Results 44,741-44,760 of 46,267 for speaker:Simon Harris

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 26: Collection of Motor Taxation
Vote 20: An Garda Síochána (16 May 2013)

Simon Harris: I thank the Commissioner and his team for being here. I wish to acknowledge, as Deputy Donohoe also did, the co-operation that we, as public representatives, receive from An Garda Síochána. It is generally of an exemplary level and if it could be replicated by other State agencies and bodies, both I and those whom I represent would be very grateful. I thank An Garda...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 26: Collection of Motor Taxation
Vote 20: An Garda Síochána (16 May 2013)

Simon Harris: He is holding up well.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (16 May 2013)

Simon Harris: That would be great. The only other element is the new information the Comptroller and Auditor General has provided on the fact the referral was never made from the Department of Social Protection. Pobal expressed concerns about this and wrote to the Department and asked that the Comptroller and Auditor General's office be alerted. I would be interested to hear from the Department why that...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (16 May 2013)

Simon Harris: I wish to raise an issue on which I am aware people have corresponded with you, Chairman, and on which I have also spoken to the clerk. There is a huge emphasis in the current climate on enterprise and doing everything we can within communities to help people create jobs, support jobs and job creation. People would have read in the national media in recent weeks about the most disgusting...

Leaders' Questions (14 May 2013)

Simon Harris: That is a different company - Dublin Bus.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Job Initiatives (14 May 2013)

Simon Harris: 348. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will clarify the terms of the jobBridge scheme as they apply to the education sector and specifically if and when educational institutions can recommence advertising for future placements starting in September 2013; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22495/13]

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on the Department of the Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services for 2013
Vote 1 - President's Establishment (Revised)
Vote 2 - Department of the Taoiseach (Revised)
Vote 3 - Office of the Attorney General (Revised)
Vote 4 - Central Statistics Office (Revised)
Vote 5 - Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Revised)
Vote 6 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor (Revised) (9 May 2013)

Simon Harris: Autism, while disabling to some degree, is a pervasive development disorder. There is a need to capture the number with it. No one in any arm of the State can answer that question. All I ask is that the Minister of State consider including it in the next census, even if it is only on a once-off basis. In the run-up to the next census, he should engage with some of the groups involved and...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on the Department of the Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services for 2013
Vote 1 - President's Establishment (Revised)
Vote 2 - Department of the Taoiseach (Revised)
Vote 3 - Office of the Attorney General (Revised)
Vote 4 - Central Statistics Office (Revised)
Vote 5 - Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Revised)
Vote 6 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor (Revised) (9 May 2013)

Simon Harris: I pay tribute to the CSO and its staff for the wonderful way in which they use modern technology to present and make statistics so accessible to the public. I was at an event in my constituency today at which a lady was able to inform me of a very particular fact about the demographics of the town we were in. She knew it based on the census information she had garnered from the CSO's...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on the Department of the Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services for 2013
Vote 1 - President's Establishment (Revised)
Vote 2 - Department of the Taoiseach (Revised)
Vote 3 - Office of the Attorney General (Revised)
Vote 4 - Central Statistics Office (Revised)
Vote 5 - Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Revised)
Vote 6 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor (Revised) (9 May 2013)

Simon Harris: I thank the Taoiseach for his attendance and will make a couple of brief points. First, it is encouraging to see the Department of the Taoiseach coming in well within budget last year despite the additional pressures of the fiscal treaty, the European Union Presidency and the tribunal costs. I would appreciate the Taoiseach's view on the issue raised by Deputy Sean Fleming regarding the...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 77 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Resumed) (2 May 2013)

Simon Harris: Who made that decision? Mr. McCarthy served on the board of the DDDA and a year later a decision was made by someone in the Department to appoint the head of the planning division.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 77 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Resumed) (2 May 2013)

Simon Harris: The Minister decided that the representative of the Department on the board of the DDDA should be the head of planning within the Department.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 77 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Resumed) (2 May 2013)

Simon Harris: I want to probe this further. We have learned today that a criticism of the process is the difficult position in which Ms Moylan was put as evidenced by the letters and her need to switch caps. While I am sure she did so correctly and in an above-board manner, it was not a good way to do business. What was Mr. McCarthy's role on the board and can anyone set out the rationale behind the change?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 77 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Resumed) (2 May 2013)

Simon Harris: However, the letter is signed by Ms Moylan and addressed to her.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 77 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Resumed) (2 May 2013)

Simon Harris: I take it that Mr. McCarthy had a successor in his position in urban renewal who was never appointed to the board of the DDDA.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 77 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Resumed) (2 May 2013)

Simon Harris: My question is not a smart one and is more for my own information. It demonstrates my lack of knowledge. What was Ms Moylan's role on the board? In my view, her appointment as a public servant to the board was, to some degree, in the public interest. Would she agree with that? As a senior civil servant from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, would she have...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 77 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Resumed) (2 May 2013)

Simon Harris: Mr. FitzPatrick and Mr. Bradshaw were not public servants; they were businessmen, I suppose. I am wondering whether Ms Moylan had an extra obligation in regard to keeping the Department and perhaps the Minister informed. Did she feel she discharged that? It would be useful to know whether, at any stage, she expressed concern to the Department and whether she had discussions with the...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 77 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Resumed) (2 May 2013)

Simon Harris: I have two final questions. One is the political element. Ms Moylan has alluded to the responsibility of the chairman to report to the Minister. That is generally the way the communication works between semi-State bodies and relevant Ministers. Have we an idea how many times the relevant Minister would have met the chairman of the board? To respond to Ms Tallon's request that we complete...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 77 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Resumed) (2 May 2013)

Simon Harris: There is no indication of any meeting. My second question relates to the point Ms Tallon is making, which I feel is extremely legitimate and important. I refer to the difficult position that Ms Moylan was put in. I do not want to personalise the matter because any civil servant in her position would have been put in that position. If one reads the letters going backwards and forwards, as...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 77 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Resumed) (2 May 2013)

Simon Harris: I will start where Deputy Nash finished. I thank Ms Moylan for attending. We have all said on many occasions, and I am glad it has been agreed under the proposal from Deputy Donohoe and the Chairman, that the other key players, the missing in action, should be invited to come before this committee. The Secretary General was correct in her opening remarks when she said it is impossible to...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 77 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Resumed) (2 May 2013)

Simon Harris: Ms Moylan might respond directly to the comment in the Comptroller and Auditor General's finding that a detailed analysis of those factors does not seem to have been carried out by the board. Does Ms Moylan accept or reject that finding?