of discussion in the House about poverty. However, the SILC report published prior to the budget indicated that those at risk of poverty was 10.6% in 2023. That is a historic low and is down from 20% in 2005. We have halved the number of people at risk of poverty over 20 years. The number of...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Electric Vehicles (15 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: 198. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of registrations of L1e-A and L1e-B e-mopeds since the legislation changed in May 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41300/24]