Results 3,781-3,800 of 34,616 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: No. 2410B is from Mr. Pat Meehan, chief executive, National Oil Reserves Agency, NORA, dated 25 September 2019, replying to our request for an information note on the agency's compliance with the EU's oil stocks directive. We were referring to the Brexit situation. It gives an indication of how much oil is held in the State. When we wrote to the agency, two thirds was in the State and...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: If there is a large cash balance sitting on the balance sheet-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: Does the Comptroller and Auditor General know whether NORA has the facility to make a dividend payment to the State? He might not know. I am putting him on the spot. Some of the other semi-states are able to transfer money back to the State. If the Comptroller and Auditor General does not know the answer straight up, that is fine.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: Okay.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: We will ask the Comptroller and Auditor General to give us an update next week.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: Then we can decide whether to put it on the work programme. We will not set a date. The Comptroller and Auditor General might be in a position to answer these questions next week when he has looked at the accounts. If we need to bring NORA in, we can put it on the work programme on a provisional basis.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: No.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: They have dealt with that. We asked about that in the letter. They informed us that most of the stock in Ireland is retained in Ringsend and Tarbert and that negotiations are ongoing in relation to a further facility, the refurbishment of which is subject to a commercial contract. This would enable NORA to add another 55,000 tonnes, which is not a big amount in its terms, to its stocks in...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: We will put it provisionally on the work programme for now. We will ask the Comptroller and Auditor General to give us an update for next week. It goes without saying that we will note and publish the correspondence. The next item of correspondence is from Mr. William Beausang, who is an assistant secretary in the Department of Education and Skills, and is dated 18 September 2019. It...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: Having looked at the letter, my view is that it has parked everything to which the Deputy has been referring. The matter has just been parked.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: The letter says that the Department has a central oversight role and that the HEA is monitoring governance practices. The Department has asked the HEA to arrange a study of this. The terms of reference are being finalised and the Department will be updated in due course. The Department has stated that when it gets the information from Waterford, which we have mentioned, and when it gets...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: Will the Deputy crystallise what he wants us to do?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: Notwithstanding the long-term study.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: We will write back to them on that basis. The Deputy has made the point very clearly. We will note and publish that correspondence.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: I thank the Deputy. That is appreciated. We move to category C correspondence, which is from or relating to private individuals and any other correspondence. Some of this arrived during the summer but we had to clear the earlier categories of correspondence at our two previous meetings. No. 2349C is correspondence from an individual, dated 15 July 2019, responding to a request from the...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: I do not have it.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: Where do we go with this?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: We will include it as an item to be discussed with the HSE representatives. I have proposed that they will be coming in again shortly. There is a chapter in the Comptroller and Auditor General's report in connection with HSE primary care centres. Quite a lot has happened since HSE representatives where here to discuss last year's financial statements, particularly in the context of the...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Oct 2019)

Seán Fleming: That is agreed. We will write to them and put them on notice. No. 2356C is correspondence from an individual, dated 8 August, who has made a detailed submission regarding the financial situation of Irish wind farms. Related to this are Nos. 2368C and 2370C, dated 8 August, correspondence from individuals also requesting the committee to review the submission. We know this matter is not...