Results 561-580 of 23,109 for speaker:Paddy Burke

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Paddy Burke: Most people believed that the banks were the whole cause of the crash but the public deficit was probably the biggest cause of the crash. How sustainable does Mr. Watt believe that things are at the moment? We have seen a huge increase again in the Civil Service, the HSE, and all areas of public expenditure. All of these areas have defined pensions and lump sums, which comprise a huge...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Paddy Burke: Mr. Watt is saying then that it is not sustainable at the moment if the present trend is to continue.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Paddy Burke: Mr. Watt referred in his statement to payroll and human resources. In many companies they are outsourcing their payroll and human resources sections. In many corporations, these functions are centralised. Is it the case within the whole Civil Service that each area has its own human resources and-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Paddy Burke: That is for the 325,000 civil servants. This does not cover local authorities or any of that area.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Paddy Burke: What about the HSE? One of the things that happened before was that PPARS grew into being a monster.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Paddy Burke: Is it centralised?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Paddy Burke: Is that in one area?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Paddy Burke: I have seen recently where a number of new agencies have been set up. These are all Dublin-based. I cannot remember them specifically but some of them are old like the Standards in Public Office Commission, SIPO. They are all centralised in the one block. All of the new agencies for the past ten, 15 or 20 years have been based in Dublin. Mr. Watt has mentioned that he is looking at...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Paddy Burke: Has Mr. Watt's Department looked at decentralisation recently to see how it might help, might take people of Dublin or ease the current housing problem in Dublin? I read a report recently where quite a number of civil servants, up to 5,000 or 6,000, would like to transfer immediately out of Dublin. Has he looked at that whole area?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Paddy Burke: There are other areas where the Office of Public Works, OPW, is involved and it might have been much cheaper to have them located outside the city. Storage, for instance, would be located much more cheaply throughout the country rather than to have it in the most expensive part of the country. Has Mr. Watt looked at that area?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Paddy Burke: Finally, I will turn to decision-making. The biggest problem we have as public representatives is getting a decision from somebody in the HSE, the county council, the Civil Service or elsewhere. These people may not be around on a particular day and if we ring back, we get somebody else. Getting somebody to make a decision is impossible in many cases. What is being done about this or...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Paddy Burke: There are no consequences when somebody fails to make a decision because he or she has not received a diktat.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Paddy Burke: We have seen over a number of years breaches in ICT because of malware. It happened in Meath County Council and the HSE. Are these processes centralised or do the local authorities and the HSE have their own sections to combat malware?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Paddy Burke: I remember going on deputations to Mr. Watt's office in regard to that. Obviously, he had, or has, a function in it.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Water Quality (21 Nov 2019)

Paddy Burke: I would like permission to share time with Senator Mulherin.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Water Quality (21 Nov 2019)

Paddy Burke: I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach. Senator O'Mahony is also present. He has a knee-deep interest in the Letterbrick, Keenagh, County Mayo, water scheme as well. I acknowledge the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, is busy, and I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, for taking this matter. It is a sad day when water is not fit for human...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Water Quality (21 Nov 2019)

Paddy Burke: I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter and for taking our concerns to the Minister. It is not satisfactory. I do not think that Martina Hegarty and the other 23 householders in the area will be happy with the reply. While the expert panel has adjudicated on this, what happens when everybody drills a well, if new houses are built in the area or new people come in? The...

Seanad: Death of Former Member: Expressions of Sympathy (20 Nov 2019)

Paddy Burke: I extend my sympathy to Rory's sister, Eileen, and family, and welcome all the family members to the House. It was a great honour to have known Rory Kiely. He was a very affable man and as previous speakers said, he was very loyal to this House and its Members. He was also very loyal to his party, Fianna Fáil, and was a great loss to it when he passed away. He liked to travel and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages and Differential Pricing in Insurance: Discussion (19 Nov 2019)

Paddy Burke: I welcome Mr. Deering and his staff. I will not go over some of the issues raised by previous speakers. With all of the evidence Mr. Deering has to date, does he think there are any cartels operating in the insurance industry? We have all seen premia go up and when one tackles them, they come down. Is there a price that all the companies will not go below? Is there any evidence to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages and Differential Pricing in Insurance: Discussion (19 Nov 2019)

Paddy Burke: Many people purchased buy-to-let properties because this represented a tax efficient way for them to incorporate property into their pension funds. In many cases, buy-to-let properties have been the ruination of some people's lives and families. They were sold by the banks and in some cases people's private houses were sold as well. Does Mr. Deering deal with any commercial aspect of the...