Results 741-760 of 2,964 for speaker:James O'Connor

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Business of Select Committee (28 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: Does Deputy Matthews mind? Is he in a position to?

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Business of Select Committee (28 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: If it suits Deputy Matthews, it suits me grand.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 31 - Transport (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: From the outset, I apologise to the Minister, the clerk and my Oireachtas colleagues, because I just caught up at another meeting. I want to start off by agreeing with the points made by Deputy Kenny and the Minister around what happened last Thursday in Dublin, which was appalling. As part of the violence on O’Connell Street and other areas of the city, public transport...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 31 - Transport (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: Yes.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 31 - Transport (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: I wish to make a suggestion. The United Kingdom, for example, has Cabinet Office Briefing Room A, COBRA, which provides a set cabinet structure for reacting and the UK Government can meet in crisis and bring in the relevant stakeholders. In Ireland, there are systems in place to cope with weather events that are under the remit of the Department of Defence, which was changed previously from...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 31 - Transport (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: I agree. Obviously flooding is very separate from an outbreak of violence, or people who are intent on causing damage versus reacting to a very serious natural disaster. I appreciate that the Minister visited Midleton. The Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy, CMATS, is the first project of significance. The Minister referred to the strategy in his opening remarks. The strategy is...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 31 - Transport (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: Yes.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 31 - Transport (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: The timeline in respect of the station is the most important matter. I would like to establish that. People have a great interest in this and I do not mean anything negative with this question.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 31 - Transport (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: Yes.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 31 - Transport (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: I described that at the outset. I am trying to establish something else. I do not want to cut across the Minister.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 31 - Transport (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: Containers.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 31 - Transport (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: That matter arose during one of my meetings. I have a great deal of stakeholder engagement with the Port of Cork. It has done fundamentally positive work in improving the facilities at Ringaskiddy. The Minister has been down to see them.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 31 - Transport (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: The Port of Cork officials were complimentary of the Government’s engagement. However, they stated that there was a great urgency around the M28 project. I wish to move on to road projects, as it is important that we discuss them. The M28 project was one of the barriers to what the Minister just described. It remains so. The officials did not knock the Government in any shape or...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 31 - Transport (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: This is my fear. Any public representative who cares about a capital project wants to see that it gets the Humphrey Appleby treatment by the Department and relevant State bodies. All we want is to push it along and get it done. When it takes 12 months to effectively get paperwork done, it is very obviously going to be the case that questions are going to arise from that. I am also...

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 45 - Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science
Financial Statements 2022: National Training Fund
Report on the Accounts of the Public Services 2022
Chapter 19: National Training Fund (23 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: I want to be associated with the Chair's comments on the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Comptroller and Auditor General's office. I wish everyone there well. I also congratulate Dr. O'Reardon on his appointment as Secretary General. I wish him every success. It is a new Department and it must be a very exciting undertaking for all involved. First, I want to raise an...

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 45 - Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science
Financial Statements 2022: National Training Fund
Report on the Accounts of the Public Services 2022
Chapter 19: National Training Fund (23 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: That is very insightful. Given the scale of the money involved, however, at what stage of that year would it have become apparent that that type of funding was becoming available and that there was such an underspend? Was there any conversation with the Minister or any of her Government colleagues in relation to that pot basically remaining unspent? I do not need to reiterate it but it...

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 45 - Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science
Financial Statements 2022: National Training Fund
Report on the Accounts of the Public Services 2022
Chapter 19: National Training Fund (23 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: Yes, but it is an obvious concern that there seems to be a decline. This is about helping the most hard-pressed families that do need the support. That is something we need to look at.