Results 5,761-5,780 of 10,577 for speaker:Barry Cowen

Written Answers — Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Departmental Contracts Data (16 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: 923. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the total amount spent on external information technology consultants by her Department in each of the years 2010 to 2014 and in 2015 to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23446/15]

Written Answers — Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Departmental Contracts Data (16 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: 926. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if her Department has renegotiated external information technology consultancy contracts and costs since March 2011; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23563/15]

Written Answers — Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Appointments to State Boards (16 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: 927. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will provide, in respect of State boards under her Department's remit, the number of appointments to such boards; the number of vacancies on State boards; the number of vacancies on State boards publically advertised; and the number of appointments to State boards drawn directly from the public advertisement process, in the...

Written Answers — Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Freedom of Information Data (16 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: 928. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will provide, in tabular form, for each year from 2009 to date in 2015, the total number of freedom of information requests received by her Department; the total refused, granted and part-granted; the total number of successful appeals; the total number of part-successful appeals; the number of refusals; and if she will make...

Written Answers — Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Departmental Staff Allowances (16 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: 933. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will provide, in tabular form, the total amount spent in each of the years 2011 to 2014 and in 2015 to date on staff subsistence payments and staff taxi payments; if her Department has been audited for tax compliance on these payments and other benefits-in-kind; if these processes have been revised in view of the Revenue...

Written Answers — Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Departmental Reports (16 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: 934. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will provide, in tabular form and by year, all external consultant reports commissioned by her Department since March 2011; the costs per report; the company involved; the title of the report; and the publication date. [23691/15]

Direct Provision Report: Motion (12 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: I commend the Oireachtas joint committee on its work in the area, including extensive research and the manner in which it has sought to fully inform itself about a process that had been allowed to deteriorate in such a way that it necessitates immediate action. I pay tribute to all members of the committee and commend them on that work and the preparation of the report, which contains many...

Water Services (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (12 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: The Minister claims that he will announce a scheme and the costs associated with it, that the grant system will come into play next January and that he will tell everyone all about it in the next few weeks, but he does not even know how many households there are.

Water Services (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (12 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: When I told the senior official that this showed another example of there having been no proper preparation by anyone concerned with the debacle that is the Irish Water construct since the get-go, I was told that I was political and should not have said anything of the sort. I am a politician, for God's sake, who represents people in a constituency like many others and who is asked to relay...

Water Services (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (12 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: It is the local authority's responsibility, but the authority cannot give someone a grant because he or she must get six numbers in the lotto just to be tested in the first instance.

Water Services (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (12 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: Who used to look after all of this? The 34 local authorities around the country that the Taoiseach does down whenever a question is asked of him.

Water Services (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (12 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: No evidence has been laid before the House showing that local authorities were doing anything untoward or were incapable of doing a job, that is, the provision of water, that they had been doing since the State's foundation.

Water Services (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (12 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: Much to the Government's own annoyance, it has admitted this, given how it has put in place the quango of Irish Water with 700 staff as a tier above local authorities that are doing the same job that they had been doing anyway. Not a single euro more than what was being spent annually before this Government entered office is being spent on water infrastructure.

Water Services (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (12 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: That is the bottom line. Less is being spent on water infrastructure because more is being spent on administration that is rotten to the core and cannot do its job efficiently or properly. There may be pollutant forces in the State, namely, septic tank systems that are unable to do the job for which they were designed. When people ask their local authorities whether they can avail of...

Water Services (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (12 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: That is what the Government has done since day one. I commend Deputy Mattie McGrath on introducing this Bill and giving us the opportunity to make these comments. It would take me two days in the House to give an adequate reflection of this disaster. I could not do it in these ten minutes. Instead, I wished to highlight the freedom of information issue and give the public some of the...

Water Services (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (12 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: I thank the Acting Chairman for his forbearance and for allowing me an extra minute or two beyond what was provided, but it was to give the public much of the information that it does not get from parliamentary questions, which is a result of the Government's effort to withhold information from the public.

Water Services (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (12 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: Fianna Fáil supports the broad principles behind the Bill. We do not believe it goes far enough and we call for Irish Water to be abolished as we have done on many occasions since this whole sorry debacle began. We commend and compliment Deputy Mattie McGrath on introducing the Bill. Unfortunately, the time allocated to me and others is insufficient to go through the chronological...

Water Services (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (12 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: This is a trait that has emerged from the Government over a period of time and the public are beginning to realise it - we certainly have. There have been three major issues in the lifetime of the Government which demonstrated procrastination on the part of the Government in withholding information. I and other spokespersons tabled many parliamentary questions at the time of the setting up...

Other Questions: Irish Water Establishment (11 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: I thank the Minister for his response. I had thought the Taoiseach, if not the Minister, had informed the House some months ago that the delay in the CSO proposal to EUROSTAT meant any decision by EUROSTAT would not be forthcoming until June. Now the Minister is saying it will be June at the earliest and may be some months thereafter. Can he confirm to the House that for a €300...

Other Questions: Irish Water Establishment (11 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: I thank the Minister for his response and look forward to him providing that information. I again ask if he would find it strange, to say the least, if Irish Water is paying 150% more than the Government for funds on the open market? That would represent a contradiction in terms for the whole construct and purpose of Irish Water, and would work against the Government's purpose of taking it...