Results 5,481-5,500 of 34,585 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Seán Fleming: It is over to the NTMA. When it appears before the committee, this will be a new element in its annual financial statements. It is nice to know that because people will be curious. There is an ongoing mechanism to deal with that. Regarding the banks, I know that a few years ago, the previous Minister stopped the practice of appointing public interest directors to the boards of AIB, Bank...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Seán Fleming: I put down a parliamentary question on it recently. I think two were filled in one of the banks while they are at the final stages in the other. My real question, which is what the public really wants to know, concerns the function of the ministerial nominee to the board of directors. Is the nominee allowed to report to the Minister or are we back to where we were with the children's...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Seán Fleming: They have no responsibility to the taxpayer.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Seán Fleming: It sounds nice but does not mean a whole lot.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Seán Fleming: I ask Mr. Moran to send us a note to clarify the role. The Minister is the shareholder on behalf of the Irish people. People hear that the Minister has a nominee on the board and one cannot blame them for thinking that the person in question is looking out for the public interest but that is not the case..

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Seán Fleming: I ask Mr. Moran to send us a note on the role, structures, the recent appointments and when any outstanding appointments are due to be completed. They are in a process involving the Public Appointments Service as I understand it. On the EU report outlining Ireland's transactions with the EU, this country's contribution to EU resources is 0.85% of Irish GNI. The figure for national income...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Seán Fleming: I am almost surprised that Mr. McCarthy cannot do it.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Seán Fleming: That is what I am getting at. I am not talking about the multinationals that have been here for 20 years or more-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Seán Fleming: Yes, the stuff that led to the development of GNI* to give a more accurate reflection. I ask the Department to provide that figure because in some ways, our EU contribution is offsetting the value of the additional corporation tax and it is important that we have the mix so we can see if there is a net benefit.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Seán Fleming: We want the figures up to the end of 2018. We want data that are as recent as possible. I know that the increase was not so big but it is at a much higher base now. That is my question and the Department will come back to me with a response on that. I see value in having consolidated reports because I suspect that the majority of Members of the Dáil do not appreciate that the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Seán Fleming: Obviously, France and Germany are paying a certain amount. The mechanism reduced the UK's contribution by €4.9 billion in 2017, while Ireland's contribution increased by €135 million. Has the Department worked out the figures in terms of risks to the economy of the impact of contributions to and moneys received from the EU if Brexit happens? If the UK is gone and its...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Seán Fleming: The additional cost of Brexit? That is a net figure. Will Mr. Moran send on whatever papers have been prepared in the Department?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Seán Fleming: We understand that it might never happen.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Seán Fleming: We will start with the first qualification, which is that it might never happen.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Seán Fleming: All the more reason to do it. It would have been useful to have that sort of information in the public domain in recent months when we were heading towards Brexit in March. We may or may not be heading towards it again in October. The absence of a clear, simple report is unhelpful to the national debate. Such a report would better inform the national debate in terms of those issues. The...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Seán Fleming: The Department must have a paper on it. On the famous finance accounts, reference is made to the share capital acquired in companies, including Coillte, An Post, Bord na Móna, the Housing Finance Agency, IBRC, Permanent TSB, the Shannon Group and so on. Do we have a 100% shareholding in these? In terms of the tables on pages 27, 28 and 29, I ask the Department to supply information...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Seán Fleming: Are they all 100%, by and large?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Seán Fleming: That is fine. I suspect they are 100%. I see the ports of Waterford, Shannon and Foynes. I presume they are 100% owned by us. That answers that question but where are the AIB and Permanent TSB shares in all of this?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Seán Fleming: Are they under the NTMA?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Seán Fleming: Here we are again. We are looking at the national finance accounts and there are bits of the accounts in other places. Returning to the original comment made by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we do not have an overall picture. It is being worked on or at least being thought about.