Results 6,021-6,040 of 34,616 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2019)

Seán Fleming: The next item is the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Board, Caranua, and its 2017 accounts. A clear audit opinion is provided but attention is drawn to the ongoing weakness in the board's control over grant payments. This has been mentioned here a number of times. The total value of the fund at the end of 2017 was €27 million. I do not know what the position at the end of...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2019)

Seán Fleming: Will we write to Caranua to ask for a current update?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2019)

Seán Fleming: Maximum.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2019)

Seán Fleming: A small amount also remains to be collected by the fund. We will write to Caranua for an update on its current financial position. No. 4.3 is the 2016 and 2017 accounts of the National College of Art and Design. There is a clear audit opinion but attention is drawn to the college's disclosure that it was not fully in compliance with the code of practice for the governance of State bodies...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2019)

Seán Fleming: In the report. The next item is the Legal Aid Board. A clear audit opinion is provided and an issue of non-procurement is raised. We will deal with that as part of our periodic report. The staff are compiling a list of all those as we go along. The next item relates to Inland Fisheries Ireland, which has been given a clear audit opinion. That is the end of that.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2019)

Seán Fleming: The bureau handles breath tests. Is that its main task?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2019)

Seán Fleming: It is a significant task. The next item is the work programme. There is nothing significant in the work programme. We are trying to fill it. Next week, we will hear from the EPA. The following week is a non-sitting week. We have the list of other organisations to come in, including An Garda Síochána, the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, the Courts Service, the...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2019)

Seán Fleming: Which we are holding over. We are holding over one chapter from that report from the Comptroller and Auditor General. That is because we dealt with the HSE financial statements last summer before we had sight of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report so we will deal with that chapter now. We will also deal with the Houses of the Oireachtas Appropriation Accounts for 2018 some time...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2019)

Seán Fleming: The inquiry took place several years ago.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2019)

Seán Fleming: And Haulbowline.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2019)

Seán Fleming: I received correspondence recently from an individual regarding an old inquiry relating to Aughinish and health risks to local landowners. Perhaps it came up at this committee previously but I will pass the issue to the secretariat in order to ensure that it is addressed.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2019)

Seán Fleming: I will pass on the details of the old case to which I am referring. It is not the major business but we want to discover what lessons were learned.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2019)

Seán Fleming: That is it. That is our programme. Regarding two items at the very end of the list, Deputy MacSharry referred last week to incontinence wear in nursing homes, how he had met the HSE and how this matter had been dealt with. It is good to note that. We noted it last week so we can take it off the list. We included the Dormant Accounts Fund in an earlier periodic report not long ago so it...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2019)

Seán Fleming: I wish to provide clarification on the serious issues for the benefit of the Deputy. During the meeting, I listened carefully to his contribution and there was nothing wrong whatsoever with his style. It was a cogently presented set of remarks and questions. We can agree everything that was asked related to the remit of the Prison Service. As Chairman, I came to the view that some of...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2019)

Seán Fleming: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2019)

Seán Fleming: I will conclude. That is in order. The committee will want to review the discussion here today. If I am wrong on this, the committee can tell me. However my view, like in my opening comment, is that when witnesses are here, all questions and answers are through the Chair. There is no vetting by any member of another member's questions. The Chair has authority to make a ruling that, to...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2019)

Seán Fleming: It was not anything in relation to yourself. There have been previous occasions where I have instructed Accounting Officers not to answer a question which I felt was not within the committee’s remit.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2019)

Seán Fleming: There is no precedent.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2019)

Seán Fleming: Yes, I made that decision.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Apr 2019)

Seán Fleming: The Deputy raised an important point. There were so many issues in his document that could have been put specifically to the Accounting Officer for response in writing in due course because it was not the subject. However, because he included in the series of question the term “which may involve criminal activity”, it was not my job at the meeting to dissect his statement and...