Results 3,901-3,920 of 5,583 for speaker:Paul McAuliffe

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: In 2019, before Covid, the railway order application was due to be made to An Bord Pleanála.

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: I will get to that as well. Before Covid and before there were any possible delays arising from Covid, regarding the metro north which was essentially a year or so after the timeline was published, TII fell at the first goal. When TII gave the deadline of quarter 3 of 2019 for the railway procurement order and the 2027 operation date, why did TII publish those two dates and did it believe...

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: The decision to now not provide an operation date - which seems to be the policy of both TII and the NTA and, to some degree, of Government Ministers - why has that changed? Why was it okay to publish an operation date in 2018 and now TII is not willing to publish an operation date?

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: Was TII not aware of those challenges in 2018?

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: I will go back to this point. Why was it okay to publish a timeline in 2018 with an operation date in 2027 and it is not okay to do so now? Mr. Walsh said that TII wanted to reflect the aspirations of the NDP. Is that code for there being pressure on TII to deliver a deadline?

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: There is question that has to be asked. TII published the deadline in 2018 and immediately failed to deliver on those timelines. Was it ever a realistic timeline or was it not resourced to the point where TII could deliver within that deadline?

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: I can now see why there would be reticence to publish a new operation deadline because then TII would only get questions at the next Committee of Public Accounts meeting and thereafter. Unfortunately, TII leaves us in a very difficult position. By not publishing any deadline, there is no way to hold project to account.

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: Yes, that would be great.

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: Of course. If there is no judicial review, which would be the most optimistic version, when would the next stage commence?

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: I had to sit the leaving certificate but I am still struggling with the numbers, which is not Mr. Walsh's fault but my fault. With an optimistic version, we are talking about 2024 to come out of planning and 2026 to 2027 to come out of procurement. It would then take another nine years, at most, so we are talking about 2035 for an operational date. Is that a ballpark date given that it...

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: It is hugely frustrating. The Government has not made a decision to delay this project by ten years but it looks like it will be delayed by ten years. This comes to the very core of these projects. Across north Dublin people have completely lost faith in the metro north project. The reason is that this saga has been going on for 20 years. The decision is out of the hands of TII because...

Public Accounts Committee: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: I accept all that but I do not see how any of this was not visible to Transport Infrastructure Ireland in 2018 when it provided a very clear timeline of 2027. Now we have a timeline of at least eight years after that. Effectively, this is a doubling of the duration of the project. I do not see from the significant information Mr. Walsh has given me anything to indicate this information was...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: I agree with Deputy Catherine Murphy. We must ensure this proposed slot is used well and that we know precisely the areas we want to cover in it. Of the overall health budget, €1.1 billion is for mental health services. Will this proposed session be specifically related to CAMHS or will it seek to cover mental health in general? How broadly do we wish to address this issue? It is...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: I support Deputy Carthy's proposal. Similar to what we are doing on the issue of housing, it might be beneficial for us to have several sessions together devoted to the topic of mental health. We could parse in our private sessions what we want each meeting to deal with. If that means we must create a new slot in the private-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: I appreciate there is a difficulty in that we are in public session and we cannot engage with the officials in that format, but I am not clear as to what the agreement is. It is such a serious issue that we could even examine community mental health as a stand-alone issue, dealing with the various organisations where there are service level agreements with the HSE as well as dealing with...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (3 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: 160. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the progress made to date on the implementation of the White Paper to End Direct Provision; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5450/22]

Easing of Covid-19 Restrictions: Statements (2 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: On 5 March 2020, the Ceann Comhairle called me to make my first contribution to the House. The previous weekend, a case of coronavirus had led to a closure of a school in my area. Local councillors and Deputies had been briefed in City Hall by people who we considered to be unknown public health officials but who the entire country would soon to get to see on a nightly basis. I left that...

Legacy Issues in Northern Ireland and New Decade, New Approach: Statements (1 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: At the weekend, this island marked the 50th anniversary of the murder of civilians in Derry on Bloody Sunday. The families and the people of Derry endured too long a campaign for the acknowledgement of truth about what happened in the name of the British Government but full justice and accountability have never been secured. This is true of most victims of the Troubles and I am today...

Houses of the Oireachtas Commission: Motion: Cabinet Committees (1 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: 17. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [4724/22]

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Property Registration (1 Feb 2022)

Paul McAuliffe: 421. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans to improve the efficiency of the Property Registration Authority to deal with its current backlog; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5074/22]