Results 5,421-5,440 of 34,872 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (20 Jun 2019)

Seán Fleming: It will be on a printout. That is important. Is Mr. Gleeson satisfied about the premises in Portlaoise? There had been a plan for additional staff to come down, this was in the same building. Does the Department still own the site? That never progressed, in any case. Where is the Department at on this?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (20 Jun 2019)

Seán Fleming: Will the Department send us a note on that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (20 Jun 2019)

Seán Fleming: Other Departments are also using some of the building. The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection is there, as is road testing, and the Probation Service.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (20 Jun 2019)

Seán Fleming: The Department should send us the note it has on that, so altogether we seek notes on farm safety, location of staff and leasing costs. Food safety follows on from what the Deputy was speaking about. She is a member of the health committee. It could take a step back and deal with some of the issues that are in its remit, and bring the issue back to the producer. The health committee...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (20 Jun 2019)

Seán Fleming: That is what I am coming to. I have scoured - sorry for using agricultural word - I have examined in detail -----

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (20 Jun 2019)

Seán Fleming: I am reading about food safety, but I do not see reference to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, FSAI. I presume it is elsewhere.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (20 Jun 2019)

Seán Fleming: Which sector?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (20 Jun 2019)

Seán Fleming: Even though the title of Mr. Gleeson's Department is Agriculture, Food and Marine, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland is not under it.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (20 Jun 2019)

Seán Fleming: The Comptroller and Auditor General wishes to come in.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (20 Jun 2019)

Seán Fleming: That is fine. It is under our remit. I just thought that it would be in the Department of Food, Agriculture and Marine, but that is probably historic. The Department used to be the Department of Agriculture, but is now also Food and Marine.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (20 Jun 2019)

Seán Fleming: Will the Department send us a note on the relationship or how the system works? I am not looking for the service level agreement or anything but just an information note. I wish to raise two other points. I was disappointed to see the figure in the accounts for grants to the organic sector. In 2016 is was €53.566 million and in 2017 it was €45.063 million, a reduction of...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (20 Jun 2019)

Seán Fleming: That is fine. It says the scheme is closed to new applicants. The Department is letting the old scheme run out or expire but why are there not new people coming onto it every year? Surely people want food that is produced organically. I know it can be more expensive and it may be a niche market but if the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine has stopped the scheme to encourage...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (20 Jun 2019)

Seán Fleming: Was it?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (20 Jun 2019)

Seán Fleming: What is the ballpark estimate for the coming year?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (20 Jun 2019)

Seán Fleming: The Department would hope to build it up again. Mr. Gleeson might send a note on the old scheme and the new scheme. It jumped out at me to see that this, of all schemes, had been closed for a period.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (20 Jun 2019)

Seán Fleming: Mr. Gleeson has been asked a few times about the fixed assets. He is going to say the Department is working on it but we know that. However, I find what is in front of us to be extraordinary. I am only talking about the office equipment and other machinery, not buildings or anything like that. There was a cost valuation of €233 million and depreciation of €221 million. The...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (20 Jun 2019)

Seán Fleming: Is it a decade's worth? It is several years' worth.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (20 Jun 2019)

Seán Fleming: To get that level of depreciation, we would have to be going back 50 to 70 years. Those figures are so old they are historic. Are other Departments showing similar issues?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (20 Jun 2019)

Seán Fleming: People might think it is just about tidying up a register. A register should ultimately link into the financial statement. It should be possible to reconcile them. I would say to the Comptroller and Auditor General that if this is an issue across the board, we may have to take it up with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and we may want to have periodic reports arising from...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (20 Jun 2019)

Seán Fleming: We are going back 25 or 30 years. I have made my point. Once we got into that conversation and I looked at the figures, I found them even more strange. We want to finalise things now. Members have gone to vote and we have asked for questions. I thank the witnesses from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, who got off...