Results 4,301-4,320 of 10,120 for speaker:Jim O'Callaghan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: It is a separate body that was established by legislation in the 1960s. It has its own board and minutes. Mr. Watt is aware that the HRB was not particularly happy when it heard about this in April 2022.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: Let us read what its minutes say. The minutes of the HRB state that it "was not involved in any discussion around this post" and the report states: "the HRB has rigorous and transparent policies and processes in place... [for] both application for, and assessment of, research awards." That sounds to me like they knew nothing about it and they were not particularly happy at the fact that they...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: Okay. We do not really have the full picture here. All of the communications from the Department of Health with Trinity were done through Dr. Holohan and we do not have access to those emails because it was done through his personal email. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: Hold on. You are the Secretary General of the Department of Health. Surely you know if there are communications between the Department of Health and Trinity College in respect of this important secondment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: Ms Quinn says it was all done by Dr. Holohan through his personal account and she did not have access to them.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: Does that not underline the sort of casual nature of this arrangement? Mr. Watt, do not be offended by this. It seems to underline that this was a very casual arrangement where the person who was benefiting from the secondment was doing the negotiations on his own behalf, and everything seemed to have been approved without it going through what appeared to be the process as provided for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: I have a few more questions and I will be finished with you then. In your briefing note to the Taoiseach on 11 April, Mr. Watt, you say expressly: “It was not explicitly stated but it was envisaged that this would involve competitive funding organised appropriately.” When you look at the letter of intent, the Department of Health is committing €2 million and there is no...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: So you do not think there is any inaccuracy in the statement that you made to the Taoiseach on 11 April 2022, when you said it would involve competitive funding, when the letter of intent, which is agreed and signed, expressly says the Department is committed to €2 million.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: Ms Quinn concludes her report by saying: “The proposed funding mechanism and absence of any detail on the governance of same, do not, in my opinion, meet accepted norms of scrutiny, transparency and accountability.” I have to say, having read her report, and coming to this objectively and in the public interest, that I agree with what she says there. Do you agree with it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: Why do you not agree with it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: I have a final question for you, Mr. Watt. The draft report was furnished to you, I think, in June 2022 and you made a submission back to Ms Quinn in respect of it. One of the things you say in your response is: “I was subsequently instructed to finalise the arrangements to give effect to this.” Who were you talking about? Who instructed you to finalise the letter of intent?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: So it is probably fairer to say you were not instructed but you believed you had the authority to finalise it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: Thank you.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: The Future of STEM in Irish Education: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: I thank the panel for coming before the committee and for their very helpful opening statements. I will start with Dr. Connolly on computer science. I have to confess my own ignorance here. I had assumed when we are talking about STEM that a student in secondary school who had done other science, technology, engineering or maths would come out with an understanding of computers and their...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: The Future of STEM in Irish Education: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: When can that start? Dr. Connolly mentioned there is coding that can be done at primary school. Is that something parents do voluntarily? It is not something the schools provide. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: The Future of STEM in Irish Education: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: Dr. Marcus-Quinn mentioned the scenarios that operate in schools when it comes the availability of devices. Is there a role for the vibrant tech sector we have in Ireland to assist the education system in schools in terms of the provision of devices? I am conscious that during the pandemic Google was helpful in my constituency in terms of providing devices to local schools so kids would...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: The Future of STEM in Irish Education: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: Is that something that should be co-ordinated centrally by Government?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: The Future of STEM in Irish Education: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: Professor McCormack was correct to emphasise the significant performance by women who are doing engineering courses. One of the things we have considered over the past number of weeks is how we can encourage more women to take up STEM subjects. We were given a statistic that approximately 40% of the PhDs being done in STEM subjects are being completed by women. Does that operate at the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: The Future of STEM in Irish Education: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: The report mentions that it is important to instill an interest at second level. What can the committee recommend to ensure we try to get greater participation among women in studying STEM subjects in secondary schools?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: The Future of STEM in Irish Education: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: I have run out of time. I cannot ask any more questions.