Results 6,541-6,560 of 21,149 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Public Accounts Committee: City of Dublin Education and Training Board and Kilkenny and Carlow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Was competence, ability, talent or energy an issue?

Public Accounts Committee: City of Dublin Education and Training Board and Kilkenny and Carlow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: To be clear, there were 20 people and 16 posts. Criteria such as seniority and preference - I am not really sure what that means - were applied in regard to the filling of the 16 posts and the remaining four people were deployed to other senior posts, presumably of similar or equal rank, in the public service. Is there a document in which the criteria to be applied in terms of reducing the...

Public Accounts Committee: City of Dublin Education and Training Board and Kilkenny and Carlow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: That would be very useful. Thank you.

Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: I welcome the witnesses from Wicklow and Kildare. Is this Mr. Ashe's first time before the Committee of Public Accounts?

Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: I remember you. On that occasion, Mr. Ashe was with Kildare VEC.

Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: We heard the sorry saga of €180,000 worth of computers and support services bought from a former employee. We heard of failings in Kildare VEC's handling of a €23 million school building development, as a consequence of which the Department had to bail out the VEC to the tune of €20 million. Issues were raised relating to land and property and a school development, with...

Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: That remains your position.

Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: A year later, the amalgamation happens and Mr. Ashe is appointed chief executive to the new Kildare and Wicklow ETB.

Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: We had a conversation with the Department earlier and we teased out the fact that 20 people qualified but there were only 16 positions and Mr. Ashe was one of the 16 chosen.

Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Who interviewed Mr. Ashe for the post?

Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: We do not have anybody here from that service. Without breaking any confidences, can Mr. Ashe tell me whether, in the course of the interview, the service explored the matters to which I referred?

Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Was this the appointment to Kildare VEC?

Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Mr. Ashe did not come into his current position through the Public Appointments Service. He came through the redeployment channel. Who from the Department spoke to Mr. Ashe? How was the happy news delivered to him?

Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: In the course of that formal process were the 2012 matters, which I have recited for Mr. Ashe, and which we dealt with at the Committee of Public Accounts, raised?

Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Was any account taken of past performance or suitability? After all, there were 20 people and 16 posts. I am struck by the fact that Mr. Ashe was deemed to be one of the 16 on merit.

Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Can the Department cast any light on this? In 2012, Mr. Ashe appeared before the Committee of Public Accounts with a series of peculiarities and concerns raised by the then Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr. John Buckley, and we were very alarmed by the carry-on in respect of the lack of adherence to proper procurement and tendering processes, and so on. I acknowledge that Mr. Ashe made...

Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: I do not know any other circumstances in the real world where that would have happened. Mr. Ashe has been in his job since 2013 and has set out what he sees as dilemmas in the job. He did not mention the fact, stated by the Chair, that an investigation under section 40 is under way.

Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Let us see about that. I will put questions and we will see how we get on. I understand that the Minister for Education and Skills established this investigation on Wednesday 4 October this year.

Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: The investigation was instituted because the current Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr. McCarthy, was dissatisfied with, and could not sign off on, the accounts. The investigation was launched by the Minister on the Wednesday and, on the Friday, Mr. Ashe told his board that he would be retiring some time next year. When is Mr. Ashe retiring?

Public Accounts Committee: Tipperary Education and Training Board and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board: Financial Statements (16 Nov 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: The decision to retire was not influenced in any way by the fact that the investigation is under way.