Results 5,461-5,480 of 7,126 for speaker:Alan Farrell

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriations Account (Resumed)
Vote 24 - Justice and Equality (Resumed)
Chapter 6 - Procurement and Management of Contracts for Direct Provision (Resumed) (11 May 2017)

Alan Farrell: I thank the witnesses.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (4 May 2017)

Alan Farrell: I welcome the witnesses. The Commissioner referenced in her opening remarks that this has been ongoing since the 1980s. It is easy for all of us on this side of the room and others in the public domain to question the manner in which moneys were spent by the Garda training college and how it was run. We can agree that it was in 2006 that it was first identified that there was a problem in...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (4 May 2017)

Alan Farrell: His role in the initial phases of his employment was, I assume, to establish the department-section and put in place necessary procedures.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (4 May 2017)

Alan Farrell: Taking into consideration the constraints within An Garda Síochána post the commencement of his employment, it was probably very difficult for him to get the personnel to support him in that role. Am I correct in saying that from a professional standpoint he was a one-man operation?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (4 May 2017)

Alan Farrell: Please explain.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (4 May 2017)

Alan Farrell: Do all those individuals have competent qualifications and-or experience?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (4 May 2017)

Alan Farrell: Given all that expertise is now within the section, from 2006, when the first unfinished audit raised issues, to 2008 when, through the finance directorate report, other issues were raised, why was it only determined in 2016 that these issues were of such gravity that political decisions, and decisions of the chief administrative officer of the organisation, were required to allow Mr. Kelly...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (4 May 2017)

Alan Farrell: I thank Mr. Kelly. There was a brief moment earlier when many Deputies weighed in on the issue of land. Mr. Nugent opened that door, whether intentionally or otherwise I do not know. When we were talking about the farm, Mr. Nugent used the word "transfer" in relation to, presumably, Office of Public Works, OPW, purchased land. The Commissioner mentioned at the beginning of this discussion...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (4 May 2017)

Alan Farrell: Therefore, every square inch-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (4 May 2017)

Alan Farrell: Mr. Kelly has been in his current role since 2007. Has he unearthed any documentation - Mr. Barrett weighed in on this matter earlier - which would lead him to believe there has been any illegal activity, criminal or otherwise, in respect of Exchequer funding, be that in the accounts of private organisations under the control of members of An Garda Síochána or in accounts that are...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (4 May 2017)

Alan Farrell: If funds were transferred to various entities and used for keeping the restaurant going, paying additional staff or perhaps keeping the bar open during the period when the training element in Templemore was no more, would that fall under what Mr. Kelly defines as maladministration from an accountancy perspective?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (4 May 2017)

Alan Farrell: Mr. Ruane-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (4 May 2017)

Alan Farrell: We have just been discussing the maladministration of public funds. Has Mr. Kelly at any point sought legal advices as to whether he might come across something in the future? Mr. Barrett was very specific in his terminology, which is appreciated, in terms of his view in saying, "No, nothing has happened." Has Mr. Kelly sought any advices from Mr. Ruane or others in regard to the steps he...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (4 May 2017)

Alan Farrell: Has the Commissioner sought to ensure from a legal perspective or has she asked that question or instructed Mr. Ruane to provide or procure legal advices in that regard?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (4 May 2017)

Alan Farrell: Collectively at this point Mr. Kelly has not unearthed any criminal or illegal activity, but he is not done. That is effectively the answer.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (4 May 2017)

Alan Farrell: One specific incident is very glaring. It is probably quite small money, but it is very troubling given that An Garda Síochána did it. The Garda Vote provides for Templemore a sum of money, as I understand it, for laundry services and-or supplementary food in the canteen or the mess, whatever they refer to it as. For a period of time the college in Templemore was charging for the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (4 May 2017)

Alan Farrell: Embezzlement. I have no doubt in my mind - or at least I hope so - that individuals using that money were using it for gardaí, former gardaí and all the rest of it. The bottom line is that it is public money. Its source is profits in various organisations, rent being procured - to which I will return in a minute - from a site owned by the State with the money originally being...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (4 May 2017)

Alan Farrell: Of all people in this room, I understand Standing Orders very well in terms of that matter.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (4 May 2017)

Alan Farrell: The Vice Chairman can also. I am not casting aspersions on any individual, especially not those who the audit report identifies as being members of the boating club. I am just saying that if it is not in controller view as the accounting officer, where is it? I think Mr. Fachtna Murphy was Commissioner in 2010. I looked up the definition and I can ask Mr. Ruane and-or Mr. Kelly to define...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (4 May 2017)

Alan Farrell: : I will conclude at this point. I have a number of questions about the funding that was being provided to An Garda Síochána at Templemore through one of its entities from the farm – the rent that was being paid, which I think was €25,000. The Commissioner opened the door with regard to the fact that some of that money was being paid directly to the OPW. For...