Results 3,681-3,700 of 34,871 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: After the event. On the final issue dealt with in the letter, the commission states that the ten highest value appeals relate to a variety of areas of law and provisions of tax legislation, mainly in respect of corporation tax. Some of these cases could end up in court during this process. It is a matter of legal interpretation rather than a calculation of tax.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: There are a couple of points on which we are clear. This was addressed in the Budget Statement. All members are aware that the Government totally underestimated the task before the Tax Appeals Commission when it was established on a statutory basis. There was insufficient provision in terms of the number of appeals commissioners and other staff, as well as resources. The organisation...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: When there is new legislation, one cannot expect the existing public service to be geared up. Sometimes if we pass legislation, the capacity may not be in-house. I take the Deputy’s point, however. It was just an afterthought I had. We will note and publish this. Is that agreed? Agreed. No. 2448 B is correspondence from Mr. Seán Ó Foghlú, Secretary General,...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: The last phrase is correct. I was on the previous committee and this question was often asked. At one stage, there was one staff member working on this part-time. It was neglected by the Department for years on end.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: I genuinely believe it was the Committee of Public Accounts that dealt with this and no one else. It should not take the committee to get these things sorted. If it is the only way it will happen, we will do it. However, this should not have to be the case. We will do it if nobody else seems to be actively or publicly on the case. We are probably helping the Department in our own way by...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: One was found to be not in breach, one we do not know about and the other is still ongoing.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: That is correct.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: Yes, I know.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: I will make a few suggestions. First, while the name of the person mentioned in this letter is in the public arena, we have not put it in the public arena, and I propose we redact the person's name before we publish the letter. The name is out there but it is not for us to put it out there. The name is mentioned three or four times in the letter but it will be redacted when we publish it....

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: Allow me to finish. There is a complete distinction between suspected fraud and instances of non-compliance with procedures. Suspected fraud cases mean a potential loss to An Garda Síochána as money would be paid out in a fraudulent manner. Fraud is a criminal issue, not a HR issue. Do members understand the distinction I am making? I am not trying to muddy the waters, but...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: We will send the transcript of this discussion to An Garda Síochána in order to give it a precise understanding of the issues raised. We need clarification on whether these three cases are separate from the case about which we are talking. It is quite possible that these cases were disciplinary and that the case to which we are referring is criminal. I want to know whether the...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: We will send the transcript and put the questions to which members want answers. We will publish this letter, redacting the name of the person concerned. That is noted and published with redaction. Correspondence No. 2450B is from Mr. Tom Doherty, chief operations officer of Teagasc, providing an information note requested by the committee about the number of contracts that were...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: It is interesting that, in this day and age, €250 million has essentially been locked into a State agency's account. It has no immediate purpose for that fund and there is no provision to pay it back to the Government by way of a dividend, so it is locked in. We have to find a mechanism in order to use it for an appropriate purpose. I thank Deputy MacSharry for raising this issue....

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: Okay. Is there anyone else we can ask to try to give us that assurance?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: It is vague. We have not yet received a satisfactory answer.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: Okay. We are going to write to the Department to clarify this point. Members can see that it is an ongoing issue. It has been before this committee for a couple of years. It was before the last Committee of Public Accounts as well. We will note the correspondence. We will not publish it because it is from a private individual. We will ask the Department to respond. I think that under...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: Can we agree to send this correspondence to the Department, accompanied by a request for a detailed response? We do not want to hear what its policy is: we want to know what it is doing to ensure voted moneys that are set aside for children with special needs in schools throughout the country are being used specifically for such purposes. It would be dreadful to think that this is happening...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: We need to ask those questions. I am not sure whether boards of management have to audit the income of schools, such as capitation grants and other grants. Maybe members can tell me whether they do. I am not talking about teacher salaries because they come straight from the Department. It goes without saying that all schools are tight on money. I am involved in my local community...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: Tight.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: Okay. We will ask the Department for a detailed response. I know there are major gaps in whole-school evaluation reports. If a school building is collapsing, it will not be covered in the whole-school evaluation report. We will ask the Department to respond to what has been highlighted.