Results 6,501-6,520 of 7,412 for speaker:Neasa Hourigan

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2020: Discussion (20 May 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: If we stay on that issue, how have we arrived at 25 years for a cost-benefit analysis for social homes?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2020: Discussion (20 May 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: I have received apologies from Deputies Nash and Leddin. Today the committee will engage with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform regarding the Public Service Performance Report 2020. I welcome our witnesses: Mr. Ronnie Downes, assistant secretary; Mr. John Kinnane, principal officer; and Ms Caroline O'Loughlin, assistant secretary. Before we begin I wish to explain some...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2020: Discussion (20 May 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: I would appreciate that. I am probably biased because of my background, but some homes do not last for 25 years so I wonder if that is coming from the duration of an average social tenancy or what the reason is. Some of the social homes we have built in the past are approaching 100 years old now and are still going strong. That is something the committee might return to at some stage. ...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2020: Discussion (20 May 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: I am sorry to interject but, to be clear, when a Department goes to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, it does not ask for a sum of money. It makes a proposal as to the money it needs based on the programmes it wants to run. As much as a Department has some discretion as to how to allocate its funds, there is an understanding with the Department of Public Expenditure and...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2020: Discussion (20 May 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: If the Department of Health - and I am just using this issue as an example, I could as easily ask about Traveller accommodation or something like that - comes to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform asking for a certain amount of money to facilitate movements from congregated to community settings, and if Department officials are looking at papers showing that it achieved 50% of...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2020: Discussion (20 May 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: I take that point. I completely accept that with regard to the Department of Health but I am asking whether, from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform's point of view, there is a particular benchmark or percentage point at which particular protocols click into action. For example, it might be if a Department spent less than 80% of what was allocated for a given purpose. Are...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2020: Discussion (20 May 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: Does Mr. Downes expect that kind of bespoke reconciliation process to change slightly once equality budgeting and well-being budgeting are in full swing?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2020: Discussion (20 May 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: That is welcome to hear. One of my questions was going to have regard to where the well-being budget indicators actually come in, whether they come in at the beginning of the process or at the end. It sounds like they will come in more towards the beginning of the process when the budget is being formed and developed. Am I understanding correctly?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2020: Discussion (20 May 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: I welcome that. I am very much in favour of evidence-based policy development. What are the parameters for the evidence base? Are we involving universities, including academics, and particular stakeholders in the conversation?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2020: Discussion (20 May 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: I thank Mr. Kinnane. I was aware that NESC is undertaking the consultation. I very much hope it will be iterative and include academics and universities, but also community groups on the ground working in various areas. I am aware that other countries that have introduced well-being indicators have somewhat struggled with the differentiation between objective and subjective indicators....

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2020: Discussion (20 May 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: I would like it to be on the record that I understand that constraints apply to subjective information in any system like this but I, for one, believe it would be very progressive and useful to ask the public how they feel about the budgets we create and whether the budgets are working for them and making their lives better. Simply asking people how they feel about how money is being spent...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2020: Discussion (20 May 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: That is very welcome. To finish on the issue of the well-being budget, I have two questions. One of the witnesses said we would see something before the summer. When will the system be fully up and running and implemented in our annual budgetary development? The witnesses will probably have seen from our report that this committee has addressed or is interested in the budgetary cycle,...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2020: Discussion (20 May 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: I want to move away from well-being budgeting to talk about valuations. We have mentioned capital spending a number of times this morning. In recent months at several committees and also in the media there has been discussion about various versions of valuations, particularly with NAMA coming to an end. I understand that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform was doing some work...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2020: Discussion (20 May 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: Yes. I am talking about the disposal of land and the valuation of holdings. This is relevant to our consideration of value for money.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2020: Discussion (20 May 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: I was referring mostly to capital spending. I am thinking more of the purchase or disposal of lands. Does the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform set out a particular standard for valuation and the timeliness of those valuations for other Departments when they are engaging in that work?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2020: Discussion (20 May 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: Does the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform give guidance to Departments on that issue?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2020: Discussion (20 May 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: That would be appreciated. I thank Mr. Downes and Mr. Kinnane and Ms O'Loughlin for their attendance and their assistance to the committee. The committee will meet in private session on Wednesday, 26 May 2021 at 3 p.m.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015: Decision Support Service (20 May 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: I apologise for interrupting Ms Flynn but my time is almost up. To clarify, do those guiding principles apply to, for example, education professionals or healthcare support workers? Are there specific groups that Ms Flynn is concerned they do not apply to now?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015: Decision Support Service (20 May 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: I agree.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015: Decision Support Service (20 May 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: I thank our guests for attending to discuss this important subject. Deputy Tully touched on a couple of the questions I had intended to ask. I was glad to hear about the consideration of carers because they are often such incredible advocates for the people they care for. The idea that this is a pathway towards an unarguable legal role is an important message to get across to families who...