Results 5,521-5,540 of 34,616 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: 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.

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: Regarding the last issue, I was intrigued to read on page 27 a statement about An Post which referred to the An Post National Lottery Company no longer trading and being in voluntary liquidation. That occurred when the licence was sold. How did that process conclude? Where did the residual unclaimed prizes in the national lottery end up when the company was wound up? There is some dispute...

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 that a detailed note be sent to the committee on that issue. I am raising the matter because it is mentioned in this financial statement. We would like details concerning how the An Post National Lottery Company was wound up and what happened to the unclaimed prizes. There is disagreement about these issues.

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 talking about the wind-up of the An Post National Lottery Company and the transfer of the final balance.

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 why I am asking for this information. I know this issue was mentioned previously. It is nothing to do with the new licenceholder, Camelot, which is not covered by the remit of this committee.

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 for that note to be provided to the committee with the details of how the winding up process worked out and what difficulties were encountered at the end of the process. I thank all of the witnesses from the Department of Finance and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for attending and for the information provided. Some small points have to be clarified in writing to...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces Personnel Data (30 May 2019)

Seán Fleming: 45. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the number of applications for discharge from the Defence Forces that took in excess of four months to be completed in 2018; the number on hand in which the process has not been completed within four months of the application date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23103/19]

Working Group of Committee Chairmen: Public Policy Matters: Discussion (30 May 2019)

Seán Fleming: I thank the Taoiseach for attending. Much of the information he provided relates to issues I want to raise with him. I want to make one or two positive suggestions. The first concerns Project Ireland 2040, in respect of which there is a capital expenditure plan worth €140 billion. The level of the national debt was so severe a few years ago it led to our establishing the National...

Working Group of Committee Chairmen: Public Policy Matters: Discussion (30 May 2019)

Seán Fleming: I wish to raise two other points relating to public confidence and accountability in the spending of taxpayers' money. Having been Minister for Health, the Taoiseach will be very familiar with the section 38 and section 39 organisations. They expend about €5 billion of taxpayers' money annually. There is no public accountability because they are not directly accountable to the...

Working Group of Committee Chairmen: Public Policy Matters: Discussion (30 May 2019)

Seán Fleming: Once the HSE passes the money on, it is outside our remit. That is the issue.