Results 5,541-5,560 of 7,126 for speaker:Alan Farrell

Report of the Committee of Public Accounts re National Asset Management Agency’s sale of Project Eagle: Motion (29 Mar 2017)

Alan Farrell: I will ignore Deputy MacSharry. The person, whomever that was, set up the entire response and it undermined the entire process. I am sure the Chairman will accept that. I raised that point at the launch and I firmly believe that it did undermine our entire process. It took the focus away from NAMA and one can guarantee, from what I have seen on RTE and in other places, that the actual...

Report of the Committee of Public Accounts re National Asset Management Agency’s sale of Project Eagle: Motion (29 Mar 2017)

Alan Farrell: No, I am talking about prior to this evening. The entire focus has not been on NAMA and the potential loss to the taxpayer; it has been on the Minister for Finance and his officials.

Report of the Committee of Public Accounts re National Asset Management Agency’s sale of Project Eagle: Motion (29 Mar 2017)

Alan Farrell: I think that, in itself, is inappropriate. I will leave it there and I thank the Chair for adhering to the wishes of the Ceann Comhairle in terms of affording members of the Committee of Public Accounts an opportunity to contribute this evening.

Report of the Committee of Public Accounts re National Asset Management Agency’s sale of Project Eagle: Motion (29 Mar 2017)

Alan Farrell: Hear, hear.

Report of the Committee of Public Accounts re National Asset Management Agency’s sale of Project Eagle: Motion (29 Mar 2017)

Alan Farrell: It is a legal interpretation.

Report of the Committee of Public Accounts re National Asset Management Agency’s sale of Project Eagle: Motion (29 Mar 2017)

Alan Farrell: Deputy Michael McGrath knew about it.

Report of the Committee of Public Accounts re National Asset Management Agency’s sale of Project Eagle: Motion (29 Mar 2017)

Alan Farrell: The Deputy is inferring wrongdoing.

Report of the Committee of Public Accounts re National Asset Management Agency’s sale of Project Eagle: Motion (29 Mar 2017)

Alan Farrell: Then you are actually inferring wrongdoing, which the report does not.

Report of the Committee of Public Accounts re National Asset Management Agency’s sale of Project Eagle: Motion (29 Mar 2017)

Alan Farrell: I wish to start by thanking the Chairman and all the members of the Committee of Public Accounts for the considerable amount of work that they put into this report. It would be remiss of me not to say that at the outset. I believe that the vast majority of members did their very best to interpret the information that was presented to them in the Comptroller and Auditor General's report. I...

Report of the Committee of Public Accounts re National Asset Management Agency’s sale of Project Eagle: Motion (29 Mar 2017)

Alan Farrell: I would say on that basis we should have recalled the Minister-----

Report of the Committee of Public Accounts re National Asset Management Agency’s sale of Project Eagle: Motion (29 Mar 2017)

Alan Farrell: ----- to question him on the matter if we felt so inclined. We did not. Again, we were remiss in that regard as well. I regret entirely that, as Deputy Cassells said himself at the launch of the report, it was descending into a debate about Project Eagle and all the rest of it, when we had in fact covered the issues already. I agreed with him. However, the reason the Fine Gael members...

Report of the Committee of Public Accounts re National Asset Management Agency’s sale of Project Eagle: Motion (29 Mar 2017)

Alan Farrell: Come on.

Report of the Committee of Public Accounts re National Asset Management Agency’s sale of Project Eagle: Motion (29 Mar 2017)

Alan Farrell: Nine.

Report of the Committee of Public Accounts re National Asset Management Agency’s sale of Project Eagle: Motion (29 Mar 2017)

Alan Farrell: And Deputy Josepha Madigan.

Topical Issue Debate: School Enrolments (29 Mar 2017)

Alan Farrell: I thank the Minister for his remarks and would be interested to know the names of the three schools to which he referred in his response. I have been informed that approximately 27 of the applicants on the waiting list for the Holy Family junior national school were born in November or December of 2012, 14 of whom have siblings in the school. The Minister knows Swords well. If a parent is...

Topical Issue Debate: School Enrolments (29 Mar 2017)

Alan Farrell: I thank the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Bruton, for his presence. The Minister will be fully aware that I have been consistently raising the issue of enrolment at Swords primary schools with the Minister and his Department officials for several months. I understand that in January the Department provided the local authority with a comprehensive report on the availability of...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2017)

Alan Farrell: I thank the Chairman for his preamble. I listened carefully to what Mr. Colm Ó Mongáin had to say about the freedom of information requests and while I have not seen them, they were partially-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2017)

Alan Farrell: Yes. The freedom of information officer in the Health Service Executive rejected or only partially responded to a freedom of information request. Is it possible for the committee to obtain a determination on this matter? I found that the request was direct and specific, yet the HSE determined that it was too broad. My reading is that it was not too broad, although I appreciate this will...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2017)

Alan Farrell: Can the committee elicit the Information Commissioner's view on the decision, perhaps in correspondence? I would find such a view interesting and I suspect it would be good guide for members of the public, Members and journalists if they had such information in hand. On foot of the information provided, only a partial picture was presented and issues arose subsequently. I suspect it would...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2017)

Alan Farrell: Is our role and function to supervise the expenditure of public funds after they have been spent?