Results 4,521-4,540 of 34,585 for speaker:Seán Fleming
- Public Accounts Committee: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Appropriation Account 2018 (11 Jul 2019)
Seán Fleming: Who manages them?
- Public Accounts Committee: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Appropriation Account 2018 (11 Jul 2019)
Seán Fleming: What does it do?
- Public Accounts Committee: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Appropriation Account 2018 (11 Jul 2019)
Seán Fleming: We will go back to the big issue mentioned, the Angela Kerins case. There is a committee working to report to the Committee on Procedure, etc. Will Mr. Finnegan run through the four points in the letter? The Supreme Court mentioned remit.
- Public Accounts Committee: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Appropriation Account 2018 (11 Jul 2019)
Seán Fleming: As Chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts, I fully accept the decision and have no issue with anything stated. I have said several times that it is not a "chilling effect", that it could give us an opportunity to be proactive and improve how we operate. I see nothing negative with the overall issue. Some people might present it in that way; that is their affair. Does the Secretary...
- Public Accounts Committee: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Appropriation Account 2018 (11 Jul 2019)
Seán Fleming: Is he working to it?
- Public Accounts Committee: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Appropriation Account 2018 (11 Jul 2019)
Seán Fleming: I think we can agree on this. The remit of the various committees needs to be looked at. Whether that means people working within their remit or whether their remit needs to be enlarged or narrowed, there is quite an issue to be looked at there.
- Public Accounts Committee: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Appropriation Account 2018 (11 Jul 2019)
Seán Fleming: Work needs to be done there. So we accept what the Supreme Court ruled there.
- Public Accounts Committee: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Appropriation Account 2018 (11 Jul 2019)
Seán Fleming: I have said this publicly several times. Witnesses get invitations. The Secretary General will know that over the decades no member or Chairman of a committee has ever seen the invitations that went out to the witnesses. We have never had sight of that. That needs to be addressed among other things in terms of the content. There clearly was a failure, which I am acknowledging. I accept...
- Public Accounts Committee: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Appropriation Account 2018 (11 Jul 2019)
Seán Fleming: The role of the Chair has come in, which I totally agree with. I am chairing the Committee of Public Accounts and I have chaired other committees in previous Dáileanna. How many committees do we have?
- Public Accounts Committee: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Appropriation Account 2018 (11 Jul 2019)
Seán Fleming: It should not have taken the Supreme Court to tell us that in an Oireachtas of 218 Members with 28 of them being elevated to a position of Chairperson there should have been a programme of training to be a committee Chairperson. In the Oireachtas we have all been collectively remiss in not having any programme for training Chairpersons. The Supreme Court felt it was such an important issue...
- Public Accounts Committee: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Appropriation Account 2018 (11 Jul 2019)
Seán Fleming: In other words-----
- Public Accounts Committee: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Appropriation Account 2018 (11 Jul 2019)
Seán Fleming: I will summarise and give my view. The Secretary General may concur. Everything that the Supreme Court found should be the case was patently obvious. There is nothing one could quibble with. That is how I see it. Mr. Finnegan is working to implement that.
- Public Accounts Committee: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Appropriation Account 2018 (11 Jul 2019)
Seán Fleming: I would make one suggestion. Given that the Oireachtas has been told to deal with these four issues, we could take a very restrictive view and deal with the four specific issues or use the opportunity of the Supreme Court ruling to see if there is anything else we need to do. Rather than taking a very restrictive reactive approach to the Supreme Court decision, perhaps we could take a more...
- Public Accounts Committee: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Appropriation Account 2018 (11 Jul 2019)
Seán Fleming: That is great.
- Public Accounts Committee: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Appropriation Account 2018 (11 Jul 2019)
Seán Fleming: I move on to the building refurbishment, which will cost approximately €17 million. I ask the Secretary General to outline for us that Leinster House is an historic building, a listed building
- Public Accounts Committee: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Appropriation Account 2018 (11 Jul 2019)
Seán Fleming: It would not have been subject to planning through Dublin City Council, the planning authority for where the building is located. It would be exempt.
- Public Accounts Committee: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Appropriation Account 2018 (11 Jul 2019)
Seán Fleming: The OPW makes a decision on works the OPW is going to carry out.
- Public Accounts Committee: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Appropriation Account 2018 (11 Jul 2019)
Seán Fleming: There is nothing wrong with what is being done, but it is a bit unusual in this day and age that an organisation that carries out the work is the organisation that gives itself the permission to carry out the work. I just leave that out there.
- Public Accounts Committee: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Appropriation Account 2018 (11 Jul 2019)
Seán Fleming: All I am saying as Chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts - this is nothing unusual - is that this committee does not share Mr. Errity's confidence in the ability of the OPW. This project started at whatever it started with and now it is whatever it is. OPW officials have appeared before this committee and there is a special report by the Comptroller and Auditor General on moving the...
- Public Accounts Committee: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Appropriation Account 2018 (11 Jul 2019)
Seán Fleming: However, again it is issuing fire certificates for buildings for which it does the work. We are back to the same moot point. I am not saying there is a problem, but I am pointing out the difference in approach. What is the energy rating of the building that we have just spent €17 million on refurbishing?