Results 7,281-7,300 of 21,404 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is why we wrote the letter in the first instance.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: I agree that, in general, we are fobbed off with holding letters in any event. We need to do something about that, but the terrible thing regarding this situation is that it is a small number of people who were short-changed and left high and dry by an agency funded by the HSE and the State. Wherever the legal responsibility does or does not reside, I am of the view that the Minister, as a...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Absolutely.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is absolutely correct.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: I raised this matter with the then assistant commissioner now acting Commissioner in July. On that occasion, we were informed there would be no problem providing the committee with the report. To be clear, we are seeking the data, facts, figures and rationale used when making a decision as to which Garda stations should be reopened. We are entitled to that information and there is no...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Following on from that, I suggest that we write to the acting commissioner, tell him we want him to come to the committee at the earliest opportunity, next week if possible, bringing with him an account of the methodology applied in making this decision, and set out that we want to have an exchange with him on the matter. This is a patent exercise in evasion which is very disappointing after...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: I wonder about the wisdom of that for the committee. I want him to come here and set it out. If the methodology is robust and this is how they went about their work, that is great. However, we have to have surveillance of that and he needs to understand from day one and page one of taking on his duties that he is not going to mislead or fob off this committee. We have been through that...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: We want to see their analysis, data and criteria.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: It is the background data that we are after, which is in the possession of An Garda Síochána, not the Department of Justice and Equality. The Garda has that, and we want to see it.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Exactly. That is how it looks.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: I agree with the course of action. Is there merit in us making contact with the commission of inquiry and asking whether it has requested the report and placed restrictions on circulating it to this committee? I entirely agree other Deputies that what we have heard today is a diversionary tactic. I also agree that we need to find ways to corroborate information that is given to us. I am...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am not making even a-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is fine.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: There is a difficulty in linking matters like this to performance and numbers. We saw that with the breathalyser numbers. People were pressurised to produce results. I would also like to focus on the logic of this. The idea underpinning the spending of this money is that it is preventative. Its success is not measured in massive returns to the coffers of the State. It is probably a...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: I do not know whether Deputy MacSharry wants to elaborate on the matter.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Cashel is not in Clonmel, Chairman.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Obviously, this person feels very aggrieved. I do not see how, on any level, this committee can assist him in getting answers or the succour or comfort he seeks. I suggest that we write to the Minister for Justice and Equality and forward this correspondence to him. We must establish what the correct mechanism is, if there is one, for this person to make his case or to be heard. What...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am very sympathetic to his feeling that he was neglected or let down. We have to find the right mechanism for that to be dealt with, but I do not believe it is this committee.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Write to the two of them.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: There is always somebody to pay.