Results 641-660 of 1,776 for speaker:Derek Nolan

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade
Chapter 13 - Official Development Assistance (6 Mar 2014)

Derek Nolan: I appreciate that. I am not for a second denigrating Mr. Cooney's service. His record is highly respected, as are the records of those with whom I have interacted. The purpose of this session is to determine whether we are getting value for money for the State's money. Mr. Cooney may have got himself an unwanted headline with his use of the word "janitors".

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade
Chapter 13 - Official Development Assistance (6 Mar 2014)

Derek Nolan: I have not yet been invited. I ask Mr. Cooney to provide a note on the number of embassies that employ full-time chefs.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade
Chapter 13 - Official Development Assistance (6 Mar 2014)

Derek Nolan: Are there cleaning staff in these embassies?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade
Chapter 13 - Official Development Assistance (6 Mar 2014)

Derek Nolan: I ask Mr. Cooney to provide a written note on the breakdown of grades and how they are affected by allowance. I am not asking for names or even country level information.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade
Chapter 13 - Official Development Assistance (6 Mar 2014)

Derek Nolan: I have no doubt about that. However, would the witnesses agree that the staff who work in Africa for reasonable salaries and local post allowances are earning more than janitors are paid in those countries?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade
Chapter 13 - Official Development Assistance (6 Mar 2014)

Derek Nolan: That is it, Chairman. An ambassador obviously does not get rent allowance because as head of the mission his accommodation is paid for. He would receive a not insignificant salary by Irish standards. What is the average salary for an ambassador?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade
Chapter 13 - Official Development Assistance (6 Mar 2014)

Derek Nolan: We pay them significant salaries. What is the tax treatment of the salaries when they are abroad?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade
Chapter 13 - Official Development Assistance (6 Mar 2014)

Derek Nolan: For them.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade
Chapter 13 - Official Development Assistance (6 Mar 2014)

Derek Nolan: They are taxed as if they are domiciled in Dublin.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade
Chapter 13 - Official Development Assistance (6 Mar 2014)

Derek Nolan: They go abroad and receive a cost of living allowance. Is that based on a basket of goods that includes rent? If it does include rent they are being doubly compensated. If not, it is quite fair. The local post allowance averaged approximately €17,000 per annum per person in 2012, and many other costs for which compensation is fair. If education costs are included in the cost of...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade
Chapter 13 - Official Development Assistance (6 Mar 2014)

Derek Nolan: I can understand that being an extremely important part of the work of an embassy. Why is it allocated to persons and not on an embassy basis?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade
Chapter 13 - Official Development Assistance (6 Mar 2014)

Derek Nolan: I am confused by the distension, disturbance and temporary accommodation allowances. Could Mr. Cooney explain them?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade
Chapter 13 - Official Development Assistance (6 Mar 2014)

Derek Nolan: That is gone.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade
Chapter 13 - Official Development Assistance (6 Mar 2014)

Derek Nolan: Could Mr. Mythen include the impact of children in his note? That would be very interesting. I am interested in the other services that may be provided to heads of mission or ambassadors to help them with their cost of living. For example, is the ambassador’s food covered by the embassy? Do full-time chefs work in the embassies? Are drivers provided to ambassadors? Are there...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade
Chapter 13 - Official Development Assistance (6 Mar 2014)

Derek Nolan: Is that allowance paid regardless of whether one maintains a residence in Ireland?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade
Chapter 13 - Official Development Assistance (6 Mar 2014)

Derek Nolan: This is not taxable as rent allowance. It is paid as an amount based on rent to compensate people because they incur additional expenditure by living abroad. It is not simply to cover rent but additional expenditure. I do not own a property, for example. If I was sent to Berlin for three years, I would not keep my home but rather let the lease run out and move to Berlin. If I got a rent...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade
Chapter 13 - Official Development Assistance (6 Mar 2014)

Derek Nolan: I am sorry the process has gone this way because I genuinely wanted to tease out the issue. In the business case put forward to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to justify the expenses allowances, it was noted that a deal was done with the Department of Finance in 2005 that the allowances would not be taxable on the basis that they were purely compensatory for additional costs...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade
Chapter 13 - Official Development Assistance (6 Mar 2014)

Derek Nolan: It is different. I may be on a salary and when I move abroad, I get paid a cost of living allowance because it is more expensive to live in that place. The local post allowance compensates me. If I do not own a property and I cancel my lease, having had my salary adjusted for cost of living expenses and a local post allowance, would rent be paid on top of that, although there is no extra...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade
Chapter 13 - Official Development Assistance (6 Mar 2014)

Derek Nolan: If I add the allowances I see before me for people serving abroad in 2012, they come to €21.52 million. Dividing that between the 325 people serving abroad at the time to which the allowances were paid, it works out at €66,000 extra per person, which is a considerable amount. It also represents 28% of the expenses element of the Department's budget for staff in 2012. All I am...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade
Chapter 13 - Official Development Assistance (6 Mar 2014)

Derek Nolan: I have the business cases.