Results 6,701-6,720 of 28,162 for speaker:Catherine Murphy

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Catherine Murphy: I understand that but these codes of conduct are only as good as the control systems that oversee them, do reviews and so on. Where are the control systems? What Mr. Walsh said earlier appears to leave it to individuals and their personal integrity rather than having systems to make sure.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Catherine Murphy: We know that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Catherine Murphy: I am specifically asking about this.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Catherine Murphy: What if they do not?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Catherine Murphy: What systems does the board have to make sure? It cannot be left to the individual. Organisations need systems to make sure they have some level of quality control in case somebody does not raise an issue. The system needs to make sure that does not happen.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Catherine Murphy: My time is limited. I am unhappy with what I am hearing-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Catherine Murphy: -----because it does not give me any confidence that there is a system. Maybe these reviews and inquiries will show that. Regarding changes to planning law, such as to SHDs, what interaction does An Bord Pleanála have with the Department?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Catherine Murphy: I would have raised the issue of the planning appeals board, and there was a big organisational review in 2016. A big change happened straight after that, in December 2016, in that it ceased to be the planning appeals board for some cases. I predicted in the Dáil at the time that there was only place that people would go.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Catherine Murphy: I predicted we would see actions in the courts because the appeals mechanism was to be taken away. I asked Mr. Walsh whether he saw a flaw in that system, or something to that effect, but he did not see that was the case when he was last in with us. SHDs are being phased out. We saw a new one the other day because we had some interaction, which surprised me because I thought there was a...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Deputy Carroll MacNeill made the point about the number. I believe 70,000 units were given permission and 13,000 have been completed. SHDs are a minor part of adding to the costs of delivery of houses. It is to do with demand and controlling markets.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Catherine Murphy: The court cases changed the phrase from "having regard to" in some respects to that of "consistent with". That is a better and clearer phrase, and it means that it is not really open to interpretation. Has An Bord Pleanála received any protected disclosures in the past three years?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Has the Department received any protected disclosures with regard to An Bord Pleanála in the past three years?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Catherine Murphy: I just wanted to know. In the 2020 accounts, An Bord Pleanála declared that there were no weaknesses in internal controls. Has An Bord Pleanála identified anything in the 2021 accounts in terms of internal weaknesses?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Catherine Murphy: So we can expect to see something different. In hindsight, would Mr. Walsh accept that there were internal weaknesses in 2020? We have seen how 90% of inspectors' reports were overturned.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Catherine Murphy: I understand Mr. Walsh wants to await those findings, but it is not open to interpretation that up to 90% of inspectors' reports have been overturned. That is a fact. With regard to the non-time-limited number of people on the board, it appears-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Catherine Murphy: The fact that this is not time-limited would appear to be a weakness. Would Mr. Walsh accept that the statement that there were no weaknesses was not an accurate picture even before any of the reviews?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Catherine Murphy: I am really taken aback. An Bord Pleanála has policies that are written down.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Catherine Murphy: It has things it is required to do. They are not tick-box exercises. What I am really surprised about is the lack of rigour and the lack of systems when it comes to making sure they are enforced. I am really taken aback by that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Does Mr. Walsh accept that they are part of good governance?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2020
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (14 Jul 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Mr. Walsh is the chair of An Bord Pleanála. The buck stops with him in terms of making sure these things are in place. Some of it is open to individuals having the integrity to declare while other things were not spotted. This screams of systems failure.