Results 44,401-44,420 of 46,267 for speaker:Simon Harris

Public Accounts Committee: Forfás Annual Accounts 2012 (17 Oct 2013)

Simon Harris: I thank Mr. Shanahan and his team for attending. I concur with the comments made by the Chairman and Deputy Dowds on Carrisbrook House. It does not add up to have a 65-year lease. It stinks, to be honest, that a 65-year lease was taken out in 1969 that had no break clause and an upward-only rent clause. I accept that the blame for that decision does not land at the door of Mr. Shanahan...

Public Accounts Committee: Forfás Annual Accounts 2012 (17 Oct 2013)

Simon Harris: Is there a skills deficit? Is there a specific skill set that his organisation is missing as a result of the moratorium?

Public Accounts Committee: Forfás Annual Accounts 2012 (17 Oct 2013)

Simon Harris: On 26 July last Dr. Constantin Gurdgiev - and he will have to excuse me if I have pronounced his name wrong - authored a commentary on the Forfás annual report. He was quite damning about the way Forfás divides its expenditure and concluded his analysis by saying that "less than 12.65% of the organisation grant actually went to fund its activities". He said that €43.5...

Public Accounts Committee: Forfás Annual Accounts 2012 (17 Oct 2013)

Simon Harris: That is a perfectly fair explanation of the situation. I ask the chief executive officer to comment further on the pension liability and the next deficit. Note 8 in the annual report states that "Forfás has no evidence that this funding policy will not continue to meet" its pension obligations. If the pension deficit is to continue then what impact will that have on other operations?...

Public Accounts Committee: Forfás Annual Accounts 2012 (17 Oct 2013)

Simon Harris: Okay.

Public Accounts Committee: Forfás Annual Accounts 2012 (17 Oct 2013)

Simon Harris: Where are we projected to be at the end of 2013, as opposed to the end of 2012?

Public Accounts Committee: Forfás Annual Accounts 2012 (17 Oct 2013)

Simon Harris: Thank you.

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Tourism Data (16 Oct 2013)

Simon Harris: 177. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of tourists visiting areas (details supplied) in County Wicklow; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43754/13]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Speech and Language Therapy (15 Oct 2013)

Simon Harris: 414. To ask the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the large number of vacant speech and language posts in the Health Service Executive in an area (details supplied) in County Wicklow; the plans he has in place to rectify this matter and the very detrimental effect that it is having on children in need of speech and language therapy; and if he will make a statement on the...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (10 Oct 2013)

Simon Harris: I thank the Chairman.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (10 Oct 2013)

Simon Harris: It is not clear from the work programme when representatives of the Health Service Executive are due to appear before the committee.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (10 Oct 2013)

Simon Harris: I bring to the attention of the committee a serious issue on which I have been endeavouring to obtain an answer from the HSE for the entire summer. An e-mail I sent to the chief financial officer of the HSE at 10.32 p.m. on 21 August remains unanswered. Its subject was the erroneous decision to apply the terms of the Haddington Road agreement to Sunbeam House Services, a disability service...

Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence and DNA Database System) Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (9 Oct 2013)

Simon Harris: I welcome the opportunity to add my voice in support of the introduction of the Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence and DNA Database System) Bill 2013. The Bill is yet another piece in the agenda to reform our justice system that the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter is pursuing and, with that reform agenda in mind, I take the opportunity to congratulate the Minister on his...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 42 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 12 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 13 - Procurement without a Competitive Process (3 Oct 2013)

Simon Harris: This applies across the sector.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 42 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 12 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 13 - Procurement without a Competitive Process (3 Oct 2013)

Simon Harris: That is fair. These organisations and their staff understand they are bound by the agreement. However, it seems that through incompetence, inept oversight or something worse, services for the most vulnerable people in my constituency and many others are being cut under the agreement but that in no way shape or form tallies with the agreement. That is where the credibility of an agreement...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 42 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 12 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 13 - Procurement without a Competitive Process (3 Oct 2013)

Simon Harris: An bord snip nua suggested law clerks were no longer needed. Does Mr. Watt think there is still scope to explore the board's report for suggestions such as that rather than creating more posts?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 42 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 12 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 13 - Procurement without a Competitive Process (3 Oct 2013)

Simon Harris: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 42 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 12 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 13 - Procurement without a Competitive Process (3 Oct 2013)

Simon Harris: Mr. Watt approved ten more of them.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 42 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 12 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 13 - Procurement without a Competitive Process (3 Oct 2013)

Simon Harris: I am glad to hear it. The Department is due to bring a property implementation plan to Cabinet. Where is that at? What scope is there for savings? This relates to merging State offices and better use of non-city centre offices and so on.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 42 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 12 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 13 - Procurement without a Competitive Process (3 Oct 2013)

Simon Harris: I will conclude with a question on the sale of State assets. What is the timeline for the sales of Bord Gáis Energy and the national lottery licence?